We first met on Friday, December 4th, 2021 during the Encinitas Holiday Parade.

Joanna...

I Remember Rich turning around to look out into the crowd that I was facing into and in one moment our eyes met. He had the biggest smile on his face that really caught my attention and made me smile.

Rich... As soon as I saw her I knew that I wanted to know her. Within a few minutes, we had met and were chatting, and continued to do so throughout the night.

Joanna... We ran into each other again a few weeks later at a Christmas Pub Crawl. I happened to be there with my son Dustin, he was my date for the night. I noticed Dustin immediately became friends with this guy, I was like Who is this guy chatting my son up all night. When I went to find out who he was talking to, it was Rich!

Rich... Dustin and I were probably talking about sports or music. I shared with him that I used to DJ back in the 90s and he told me that he was making music. We exchanged numbers so I could text him a link of some of my old mixes. I was hoping to get Joanna's number that night, but I had to settle for Dustin's. I couldn't bring myself to ask her on a date in front of her son. My mom very rarely asked me if I was dating anyone, but she happened to ask me about a week after I met Joanna. I told her that I wasn't dating anyone but that I just met someone that I definitely want to see again!

Joanna... Fast Forward almost 9 months later! Low and behold at the same place we originally set eyes on each other, here we meet again. What are the chances we were sitting right next to each other? Go figure. Happy to see each other AGAIN, we made sure not to lose touch and I gave him my number. I'd hoped he would call, I was so excited to get to know him more!

Rich... I can't remember if I texted or called, but we got to know each other a bit more and agreed to meet for our first date! I remember many things from our first date, but a few things stand out in my mind. I arrived first and was standing on the sidewalk as she drove up, parked her car, and got out. When she got out of the car and I saw her, she was so beautiful that I had to turn my head away to gather myself. At the end of the date, I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 10;00pm; we had talked for 3 hours straight and it seemed to go by so quickly. Last, but certainly not least, I then caught myself thinking, I can see myself falling in love with her. Wow, what a first date!

Joanna... The day he called I happened to be having dinner with a friend, when I saw his name appear on my phone my heart skipped a beat, I was so excited! He asked me out for a date and all I could feel was pure joy, I was so curious to know him more and find out what he was made of. Our first date was fun, easy and really genuine. We instantly hit it off and laughed so much as we shared. We had a lot in common, I thought he was a doll and his smile melted my heart. Little did I know the best was yet to come. We had such a great time dating, he always had something fun planned for us, each date was a fun adventure. Rich was and still is the ultimate gentleman. He respects me like no other. I think it wasn't until our third or fourth date that he finally kissed me! Can we say... FIREWORKS! We dated for a few months before we became exclusive. One of my favorite moments ever was the night Rich told me how he felt about me and shared that he loved me, he said he didn't like being without me and he decided he was going where I was going. That phrase became our saying from then on... "I'm going where your going" we made a a pact to always be together and never leave each others side.

Rich...It was actually our third date when I first kissed her; while waiting for the train at the Santa Fe Depot in San Diego. I kissed her and she said, it's about time!. I loved that she gave me a hard time about that. We may have kissed a few more times on the train ride home. We've had many dates since then and each one was better that the one before it.

Joanna... 23 cities in a year, Vegas, LA, Park City, Temecula, Boston, Connecticut, Chicago, Cabo, Nashville, Scottsdale, Montreal, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Tulum, Carmel by the Sea, Big Sur, Napa, Kansas again, Vegas again, Santa Barbra, Austin, and Napa again. Over 13 concerts, Lauren Diggle, Kings of Leon, Big Boy and Outcast, Gwen Stephani, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Yachtley Crew 3 times, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Janet Jackson, Nas, Who-Tang, John Mayor, Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks, and Jason Miraz. I stopped counting all the fabulous restaurants we enjoyed and planes we flew! No way to get to know each other more and more than on travel. Falling in love was to say the least humbling, selfless, healing, heart opening, and life changing. We are defiantly not the same as we once were. We were becoming one and it was happening right before our eyes. Our conversations seemed to only get deeper, our hands held felt warmer, hugs became unspoken words, and every kiss was and still is breath taking.

The Proposal... I knew in May that I was going to propose to Joanna, but I wasn't sure when or where. I decided that it would be on our trip to Hawaii in July. When we got to Hawaii, I still wasn't sure exactly where or when, so I carried the ring in my pocket all weekend until the time and place were right. Joanna made dinner reservations for Sunday evening at Merriman's in Kapalua Bay and soon after we were sat at our table and took in the surroundings, I knew this was the place and tonight was the night. While we were at dinner, we spotted a couple of hammocks off in the distance on a grassy hill overlooking the ocean at the Montage Resort and decided that we’d walk over to them after dinner. As we walked along the path overlooking the ocean, the sun was setting but was blocked by the only cloud in the sky. After a few minutes, the sun dropped below the cloud and just above an island in the distance - the sunset looked amazing. So much so that Joanna grabbed her phone to take a photo of it. While she did, I got down on one knee, grabbed the ring, and prepared to begin my proposal. She looked down at me and said “what are you doing? You’re going to miss it!”. I replied by holding up the ring a little closer to her and started my proposal. I think it took her a couple more seconds to realize what was happening :) . When we first started dating I once told her “I’m going where you’re going”, so in my proposal I asked if I can go where she’s going, and vise versa, for the rest of our lives. She said “YES”!