Mackenzie's Version: Oscar and I met on our first day of medical school at UC Irvine in August 2015. I thought he was handsome and funny, and that it would be a good idea to get to know him. A few weeks later, Oscar made homemade enchiladas and asked me on our first date - to a Jamie XX concert in LA. A few days after that, I stayed over at his apartment and never really left - and the rest is history!

We dated throughout medical school, moved to Cleveland mid-pandemic in 2020, bought a house, and adopted our wonderfully goofy rescue dog, Tajin, together.

It was on a trip to visit Oscar’s family in San Diego for New Year’s 2023 when he proposed to me on a late-morning hike overlooking the beach at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. He has been my love and my best friend for the last 8 years, and I was so happy to say yes!

Oscar's Version: Before I met Mackenzie, a close friend met some incoming UCI medical students. She mentioned that there was a pretty white girl with “very” curly hair and fluent in Spanish. Intrigued by this, I asked for more details of this cultured doctor-to-be. “Well…” this friend replied and then described Mackenzie as a modern-day hippie and justified it by saying that Mackenzie had gone to UC Berkeley. This only fueled my interest. Could this curly-haired mamacita be my cultured Julia Louis-Dreyfus? Or was I about to meet a tent-dwelling Occupy Wall Street protester personified?

Shortly after meeting Mackenzie on the first day of medical school, I discovered she was both. I was captivated by her down-to-earth attitude and drawn by her passion for helping others. The hippie side was there in modern-day bell bottoms (flared yoga pants) and worn-out sneaker wedge shoes (destroyed by her hikes in Bolivia). However, her intelligence was her most alluring feature. Seeing Mackenzie read for the first time made me wonder whether I was a college-level reader by ESL standards only. Her eyes scanned across the page like the Terminator scanning human threats, subconsciously tapped her shoulder as if counting syllables, and her eyes rapidly blinked as if she were taking pictures of the page. I knew right away that Mackenzie would make a great partner (and mostly carry the team).

However, I followed the advice of all misguided males in romantic pursuit, and I played hard to get! This was difficult because, after one of our early dates, Mackenzie came over to my apartment and invited herself to spend the night. Perplexed by her resistance to leave, I threw my best evading maneuvers at her – I showed her old family pictures and pretended to fall asleep on the floor. That didn’t work! She lay next to me and fell asleep too.

It is now nine years later and my plan finally paid off, she said "Yes.” I have found my perfect travel partner; she lets me drag her to concerts, wakes me up when I fall asleep on the couch, and supports my soccer hobbies. Most importantly, she loves me unconditionally, and I am now the one who falls asleep next to her and will not leave.