Mark and Janell

"In a world of infinite rights, there are only but a few lefts. In a world of firsts, there is only one last."

SO THERE WE WERE….

In the summer of 2014, Mark was competing on the AVP Tour in Huntington Beach and Janell was working in marketing at Urban Decay and doing “monkey stuff” in her spare time. She knew at the time, she hadn’t found her true calling yet but she was on the hunt!

Mark had decided to move to California full time to pursue a career in beach volleyball and start his company after years of non-stop travel and living in different countries. He had just finished playing professional volleyball in Europe and had decided to become a full time beach volleyball player.

They were living a universe filled with Lefts but upon first sight, they both knew the other was Right :)

After months of messages and eluding each other in their travels, Mark and Janell finally made the decision to go on their first official date in the beginning of 2015.

Mark needed a compassionate companion. Coming off a lifestyle of early departures with a jet setting life-style, he almost forgot what it was like to have someone to go through experiences with, good and bad. He had to re-learn how to understand a person and stick around through good AND bad. He also needed someone who would understand a life of travel, sport and fitness, someone who was adventurous enough to go with the unpredictable flow.

Janell wanted someone who would dig in, see the good and the bad. She wanted to share and spend her time with people who would be there, be open, be honest, and make her feel seen. She too, wanted a playmate and someone who had the same wanderlust for adventures around the world. They found each other the right time to change the course of one another’s lives.

So they planned on their first date!

But it was not to be. :(

While Mark was taking painstaking measures, spending hours to cook a meal fit for his Queen,

Janell was in the midst of a high speed chase with the police!!! Unbeknownst to Mark, it ended just 80 yards away from his table and while safe, she was required by law to find an escort back to her home. WHAT A REBEL!!!

Mark to this day, completely understands why Janell didn’t ask him to go down the block and keep her company while she waited 2 hours for her ride. He is in no way still bitter about being left in the dark while hoping that the feast he prepared would taste good re-heated in a microwave.

After some time, they finally met in person. To Mark, Janell was an automatic yes. It was clear that she prided herself on her athleticism and her passion for staying active and outdoors. That’s a no brainer in a world where everyone is trying to flaunt shallow and material things. Janell’s humility was shining through. She was the perfect combination of punky, cute, fit and athletic without needing to brag about her looks.

In Janell’s mind, Mark was tall… And that was good enough. But he also sported a “decent vocabulary”. Sooo, that was a win.

This wasn’t one of those set it and forget it stories. Janell and Mark had to learn, adjust, grow and compromise. There were tough times and misunderstandings… In the process, Mark made a lot of personal changes and Janell rediscovered her passion for gymnastics. She dropped everything, risked everything and became a successful and sought after professional stuntwoman.

But each time they were apart, changing on their own, that same feeling came back, “What am I doing? That was the best version perfect I’d always hoped for and all I could ever want.”

There was one special night in particular when Mark knew he needed to act. Through frustration and tears from her difficult day, he fully learned the most important thing about her.

Among all of her other amazing qualities, Janell is nothing but goodness. There isn’t an ounce of hate or malice in her. When she gets upset or frustrated it’s because people aren’t being good to each other. She puts others before herself in everything she does. When her back’s against the wall she fights like hell but doesn’t harm a fly in the process. Mark knew he wanted to protect that beautiful light forever and he knew he could help her make the world a better place.

So on Thanksgiving Day in 2020, after almost a year spending every single day together in a simulation of the apocalypse, knowing that, even if the world truly ended, he would be the happiest man on earth simply because she was there….

He proposed.

In front of her family and on bended knee he presented his grandmother’s 100 year old engagement ring.

For a moment, she hesitated. He didn’t look so tall anymore and he was nervously stuttering. But she took the ring in her hands and he stood up to kiss her. Witnessing his towering presence once again, she was reassured that he was, indeed of above average height…

And she said yes!