We met through a mutual friend while at a cabin in Mendocino for New Years 2010-11 (thanks Felix!). Though we’d both attended UC Santa Cruz, overlapping for one year, and had numerous mutual friends, we had never met before! In Mendo Hillary was impressed by Jamie’s awesome cooking skills and great video he made chronicling the weekend. Jamie liked Hillary’s outdoorsy-ness and the creative way she made chimes out of bottles to play along with the great folk music jams. Our first date was supposed to see an SF comedy show, but when we got there it was sold out. Luckily, we salvaged the evening by grabbing dinner nearby and went out dancing back in the east bay. Pretty soon we were inseparable...
...and we’ve made a point of going to lots of comedy shows and dancing a lot since!
The Proposal
It’s rare that there’s ever a weekday where we both are free, but one Tuesday in December it happened! We decided to take advantage of a little time together by going to see the The Hobbit. Jamie had suggested the Grand Lake theater near Lake Merritt - it’s a classic old theater he knew Hillary had never been to. He had it planned out (so much so that during the Gollum scene, Jamie couldn’t help but covertly rub the ring in his pocket (“my precious”). When we emerged the sun was setting and Jamie suggested we go for a walk around the lake. Hillary was distracted, chattering about the lake birds, but eventually we sat down at a bench and looked out at the beautiful changing colors above the shimmering water. A saxaphone player started playing in the distance, the sounds drifting towards us; it was pretty much a perfect moment. He turned to Hillary and asked, “Do you love me?” Still in the dark about everything she said, “Duh, of course I do.” Jamie sighed with a smile, knelt down on both knees and asked, “Do you want to marry me?” He held open a box and in it was a ring his grandmother had once worn. And of course, church bells started ringing. And through the surprise and overwhelming emotion, Hillary said “yes” (actually first, “Oh shit! This is really Happening...”)
It was very romantic.
Afterward, we walked to a nearby sushi restaurant and celebrated, commemorating the event by drawing our entwined hearts on wooden sake boxes.
That's a nice story! Hillary's initial response is sooo par for our side of the family!! Love Aunt Mindi
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