We met through our mutual love and talent for the martial arts. Jackie's dad was even one of Matt's instructors, but they first got to know each other while performing martial arts demonstrations around the world. We were friends from youth through young adulthood and became a couple while Jackie was getting her Master's degree in Switzerland. We have been together now for almost 12 years and are looking forward to getting married this December.

We planned a getaway in Carmel over Memorial Day weekend in 2021, but I was still unsure of exactly how the proposal would go, only knowing it was going to be that weekend. I had the ring, but was still deciding when and where to pop the question! I thought of sunrise or sunset but also wanted the moment to be personal and private. Once I decided on sunset, I had to figure out where would make for a great memory. My first idea was the hotel we stayed in, and thought about asking during golf since that was our new hobby together. I could ask during the last hole but also didn't want the people behind us to be pressuring us for time. I also thought about decorating one of the holes that was right next to the hotel with flower petals and tea lights and then going to dinner right afterwards. The problem there was the restaurant was closed for dinner so that meant we would still have to go out. Since we had to leave anyways, I decided to go for a beautiful view along the coast while the sun was going down. We had our nice round of golf but it was quite windy that day. When I asked about getting dressed up, Jackie responded saying that she was still cold from the day of golf and wasn't sure she wanted to go out that evening. After some persuading, she agreed to go for a more relaxed evening after watching the sunset. I had decided on a place that was located along 17 mile drive and got us out the door in time to watch the sun go down into the ocean. What I didn't plan for was that 17 mile drive is also a residential neighborhood that is monitored by gate guards. They also stop letting tourists in around 7:30pm, and since I was there at 8pm given the time of the sunset during the end of May, we were asked to turn around. I noticed that the guard had an accent and asked him if he spoke Spanish. He said yes so I told him, in Spanish, that I was going down to the water to ask my girlfriend to marry me. He smiled and said we could proceed! Jackie asked me what I said since she doesn't speak Spanish. I told her that it was our first time there and we drove from out of town to watch the sunset before going home. She bought the story I told her so we were off to the the location I planned. My plan was for us to stop in the parking lot outside of Sunset Point Overlook where I could drop to one knee and ask her to marry me. When we arrived there, the gate was closed with a note saying they wouldn't open the parking lot until June...a week later than when we were there! I wasn't going to quit! I turned the car around and looked to see if there was another way in to watch the sunset. Jackie noticed an opening in the fence, so I drove over to find out it was someone's driveway. I parked the car in the dirt outside of the fence and was determined to get out to the ocean to watch that sunset and ask her to marry me. We found that the opening was actually a driveway to someone's home, but about 20 feet past that driveway was a golf course that went out to the ocean. I persevered and walked down the driveway with Jackie in hand, onto the golf course, and out the 17th hole at Cypress Point Golf Course. It took a lot of quick thinking and determination, but we made it out to the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where I asked Jaclyn Marie Ruby to be my wife.