Our story begins in high school even though Cal and Emily grew up only two blocks apart from each other, and later, five houses down on the same street. Emily was a senior and Cal was a sophomore. Despite the overlap between grades in such a small school, Cal and Emily only had one class together, anatomy and physiology.

Emily always viewed and knew Cal as ‘Sydney’s younger brother’, but that year her view changed. Cal was often face first reading his science textbooks when he would look up to find Emily staring at him. He and his classmate, Joel, sat behind Emily and would frequently play the ‘Emily game’. They would take turns pretending to discuss classwork and mix in “Emily” and say it louder with each turn. The person that got caught saying “Emily” when she turned around and said “what” lost. This clearly impressed Emily enough to invite a sophomore boy to her graduation open house.

Cal attended Emily’s 2013 high school graduation open house, wrote her a kind congratulation letter, and picked up one of her wallet sized senior pictures. Little did they know that was the last time their paths would cross for nearly a decade. Emily went off to college in Milwaukee at Marquette University, and Cal in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan. Cal spent college summers in Cape Hatteras and lived in Santa Cruz for a year. Emily was between Milwaukee and West Michigan and spent a year in Madrid prior to attending speech language pathology graduate school in Chicago. After finishing graduate school, Cal took a job in Chicago to begin his professional career.

So you’re probably thinking that Emily and Cal’s reconnection begins in Chicago, but that is not the case. Despite overlapping in Chicago for nearly a year and a half, their paths still did not cross. Cal decided life in the city wasn’t for him and took a pit stop back in Muskegon in the summer of 2022. They didn’t finally reconnect until Emily was back for Hannah’s wedding in West Michigan and Cal was hanging out with Reese and Emily’s cousin, Natalie.

That night, Emily felt a spark and was quite impressed with Cal’s jokes and pool skills. She reached out to Natalie and asked her for Cal’s phone number. Despite Cal telling Emily endlessly how he hated Chicago and given that she recently purchased a new condo there, she still thought it was worth a shot. Emily texted Cal the following day after she drove back to Chicago and noted that if you’re ever back in the city for work, let me know. Conveniently, Cal had to go back to Chicago for work that same week.

They spent their first date walking Lakeshore Trail, and Emily couldn’t wait to get back to Muskegon that weekend for the Fourth of July in hopes of spending another date with Cal. Cal was weary of Emily’s ties to Chicago, but enjoyed their time together. Over the Fourth weekend, Cal conveniently asked Emily to give him a ride home from a late night at The Deck. While pulling into Cal’s driveway, that is where Emily first laid eyes on Cal’s van, Pearl, that she heard so much about.

It was late, pitch black outside, and Cal invited Emily to check out his big white van. Although many girls would shy away from stepping into a sprinter van in the middle of the night, Emily did not. Cal showed Emily around the van and excitedly asked “do you want to drive her?!”. Emily without hesitation said “hand me the keys”.

This moment is when things really shifted for Cal as he watched Emily back the van out of his parents' winding driveway more gracefully than any of his friends. Cal and Emily continued to drive around the backroads of North Muskegon, around Scenic Dr, and out to the beach. Cal still hadn’t really opened up to Emily at this point, but the stars were starting to align. He was starting to get in his comfort zone between being in Pearl and driving to the beach. Cal wanted to look at the stars on the beach and share his feelings for Emily. He knew that they couldn’t park Pearl at any of the State Parks as a big white van sticks out like a sore thumb and would immediately get kicked out by the DNR.

Cal fortunately and brilliantly remembered Schweigert’s neighborhood gate code which gave Pearl prime parking right in front of Duck Lake State Park. Emily and Cal laid out a blanket to look at the stars and both shared their feelings for each other and the rest is history. From then on, Cal was frequently planning ‘work trips’ to Chicago despite saying he was never going back to that city weeks earlier. Cal and Emily tried new restaurants together and would lay in the sun along Lakeshore Trail. Emily would drive back to West Michigan nearly every other weekend, and they would go to the beach and enjoy spending time with each other’s family.

Emily eventually invited Cal to her birthday weekend in Traverse City, a place that means so much to her. Cal and Emily obviously drove Pearl up north fully loaded with kiteboarding gear that Cal couldn’t wait to convince Emily to try. Emily bravely grabbed the kite without hesitation in very challenging conditions. For those reading that can understand kiteboarding jargon, it was a strong, straight west wind, 3.5 ft chop, and Van’s beach jetty directly downwind. Cal pretended to keep it cool as he had to prevent Emily from flying away or getting yanked right into the jetty.

After a bit of kiteboarding basics, Emily hopped on the board for the first time and rode nearly fifty yards, still something Cal has never seen after teaching countless people how to kite. Despite crashing at the end, Emily managed to not tomahawk Cal’s kite on the Van’s beach jetty and leave in one piece. Cal was sold, and that weekend, Cal and Emily would make their relationship official.

Cal began to quit chasing wind and started chasing Emily instead. So much so that he chased her all the way back to Chicago, a city he swore he would never return to. Emily and Cal’s relationship grew in Chicago, and they lived together in Emily’s lovely Lincoln Park condo. They cooked wonderful meals together, both grew professionally, and made so many amazing friendships. Cal experienced significant promotions, and Emily landed her dream job at an acute inpatient rehab hospital. However, Emily knew the minute that Cal moved back to Chicago that their clock in the city was ticking.

Cal and Emily tossed around the idea of where they would move next…maybe Northern Michigan…maybe Oregon…or maybe even California. Emily didn’t know if she could see herself in California, but thought it was worth exploring. They decided to take a trip from San Francisco all the way down to Santa Barbara and stopped along the way visiting Cal’s old stomping grounds in Santa Cruz and favorite spots in between including Monterey, Carmel by the Sea, and Big Sur.

As the idea of moving started to become more real, Cal and Emily knew they had to check out the final southern portion of California together and explore San Diego County. They came back for another trip and stumbled upon Encinitas, and Emily said “shit, this is nice”.

Now that Emily was sold on California, Cal convinced her to trade sirens and rats for sunsets and surf. They quickly began to put the wheels in motion to begin the move. Emily listed her condo for sale in June of 2024, devastatingly quit her job, and they loaded all of their belongings into a POD. The POD was addressed to North County San Diego with no street number as Cal and Emily had no place to live lined up.

They took advantage of the period between moves to spend time with their families and enjoy peak Michigan summer before traveling to the land of endless summer. While at home, Emily convinced her mom, Stephanie, to do a road trip with her on her drive to Encinitas. Cal’s dad, Steve, volunteered to do the same. These were cherished trips that they would never forget, but for different reasons.

Stephanie rode comfortably in Emily’s midsize SUV while stopping in cute towns along the way. They pit stopped in Zion National Park and had a mother daughter trip that Emily will never forget. To Cal’s surprise, Steve was not very comfortable riding in his beloved Pearl. The passenger seat with no arm rest, loud cabin, questionable wheel bearings, and no emergency brakes made him quite anxious while driving through the winding mountains in Colorado.

Both Stephanie and Steve made it to Encinitas and got to experience a taste of what Emily and Cal loved so much about it. Unfortunately for Steve, his trip ended with being stranded along the 101 as both Pearl’s rear brakes, wheel bearings, and hub assemblies all decided to give out simultaneously… “at least she made it here”! They moved Cal and Emily into their temporary 250 square foot studio where Cal would wake up at 5:30AM to take work calls and meetings at a table three feet away from Emily while she would do her best to sleep with an eye mask and ear plugs.

Emily was interviewing at the hospitals and rehabs around the area, but wasn’t finding exactly what she was missing from her last job. At the same time, Emily and Cal were relentlessly searching for a place to live and underestimated how competitive rental properties were in Encinitas. After five long weeks in a studio, Cal and Emily’s luck began to change. The rehab hospital Emily previously worked at in Chicago reached back out to her about a new position based out of California as a west coast admission liaison. Her territory would include all of California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona. Without hesitation, Emily accepted the position.

Simultaneously, they stumbled upon a ranch style home in the favorite neighborhood of Encinitas, Leucadia. It made the perfect home to start their California journey. They used their new base on the west coast to take a handful of trips. They traveled to British Columbia for Emily’s 30th birthday, camped in Pearl at Joshua Tree, and took family trips to Costa Rica and Florida. Emily’s work took her to Maui, Oahu, and Lake Tahoe which obviously Cal had no choice but to tag along. Cal needless to say enjoyed the perks of Emily’s new position. Emily and Cal were also fortunate enough to have over ten guests come visit and stay with them in their new Encinitas home all within a four month span.

As their life together began to settle in, Cal started to put the wheels in motion to prepare for asking Emily for her hand in marriage. Cal began by asking for the support of his parents and Emily’s parents. Stephanie, Chris, Steve, and Monica were all thrilled with their children taking the next step in their relationship and reinforced Emily and Cal’s love for each other.

Cal had never owned or wore any jewelry in his life, so finding an engagement ring was a bit out of his wheel house. Fortunately, Cal’s mom, Monica, was able to guide him through the process. She introduced him to a close jeweler friend of hers, and Cal also began to study gemology in his free time. Cal and his jeweler worked closely for months to narrow in on the right diamond, and while Cal was back in Michigan for a visit, Cal and Monica got to go through all the options and both converged on the diamond that Emily now wears on her finger. Cal had his jeweler design a custom setting and ship the ring out to him in California while Emily was on a work trip.

Cal and Emily had a trip planned to Yosemite in October of 2025, and that’s where Cal wanted to propose to Emily. Cal hid the ring in a secret compartment in his backpack and tried to play coy leading up to and during the trip. Cal did his best to not tip off Emily that a proposal may be happening this trip. He wanted the moment to be a complete surprise, only theirs, and decided to do all the filming and photos himself. He didn’t want Emily to have any ideas when he took out his camera, so the first three days of the trip, Cal “annoyingly” stopped along numerous hikes to take timelapses with his camera. Cal familiarized himself with the different mountains, canyons, and where the sun would be throughout the day so he could determine which spot would make the best spot for a proposal.

It was day four of the trip and day four without showers that Cal decided to put his plan in action. He requested that they do a hike that they originally completed on the first day. Emily, surprised, asked Cal “Why do you want to do that hike again?” and Cal answered “because it was my favorite hike, and I want to get another time lapse from the top”. Emily reluctantly agreed to do the hike and Cal made a plan to get a really early start in order to get ‘first tracks’ on the hike. It was a perfect day in Yosemite with sunshine and blue skies. Cal and Emily embarked on the hike and everything was going as planned in Cal’s head. The trails were quiet, almost no one was around, and they headed to the peak of Sentinel Dome where Cal wanted to propose. He had a certain spot in mind, but as they headed up to the peak, they had company. There were about five other people at the peak and although that was very few people for a national park, Cal wanted the moment to be just theirs and didn’t want to hear claps or cheering from strangers during their moment.

Fortunately Cal had another idea in mind of a different spot he took note of days earlier. However, while they were at the top of Sentinel Dome, he walked around and noticed a spot that overlooked the entire canyon, had El Capitan in the background, and was not visible to any of the people on Sentinel Dome. He asked Emily to follow him down there, and the Safety Susan in Emily did not want to climb down the slope of Sentinel Dome. It took a bit of pressure, but Cal ultimately noted to Emily that it would be the best spot for a time lapse and for them to eat a snack. Emily reluctantly followed Cal to the edge of Sentinel Dome where Cal would set up his camera for a ‘time lapse’. Cal invited Emily to be in the ‘time lapse’ with him on a flat rock that overlooked the canyon. He feared his backpack was going to slide down Sentinel Dome or that he would fumble the ring while taking it out of the box. Finally, when Emily climbed up on the rock, Cal got down on one knee and asked Emily to marry him. Emily said yes, and Cal was relieved to finally have the ring on Emily’s finger.