olly and I met at UCLA in the winter of 1996. Our mutual friend Ryan Larson introduced us to each other at dinner in Reiber Hall dormitory. Neither of us paid much attention to each other except in friendly conversation. Molly's dorm room was the local hangout for all of our friend at the time, so naturally I did as well. The more time we spent together, the more I began to realize what a great woman she was (and is of course!). Our friendship soon grew into a relationship and has been growing stronger ever since.

If you are at all skeptical about our marriage read this story and tell me we weren't meant to be. In the late summer of 1998 Molly and I decided that we were going to get married, so we started shopping around for a ring. We knew exactly what we wanted to get, but had no clue where to find it. Beth, a friend of Molly's, referred us to one of her family friends, David, a jeweler in the Los Angeles diamond district.

David was a commercial jeweler and didn't normally see the regular public, but he made an exception in our case because we shared a mutual friend. After a few months we found exactly what we wanted. I didn't want Molly to know when I was gong to propose, so I told David that I would call when I wanted him to make the ring. The next day I called David and told him that I wanted the ring by the next Monday, which, for some reason, I thought was the day after Christmas (Christmas fell on a Thursday by the way), the day I had planned to propose. The bigger problem was that I didn't realize that I had made the mistake until Christmas night.

Molly and I spent Christmas with our families. Molly in Los Angeles and I in San Diego. However, our families had planned to meet in Brentwood at 9:00 A.M. the next day to go to the Getty Museum together. By this time I didn't have a clue what to do. Should I take a chance that David would be working on the day after Christmas? Or should I accept defeat and wait until another time? I decided to chance it. I made up a really ambiguous story to tell my parents as to why I had to leave for Los Angeles two-hours before them and I woke-up at 4:30 A.M. the next morning to set out for David's.

When I arrived in the diamond district at 7:00 A.M., the usually crowded streets and sidewalks were completely empty. My heart sunk. I tried the door to David's building, but the security guard told me that no one was in the building and that no one was coming in today, after all it was the day after Christmas! Feeling very sorry for myself, I moseyed over to Micky-D's and got some breakfast. I then walked back to my car and got out the last 35 cents that I had left and walked over to a pay phone in one last effort to contact David. The phone rang three times and then I heard a "Hello?" My heat jumped. It was David. I ask if he had the ring ready and he said yes. "Home run!" I thought. But there was still a chance for a ground-rule double. I had one more problem...I didn't have the cash to pay him because all of the banks were closed. Once again I had to take a chance. I hurried up to his office.

David was the only one in his office building. None of the other jewelers were around. He showed me the ring and it was beautiful. Then, he told me a story about how he just had a feeling that he should finish the ring early in case something happened. Luckily for me he followed that feeling. I told David of my plans to propose that day and he agreed to let me have the ring without giving him the money. I walked out of his office, ring in hand, and ready to propose to my future wife. But I still wasn't out of the dark yet. The hardest part for me was yet to come.

We finally made it to the Getty, but I was too nervous to enjoy the artwork. My next major task was to ask Tom, Molly's father, for Molly's hand in marriage. I finally got the up the guts to ask right before we went to lunch, and luckily for me he said that he and Pat would love to have me as part of their family. Needless to say everyone else at lunch was confused by the jovial mood Tom and I were in. After lunch I finally got Molly alone, got down on one knee and ask her to marry me, and since it was my lucky day she said yes. After I asked her to marry me, Molly swore that she was on to me the whole time (personally I don't believe her).

Molly and I made it back to the area where we were supposed to meet our parents. We made sure that we were the last ones in the group to arrive. When we walked up to the group, Molly told everyone that I had finally given her her Christmas gift. She then extended her left hand to reveal the engagement ring. Pat, Molly's mom, said, "So what does this mean?" as a confused look crept across her face. I said the only thing I could think of, "This means we're engaged." And, of course hugs and kisses were distributed accordingly.

The conclusion to Our Story has not been written yet, but we hope that you will come to share a very important part of it with us on November 26th. We love you all.

Love, Molly and Jesse

Our Story AKA "The Close Call" was awarded the "Cool Engagement Award" by the St. Louis Wedding Club. Check it out here

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