David and Esperanza’s story started with the Bernie campaign in the spring of 2016…
eight years later they are finally making it legit.


(How to cram eight years together into a few paragraphs? We'll do our best to hit the highlights.)


Both David and Esperanza were in a Facebook group coordinating the Tuolumne County Bernie campaign efforts. It was through that group that Esperanza learned that the People’s Environmental Network, or PEN, of Sonora would be screening the Micheal Moore documentary; Where to Invade Next. David, as a founding member of PEN, was running the projection equipment that evening. Unbeknownst to him, Esperanza had already seen the film with her 18-year-old child. (This detail will become relevant.) On this evening, said offspring was scheduled for a shift at Baskin Robbins just up the road. Partway through the film, Esperanza left to drop her child off. She returned to watch the rest of the film alone.


Later that evening David sent her a private message apologizing for unintentionally exposing her child to nudity in the film. An apology Esperanza found amusing. She assured David that she wasn’t the least bit offended. She explained that, firstly, her kid was 18. Second, having grown up with a best friend whose parents were naturalists, elderly people getting into a hot tub wasn’t even considered PG13 in her household. After this funny misunderstanding, David messaged to ask Esperanza out on a date. She agreed, with the caveat that only a few local restaurants lived up to her dietary restrictions. They were on David’s short list as well, because he had the same diagnosis.


What David was unaware of, at the time, was that Esperanza had recently decided to deploy a brutally honest “open book” dating strategy. Rather than tiptoeing around all the taboo topics like religion, politics, health issues, etc. she’d decided to lay it all out there on the very first date. “If there’s a deal breaker, I may as well know it to begin with and move on.” It turned out they had far more in common than anyone would suspect of an Aerospace Engineer and a multimedia artist. Over an hour later, they needed to leave their table, as other guests were waiting. The two walked up one side of Washington Street and down the other without a single lull in the conversation. When they got tired of walking, they sat on the front porch swing of the charter school Esperanza’s children attended. The date ended several hours later with a kiss and the promise of a second date.


The following week, David invited Esperanza over for a home cooked meal. She brought an additional guest, her tiny emotional support dog “Old-Man” Snacks. While very well behaved, especially for a chihuahua, Snacks was totally indifferent to anyone except for Esperanza and that included her own children. After dinner, David and Esperanza retired to the couch to watch The Princess Bride. (If David hadn’t been a Princess Bride fan, it would have been a deal breaker.) Then a minor miracle occurred; Snacks trotted across the couch and climbed into David’s lap to request pets. It was at that moment Esperanza knew David was worthy of her trust.


That weekend Esperanza was booked for a storytelling performance in Minden Nevada and the organizers were providing a hotel room as part of her compensation. She invited David to come along, giving him a chance to see her public performance skills. They had a lively conversation on the long drive there. Esperanza’s telling went well and they both enjoyed listening to the other tellers at the event. The following day was Father’s Day. David planned to drive to Fresno to take his dad and stepmother out for dinner. He gave Esperanza the choice of taking him back to Sonora or coming along. She chose to give him a ride to Fresno and that’s how within 10 days of their first date Esperanza was already introduced to one half of David’s parents.


They spent two nights on the ranch with David’s Dad and stepmom. It was during their stay that Esperanza knew it was love. In the spirit of her new absolute honesty policy, even though she was terrified it would send David running, she told him how she felt. The conversation went something like this.
Esperanza: I know we barely know each other, and it’s all happening so fast, but I think I’m falling in love with you.
David: I think I’m falling in love with you too. What do you want to do? Should we back off and take it slower?
Esperanza: No, it’s just, scary.
David: Maybe love is just scary?
David also demonstrated his skill at rap by singing the entirety of Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang, which Esperanza found hilarious.


The relationship hit a potential roadblock a couple months later when David was presented with a job opportunity at Carl Zeiss in Dublin California. Esperanza feared that relocating for this job might put an end to their budding relationship. But she still gave David a much-needed haircut and helped him pick out a professional outfit for the interview. He got the job and invited Esperanza to move with him to the Bay Area. Once she found her youngest daughter a rental in a home locally with likeminded roommates, she agreed. Their first apartment was in San Leandro, and it came with challenges. It was small and loud and quite a commute from David’s work. But moving in together was absolutely the right choice.
Esperanza and David both love travel and cultural experiences. Travel can often test relationships, but these two are the perfect traveling companions. So far they’ve been to New York, where they stayed with David’s brother DJ and his girlfriend Kris. The couple has visited France twice, and took a day trip to England during one visit. Their trip to Spain coincided with the upcoming Christmas holiday so they got to visit the Santa Cecilia holiday market. They accidentally scheduled their trip to Amsterdam during Kings Day. They also went to Costa Rica for David’s cousin’s wedding.

About a year later the couple moved to a much nicer two-bedroom apartment in Dublin. By then, the roommate situation had fallen apart for Esperanza’s daughter, and she moved into the spare bedroom. The new complex had swimming pools, an artificial lake with ducks and geese and their balcony looked onto a hill that was free of any man-made structures. In the evening, they could watch deer and turkeys on the hill and pretend they weren’t living in the concrete wasteland of a city. Having a view of this greenspace became essential when the pandemic lockdown closed outdoor public spaces and forced David to work from home.


Around this time Snacks had been diagnosed with stage four congestive heart failure. The veterinarian told them that he was unlikely to survive for very long. When one of David’s hometown friends posted on Facebook about a puppy in need of adoption, they decided to drive up to Sonora to see it. They returned to their apartment with David’s first puppy; Chewy a chihuahua-dachshund mix. Working from home gave David a lot more time to bond with their new puppy than he would have had under normal circumstances. Though Snacks was pretty old and grumpy by now, he quickly adjusted to his furry young padawan.


During the pandemic Kiera met someone online. She moved out of their spare room and in with her girlfriend Kaynah in Portland Oregon. David and Esperanza had the apartment to themselves and the pups for a time, until January of 2023 when David was hired as a mechanical engineer for Energy Storage Systems in Wilsonville Oregon. Working in green energy offered David the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution toward saving the planet. The job also brought Esperanza closer to both of her children. (Kiera and Kaynah were still in Portland and her daughter Megan and son-in-law Josh had been living in Carnation Washington for the past couple of years.) David would have family in the area as well. His father’s bother Ron and his wife Debbie lived in Beaverton and their daughter Meghan and her family live nearby. Best of all they’d be moving to an area where nature is abundant and renting a house with a yard was affordable. They quickly found a three-bedroom home in Beaverton, with a big backyard, a hot tub and a beautiful strip of green space running along the back fence.


Moving to the Pacific Northwest in January is not recommended. All moves are a nightmare, but this one was particularly physically painful for Esperanza. It would be more than a month before her pain was in check again. The cloudy days of Oregon’s winter months would prove to be an adjustment for them both. But by spring they’d settled into their new home. The bare rosebushes out front filled with color and they discovered three prolific blueberry bushes growing in the backyard. Both Chewy and Snacks enjoyed wandering the big backyard and Esperanza was grateful to be done with cleaning the potty pad on the balcony. The couple began gardening in earnest. David excels at planning and planting, while Esperanza prefers watering, tending and harvesting, which makes them a perfect gardening team.


Since the move to Oregon there have been celebrations with David’s Aunt, Uncle, cousin and her family. Visits from both his parents and sister for his 40th birthday. David traveled to Wisconsin for work, while Esperanza went to Washington to pet it for Megan and Josh. They’ve been on three camping trips. Esperanza’s went to her first Comic Con in Portland and got David to participate in cosplay for the first time. There was Halloween pumpkin carving with Esperanza’s daughter Kiera and her partners. Unfortunately, Old-Man Snacks’ big heart finally gave out, shortly before Thanksgiving. The vet guessed that he was close to 19 years old. He’d managed to survive another 4 years after past his diagnosis. (He had a good long run for a little dog.) David and Esperanza brought Chewy with them when they traveled to California for the Thanksgiving holiday.


The couple cut down a holiday tree at a family owned tree farm, a tradition Esperanza missed from her childhood. They traveled to Washington to celebrate the Christmas holiday with Esperanza’s daughter Megan, her husband and his brother. Esperanza became completely obsessed decorating sugar cookies with royal icing and got everyone else involved too. There was an ill-fated snowboarding trip on Christmas day that resulted in Esperanza getting a severe concussion. In January a crazy ice storm in Portland knocked out the power at their house while David’s mom and her boyfriend were in town for a visit. Thankfully Uncle Ron and Aunt Debbie had a spare room for David, Esperanza and Chewy. They all had a lovely visit over several nights until the power was finally restored.


After the excitement of the holidays died down, drama of the ice storm passed and Esperanza’s brain recovered, it became clear that they were all missing Snacks, but Chewy most of all. He had become depressed, mostly sleeping and eating. In late February, after a lot of anticipation, David and Esperanza adopted an adorable one year old bobbed tail chihuahua. They named this little girl Ahsoka, another Star Wars name. After a short adjustment period Chewy and Ahsoka became the best of friends. They are often found cuddled against each other on the couch or chasing one and other across the entirety of the big back yard.


A little over a month ago, shorty after the 8-year anniversary of their very first date, David officially proposed to Esperanza. That brings us to present day as we await the legal documents and official ceremony that will declare the relationship of David Mitchell and Esperanza Phoenix a “forever thing.”


The happy couple looks forward to celebrating this momentous event with all of you.