How We Met
I first laid eyes on Jake in the fall of 2003, it was my first day in 7th-grade band class at West Pine Middle School. We both played the clarinet. His bright blue eyes were breathtaking back then (still are today). I had just lost my dad unexpectedly and switched schools in the middle of the fall semester. I desperately wanted one person to treat me just like any other kid, Jake did just that. We spent a few years attending the same schools but on separate paths. We took turns having crushes on one another but never truly acting on them.
We did technically have our first kiss during a game of truth or dare in the 9th grade. We went on a few dates in high school but nothing came of it. A few years after college, newly single, I ran into him at the Dick’s Sporting Goods in our hometown and that old spark started right back up. We went out for a few drinks, had some truly lovely dates over that summer but once again, our paths diverged. He went out to Utah to work on a Buffalo Ranch for 9 months. He came home for a visit that next Valentine’s Day and asked if I wanted to meet up for dinner. We spent nearly that entire week together, practically inseparable. I knew then that I had to pursue the feelings welling up inside me and booked a flight to see him in Utah. He asked me to be his girlfriend on March 22, 2015, and we’ve been together ever since. We moved to Asheville, NC together two months later and never looked back!
How They Asked
We were traveling to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando and I had planned our day down to the hour, or so I thought! I even made our Slytherin Robes save a little bit of money ahead of time! We arrived at the park with 30 minutes to spare before the gates opened. I knew that Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure was going to be slammed so we booked it from the gate to the ride and only had a 20-minute wait. After the ride (which was awesome, btw) I noticed only a 10-minute wait for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey so we started heading in the direction of Hogwarts Castle. Jake stopped me and asked if I wanted to take a picture in front of Hogwarts Castle and I agreed.
He flagged down two very nice people and asked them to take a picture, he sneakily set his phone to record a video. We were standing there for what I thought was a picture *straightened his robe* and he said “Wait” and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I immediately burst into tears, tried to squeeze out “Yes!” and we were engaged! The ring he proposed with belonged to his great-grandmother in the late 1800s/early 1900s, very meaningful to me as I studied Art History and am a complete genealogy nerd. It was an absolute life-long dream come true!
