How We Met
Jay and I first met in college. We had gone to the same university for several years and had never known each other. He says he first noticed me on campus in the winter of his sophomore year and that he “just needed an excuse to talk to me”. Not long after, he sent me a twitter message (I know, so romantic hehe) complimenting me on my new tattoo I had just recently posted a picture of on instagram. We exchanged several messages and then he asked for my number. I gave it to him and received a text a few minutes later saying “Hey it’s Jay” to which I replied “Jay who?” as if I didn’t remember who I had just been messaging minutes before (which OF COURSE I did). When that joke didn’t scare him away I knew he was a winner. After a little perseverance of him asking me to hang out, he finally convinced me. And like they say…the rest was history!
Since that beginning of our relationship, I knew Jay was something special and from an early point, I began to picture my future with him. I think we both knew that what we had together was something that neither of us had ever experienced but something we had both been searching and praying for.
I remember the first time that Jay asked me to marry him. He had just gotten out of surgery for his UCL and was still very drugged lol He sent me a snapchat saying “Babe marry me” followed by other snapchats of jumbled letters that made no sense. Over the course of our relationship, it became a joke of ours. We would be sitting at dinner and he would turn to me and say “Marry me” or we would be having a serious conversation about our future and he would say it again. “Babe marry me”. He asked me this question on such a frequent basis, that we joked that when the day came for him to actually propose, I wouldn’t even know he was being serious!
how they asked
Since Jay is from Puerto Rico, I have traveled there several times to visit his family. Jay had flown home several weeks before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family and I had planned to fly out a few days after Christmas to spend New Years with him and his family. This time though, we had a group of friends that were coming down with us as well! So me my sister, and a group of our best friends from college all flew down together to Puerto Rico on December 30!
The next day, on New Year’s Eve, Jay’s parents threw a big party with all of their close friends and family! They rented out a space and had it decorated beautifully! At one point during the party, Jay’s dad called everyone together so he could greet the guests. He thanked everyone for being there and gave a short speech. He then called his family up to the front to speak as well. Jay’s mom and siblings took turns greeting the guests and saying a few words. Then Jay was the last to speak. As soon as he took the mic, he began talking about how thankful he was for a special woman in his life. A slide show began to play with pictures of our relationship with the song “Die a happy man” by Thomas Rhett playing in the background. He called me up to the front and we stood together watching some of our most memorable times together on the screen. At this point I knew what was going on so I was already crying…A LOT. I now admire the girls that can look beautiful and flawless during their proposal videos/pictures because I was the girl with a puffy red face and make up smeared down to her chin LOL. After the slideshow finished, he pulled out the ring, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I looked at the beautiful ring and immediately jumped into his arms with a resounding yes. However, because of my sobbing I guess he was unable to hear my response. His mom then said, “So is that a yes?” to which Jay added, “ya come-on babe, we’ve practiced this before” with a huge smile on his face. Of course I said yes (again)!
“That’s not all”, Jay said. Seconds later, another video began to play. This video was of my mom, dad, brother, and sister congratulating us on our engagement! I was overwhelmed with happiness that Jay included my family in his proposal even though they were back in Ohio. I am still in awe of the thoughtfulness that my incredible fiancé (I still get giddy using that word) put into making the proposal so special! It was the best night of my life and I cannot wait to marry the man of my dreams! I thank God for exceeding all my hopes and prayers and blessing me with the most amazing man out there.
