How We Met
Sam and I met in a bar-Rec Room in Towson, Maryland. It was a Monday night (May 13, 2013, to be exact) and I had had the worst day ever at work, so my friend Katy told me to meet her out for one drink. Though I did not want to go out at all, I got into my car and headed to the bar. She and I were watching the Caps game when two guys approached us-one of them Sam, who happened to know Katy. I was hooked the moment we talked. Sam and I had a large number of mutual friends, so it wasn’t hard running into each other. After a few nights seeing each other out with friends, he finally got the confidence to ask me on our first date.
Our first date was definitely one for the books. He picked me up and I could tell he was nervous-so nervous in fact that he almost ran a stop sign (his legs were shaking he couldn’t fully hit the brakes hard enough). He took me to his favorite sushi spot and we talked for hours before realizing we should probably order dinner (sorry to our waitress). I think I knew after our first date that he was my guy. Unfortunately, just one week after our date, I left for a month of study abroad in Italy. Timing may not have been perfect, but we kept in touch while I was away.
I never thought I would miss someone so much after just one date, and he wasn’t even my boyfriend. When I returned back to the States, we became pretty inseparable the rest of summer. Once again, timing. I left to finish out my last year of college at JMU, while he reminisced about his college years (he had graduated back in 2010). But I like to believe he couldn’t quite live without me. Finally, in November of 2013 on a weekend I came home, he mustered the confidence to make our relationship official and asked me to be his girlfriend.
We managed to stay strong despite the distance (a 3-hour drive is nothing), he would visit at times and I would go home occasionally. After graduation, our relationship only got better. We bought a house together in April 2015, then a dog, and continued to live life to the fullest. Living together made our lives so much more of an adventure. We made it a habit to hike as much as possible, to explore Maryland and take in as much nature as possible. That was our thing: hiking.
Sam is extremely personable, kind, thoughtful and soooooo dang handsome. He can cook, plays sports (we’re on the same rec soccer team now), unclog my hair from the shower drain, and makes me feel like the happiest person on earth (though I don’t show it every day). He may not be a helpless romantic, or full of surprises, but he’s perfect in every way to me. I just can’t get enough of him and can’t wait to continue our adventures together.
how they asked
I like to think I’m able to figure things out, but NOPE. Sam took me by complete surprise, surprisingly. We had discussed a lifetime together, but I never really knew what was on his mind in terms of if he was ready to make that next move. There had been hikes in the past where I would get excited or nervous whenever he kneeled down to tie a shoe, but the joke was on me, his shoe was really untied…We had decided to go on a trip to Hawaii to visit one of our closest friends, Zach, who had moved out there a few years ago. I thought it was just a spur of the moment trip to see a friend, but apparently, those two had been planning the entire trip out for months, for one main reason-the proposal.
We were to be in Hawaii for 13 days, SOOOO much time for adventures and exploring paradise. On our first night, we had a dinner out with our friend and his close friend, Matt, who happened to be the photographer during the engagement, it was just their sneaky way of having us meet (that way it wouldn’t be weird when he was with us later in the week).
A week into the trip-we had done a ton of hikes all over the island. So it didn’t seem strange to me to go on another hike with our friends (the photographer included) on Thursday, February 8. Sam and Zach told me it was going to be the best view of the island, a hike that I just COULD NOT miss while I was here. So naturally, I laced up my shoes and excitedly headed out the door, no thought in my head about a proposal. Also, not even thinking twice about Matt asking if he could document the hike (one that he had done many times).
The hike was called Crouching Lion and when I saw the views were absolutely breathtaking, I mean they literally took your breath away! We made it to one of the highest points and it was so freakin’ windy I was a little concerned about looking out at the views. Sam had me walk out to the edge of the cliff so I could take pictures of the view. I was taking a panorama and when I turned around he was on one knee. He was tearing up and shaking (maybe because if we moved to the side too much, someone was falling off the cliff…shortest engagement ever) and I blacked out anything he said or I said. I was so shocked. It was definitely the happiest moment in my life. The views may have been beautiful, but at the end, he was the one to take my breath away.
