How We Met
My husband and I always say that our story is straight out of a movie, and we like to call it: One Day, 5 Years Later. We met in Fullerton, CA back in 2009. I was a graphic design student attending CSUF and he was a surfer boy enjoying the sunshine and looking for work. My sister and I were friends with his roommate and one amazing evening of watching American Idol and laughing until our stomachs hurt turned into a beautiful friendship. I was dating someone long distance at the time, and although I was falling for this new boy I knew I had to wait until the right time to be with him.
But sadly, that time never came. 3 months later Rhett had to move home to be closer to his mother who was living alone and needed him close by. We said goodbye, and I wouldn’t see him again for 5 long years. During those years, I moved to New York for design and he began school in pre-med. We spoke a few times through Facebook over the years, but we were so far apart that quick hello’s just became memories of each other. After several broken hearts I was eventually preparing myself to just be an unmarried cat lady forever, and adopted a Calico kitten to keep me company. But as fate would have it, Rhett’s brother was getting married in San Diego where I was living, and he called me up to arrange a date at the beach. That day gave me butterflies as I saw him walk up to my door and smile as though no time had passed at all. 5 years melted away in moments and I realized that he had always been the one I was searching for.
The crush began back in 2009!
The famous beach day date.. 5 years later.
how they asked
4 months after that first date, Rhett called and told me he had a weekend planned in the Redwoods. We lived 6 hours apart for those 4 months and our entire relationship, so time together consisted of weekend adventures. I made the long journey up to his house in San Luis Obispo (where we live now) and upon arrival we immediately headed North for our excursion. The next morning, I was gently nudged awake at an insanely early hour and escorted to the car. I sleepy took in my surroundings as we drove deeper into the forest, the the sunrise being replaced with patches of mist. The parking lot seemed as sleepy as I had been and we were happy to see that we were only sharing the forest with a few early morning hikers.
It all seemed so surreal that I began to look at his pockets, waiting to see the edges of a square-shaped box poking out. I had my suspicions that he would be proposing soon, but to my dismay, his pockets looked empty. We walked hand-in-hand, breathing in the fresh dew and admiring the massive redwoods. All was quiet around us, and when I heard his footsteps stop I turned just in time to see him reach into his pocket and get down on his knee. My heart dropped, and I tried everything I could to make that moment stop in time. “I tell you every day how much I love you”, he said, “so I didn’t know what else I could say, except today I am asking you to be with me forever. Will you marry me?”
I swear even the trees couldn’t help but sprinkle a little extra light on that spot where it was just the two of us, him asking me the most important question in my life and me, fighting back tears of unbelief and pure joy as I nodded wildly and said “Yes!! Yes, I will!” The most special part was that he proposed to me with his Grandmother’s vintage ring, as mine hadn’t quite reached him in time. I wore her sweet ring until my husband took me back to the place where he had proposed and placed on my finger the stunning ring he had chosen for me. I was so honored to wear my fiance’s grandmother’s vintage ring!
