How We Met
Not many people remember many details from the flights they’ve taken. I know I don’t, except for one, Southwest flight 5488. Departing September 27, 2017, at 6:25 pm Denver bound out of Boston.
I was a bit late and was one of the last passengers to board, if not the last. True to my superstitious flying self, I immediately started to scan the aisles and rows for any remaining open window seats. As I rushed down the aisle I homed in, on a seat that had an aisle passenger with both the middle and window seats open, Yahtzee!
I noticed the man had his head and tray table down so he could type and “pretend” to not see fellow passengers looking for seats, typical decoy, but not effective at least to me. I politely asked the passenger if the window seat was taken, to which he replied, “No” and smiled, and that was that so, I thought.
I don’t usually talk to fellow passengers since I like to have a glass wine and try to sleep. I love to travel but hate to fly! I had just settled into my seat when Seth asked me my name. I told him and it must have seemed curt because he had a “follow-up” question as to whether Boston or Denver was my home. Once again, my answer was short, “neither.” I could see that Seth was curious as to what I was doing on the flight. I explained that I wasn’t trying to get to Denver, nor was I from Boston. I lived in Connecticut and had an interview in Seattle (where I used to live), and Denver was the means-to-an-end stopover for me. I was flying from Boston because the ticket was the cheapest, I could find on short notice out of the tri-state area. I learned that Seth lived in Denver, but this was only his second trip to Boston he had ever taken.
So, there we were two people unlikely to ever cross paths under any other circumstance were brought together. As the flight made its way to Denver, we bought each other drinks and shared stories about our jobs, lives, and places we’d love to visit. I knew the chances of this formulating into something were slim to none, but just in case, I put my number into his phone when I was supposed to be looking at pictures in his cell. When we were about to deplane, Seth asked if he could have my number, I told him he already did.
Like a true gentleman, Seth walked me to my next gate, and I told him I’d text him when I landed. Months later, and many trips back and forth between Colorado and Connecticut and before Seth eventually moved to New York, my friends in Seattle would still refer to Seth as, “the guy I met on the plane.”
The flight information, from the flight, that Seth and I met on.
Weeks later after Seth and I met on the flight he flew out to CT! I took him on a date to B. F. Clyde’s Cider Mill
How They Asked
Throughout our courtship, Seth soon discovered my passion for National Parks. We began to mark off destinations of intrigue and planned out hikes that we wanted to accomplish while exploring their beauty.
It was early February of 2019 when Seth asked if I wanted to visit the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee during April Break. As a high school teacher, we look forward to measuring to our plans for the week! I couldn’t imagine anything more exciting then finally visiting the most visited national park! True to his word, we booked and planned out our trip. Originally, he told me that I was not allowed to plan any hikes for Friday that he already planned out the day. I was curious, but that is who Seth is… a planner… During the trip, we kept a close eye on the weather as it seemed to change daily and we were trying to avoid plans and hikes getting rained out. On Thursday, Seth told me that our Friday plans were changed and he was surprising me that day.
When we pulled off at a horse ranch to go horseback riding, I couldn’t have been more excited about my surprise however, the beautiful horses were a decoy! We left the ranch to go grab a picnic basket and visit a part of the park that I had wanted to see when we originally started planning the trip. As we drove the looped road in Cades Cove the scenery took my breath away. It is arguably one of the most beautiful spots in the park. I felt so small in such a grand space.
When we finally parked, we were alone in a huge field. Seth held my hand as we walked to find the “perfect” spot to picnic. We laid out the blanket and the food and as I went to sit down, he asked me to stand up. It was at this moment, surrounded by the picturesque Smokey Mountains that Seth got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Although he had to battle the inclement weather and even make a last-minute date change with the photographer, his beautiful surprise went off without a hitch. It truly was a proposal that dreams are made of…especially, for a National Park fanatic.
