How We Met
Jon and I first met through a series of serendipitous events. We had our first date at Disneyland and I remember walking right up to him and immediately swooning over his bright green eyes. We met up in the late afternoon and spent the day talking and laughing nonstop. He sang every song on the Ariel ride (which made me seriously smitten) and he liked that I was truly skilled at the Buzz Lightyear game, thus “real competition”. The afternoon was truly magical and every moment with Jon felt so natural. Before we knew it the park was closing and we had to leave. I suppose time really does fly with the right person! Even though the park was closing, we didn’t want to end our date just yet so we spent a Thursday night driving around Anaheim trying to find a place that was still serving dinner at 10 at night. Our quest was not too successful and so we ended up splitting tacos at a Taco Bell just outside of the park. After that we both went home, spent the next few days talking to one another constantly, had our second date after that, and it has been a fairytale ever since!
how they asked
Jon’s father was an avid runner his entire life; running marathons, triathlons, and even Iron Man races. He passed away before Jon and I met so I never had the opportunity to meet him. However, because running was a big part of his life and he was a big part of Jon’s, the past two years of our relationship I have signed us up for a Star Wars run in Anaheim. I figure it combines Jon’s love of Star Wars and a tribute to his dad. The morning of the race we were up before 4 AM getting ready and giggling over our “His Leia” and “Her Han” shirts in our hotel room before heading to the starting line. We got to Disneyland by 5 for our 5:30 send off. I remember standing in the corral with Jon and saying, “These always make me so nervous.” which Jon responded to with, “Then why do you sign us up for them?” I thought about it for a moment and said “Because the finish line is so worth it.”
Little did I know… We spent the next hour running through the two parks of Disneyland and finally we sprinted across the last 1000 yards. I turned to give him a sweaty kiss and we started walking towards the reception area; there were lots of different spectators all gathered around the finish line. Suddenly Jon starts walking us towards a group of spectators and I see my mom standing right there! I couldn’t believe it! My parents surprised us by coming to see our race! I ran over, gave her a hug and then I see my dad behind her. I reach over the barricade, give him a big squeeze and am just so happy that they came. Then I see Jon’s mom a little to the side and I give her a hug as well.
Suddenly, Jon taps me on the shoulder and when I turn around I see him down on one knee. I couldn’t believe it! It was the most amazing moment of my life. Jon said, “We just ran 6.2 miles together and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” I instantly said, “Of course!” and gave him the biggest hug ever. Both I and my dad began tearing up while all the crowd around us began to cheer. I gave our parents more hugs and then walked off on Cloud 9 to the finisher’s area so we could get our race medals. But by then I already had the most amazing finish line prize possible: the man of my dreams for the rest of our lives.
