How We Met
Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives you a fairy tale and whether you are 15, 18, or 23, that fairy tale will start a fire in you that cannot die. At least, that’s how this love story starts.
Heather and I were in the 10th grade when I first laid my eyes on her. I was the shy boy that sat across from her and she was the outgoing girl who secretly wondered if I liked her. We flirted for the first few weeks of school, bonding over the fact that our Dads coached lacrosse together for years before we even knew each other. We held hands during class movies and exchanged puppy love looks back and forth until I finally got up the nerve to ask her out. Heather and I dated the entire school year and were basically inseparable until we went our separate ways for the summer. After all, we were only 15 years old. Nobody meets their soul mate at 15, right? That’s only in fairy tales and movies.
Throughout the rest of our high school careers, we dated other people, but during the summer before college, we were drawn back together once again. Those few short months were filled with late nights, watching the sun come up, and talking about all of our hopes and dreams for college. After that summer, we once again decided to go our separate ways. This time we wouldn’t see each other for 4 years.
Fast forward to December 2012 when we were both 22 years old and newly graduated from college. I was out with some friends and I saw a guy I used to go to high school with. We started talking and he tells me that he is there with Heather. My heart dropped as I saw her walking up behind him. After 4 years, she was standing in front of me once again. Excited isn’t even close to how the I felt seeing her again. She wrapped me up in the biggest bear hug and we both grinned from ear to ear. We talked for a while before the bar closed, then we both got in our cars and went home.
I couldn’t help feeling that our paths had crossed for a reason that night, so I did what any man would do. I messaged her on Facebook. Over the next few months, we talked just about every day. We went for drives with no destination, listened to Luke Bryan or Go Radio, and finally ended the night by sitting on the beach to watch the sun rise. On June 21, 2013, I finally asked her to be my girlfriend and from the moment she said yes, I knew I would never let her go again
how they asked
From the day that Heather and I first discussed the prospect of our engagement, it was very clear that above all else, she wanted it to be a surprise. After two excruciating months of holding onto the engagement ring setting, I was finally ready to have the diamond set and the ring completed. On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend (2016) I saw the finished product and I knew that I would not be able to keep my secret any longer. As luck would have it, my eldest sister Sarah was having a memorial day party at her house that day. I picked up our engagement ring around noon and immediately sent out a group text to my siblings saying that, that day was the day I would ask the love of my life to marry me. When we arrived at my sisters house, I did the best that I could to hide the fact that I was a nervous wreck.
Not that I was afraid of the answer I would receive, but that the moment I had worked so hard for and had been so patiently awaiting would somehow not be right. Much to my satisfaction, it was perfect. In front of the majority of my immediate family, I pulled Heather to the side of the pool deck and asked: “So you know how many adventures we’ve had together right?” She nervously responded with a big smile, “yea?” as if she knew what was about to happen but couldn’t believe the moment had finally arrived. I met her smile with one equally as big and asked, “are you ready for the next big adventure?” With that question I saw her eyes slightly glazing over. She nervously, yet excitedly said, “I think so?” We both laughed. As I slowly lowered myself to one knee, I remembered all of the amazing memories that we had already made together over the past decade.
The moment we first met in 10th grade when we caught eyes in World Civilizations, the moment when we first kissed under the bleachers at the Northeast High School Football game that year, the pain in both of our hearts when we had gone our separate ways for one too many times, and the endless joy that I knew that God had in store for us when he brought us back together in 2012. When my knee touched the ground, I looked up at the most beautiful person I had ever seen.
From the girl that I fell in love with at 15 years old, to the amazingly intelligent and devoted woman I see before me everyday, I finally said the words, “Will you marry me?” With her hands to her crying eyes, she excitedly said “yes! (While she secretly thought to herself, It’s about damn time ya ass).” I have had a lot of joyous days in my life, but the best part about the day of mine and Heather’s engagement is that I know its only the beginning of an amazing life together.
