How We Met
Our story started 6 years ago. We met through a mutual friend while we were seniors in high school… and dating other people! When we were seniors in high school we both attended a technical school where Cameron studied Fire Science and me studied Interior Design.
Our mutual friend attended his high school and was in my Interior Design class and that is how we were originally introduced to each other. In the beginning, we were just silent Facebook friends who occasionally passed each other in the halls. Towards the end of our senior year we both became single and one day our mutual friend dared me to message him on Facebook, and so I did!
Our love story literally began over the Facebook post: “Sheridan says I need to creep on you. So this is me attempting to creep on you (; is it working?” – I know I’m VERY smooth. After HUNDREDS of messages he finally asked me for my number, and from there we talked nearly every day and eventually made plans to go to our first party together.
The party we went to will be one I will forever remember for it is where we shared our first (missed) kiss and first real kiss! Cameron was so nervous that night he actually missed my lips and ended up kissing my eye! Shortly after we went on our first real date to the movies and the rest is history!
how they asked
It has always been on my bucket list to go to Belize, so when we went ahead and booked a cruise that stopped there I was super excited! As a surprise, I was going to take Cameron to swim with the nurse sharks as that is something he has always wanted to experience. When I hinted I had a surprise for him in Belize he “suggested” to do otherwise because we would be busy. The day we got to Belize we enjoyed walking around the typical Tourist Village area and about an hour or so later he started leading me to the main entrance. It turned out he purchased two round-trip tickets for us to an island called Caye Caulker – and we were running a little late! In a big rush, we started making our way down to the water taxi docks and a friendly local offered to lead us the way. We quickly made our way down to the water taxi area and BARELY made it on time! BUT it turned out we were at the incorrect water taxi location and that the one we truly needed was actually a block away!
From there we took off for the correct location since at this point we were now two minutes late. Luckily we were not the only passengers running late and people were still boarding. We finally get settled on the boat and enjoy a 45-minute ride to beautiful Caye Caulker. Once we arrived at the island Cameron said he knew exactly where to go and grabbed my hand and started leading the way. After a few minutes of walking, he said he was taking me to a highly acclaimed beach called Barefoot Beach. Upon arriving we realized that Barefoot Beach is not actually a beach, but rather a hotel! Cameron’s face absolutely dropped and I made a sassy remark about how I would wait in the shade while he freaked out for a moment. After a minute he told me he had a plan b, which was to take me to what is known as “The Split”. We began trudging back the way we came to the other side of the island. By this point, I was getting tired of walking and when we were just over halfway there I turned to him and said I didn’t want to keep going. He told me, “that’s fine.” and led me down to the water. I started to notice him fiddling with his shorts so I quickly stopped him and told him I no longer wanted to be at this beach because it was too crowded and I was hungry.
With a heavy sigh, Cameron told me he knew just the place to go have a nice lunch but it was literally next to Barefoot Beach where we just walked from. SO we turned around yet again and made our way to the restaurant Godfrey’s Seaside Grill. When we got there we sat at a table that was outside right along the beautiful water. As we were enjoying our oceanside lunch we realized we did not have much time left before our return water taxi was scheduled to arrive. At that moment Cameron quickly asked for the check and told me adamantly that we were going to the beach that was right next to the restaurant and enjoy the water while we can. When we reached the sand he threw our bags down and tried leading me into the water. In his rush to get my feet wet, he stumbled a little almost falling over and I started to giggle.
He then began to start saying how much he loved me and how he never imagined how much I would grow to mean to him. He continued on and that’s when I realized what was really about to happen but I was also still laughing at the idea of him falling into the water. He got flustered and lost his train of thought and then laughingly said “Well this perfectly sums up our relationship” and then looked me straight in the eyes and got down on one knee and asked, “Will you marry me?”. As the sass that I am when he was mid-question I started teasing him about falling over but the minute he opened that perfect little jewelry box I lost all words. As soon as I could recover from the shock I quickly said YES! Cameron then went to take off my promise ring and replace it with the engagement ring, and it wouldn’t be us if it didn’t fit. (I actually ended up wearing my ring on my pinky for the first few days of our engagement!!)
BUT that is not where our story ends! After the excitement of being newly engaged I wanted to start taking pictures (DUH) so while we waited for our water taxi we took as many as we possibly could! Moments later we saw our boat arrive and I turned to Cameron to say I wanted to take just one more photo. One more photo, of course, turned into three more photos but we noticed our boat was still there. We then went to grab our bags and head to the docks but when we turned around we watched our boat pull away and take off!! We rushed to the ticketing office to see if that was our boat that just left and when the next one would be. It turned out the next water taxi wasn’t for two hours and would make us fifteen minutes late back to the cruise ship. In a panic, we asked if there were any other taxis on the island and they pointed to across the beach to another water taxi dock. Cameron & I then rushed over to the other dock just in time to see another boat pull away. We asked them when their next taxi would be and the gentleman told us that we just missed one and that their next one would be in two hours, which would put us in the same situation. Another employee overheard that we missed our taxi and said we could charter a private boat for about $2000, which we did not have on us.
Then yet another employee heard and mentioned that there was an excursion ran through our cruise line that stopped at this island and said that maybe we would be able to hitch a ride back with them. At this point we were desperate and willing to try anything, so we said it was worth a shot and followed him down the beach. After ten minutes of brisk walking, he led us down a pier to nowhere, there were no boats docked and no one in sight. He started yelling out to the water towards a boat that we could see in the distance. After a bit, someone finally surfaced from under the water and started yelling back. The guy we had followed translated what they were saying back and forth and told us that we actually needed to locate and speak with the captain. He led us back up the neverending pier, and to a nearby restaurant. We eventually found the captain and explained the situation. He laughed and called us crazy for not sticking with an excursion and commented that the local water taxi’s leave people all the time.
He agreed to take us back to the boat and in gratitude, we offered him all the cash we had on us – roughly $32 – which he then used to buy all of his crew lunch. We sat on the boat and told his crew the story so far and they also chuckled and said it was a common thing for water taxi’s to leave people behind. They offered us rum punch and sat with us until it was time to leave the island. When the other tourists boarded we took off and it turned out this was the exact shark diving excursion I originally wanted to take Cameron on. We got to partake in the second half of the excursion, which included hand feeding the local tarpons. Shortly after we made way towards the cruise ship and our engine stalled. Stuck in open water in between several of the islands the crew handed out more rum punch and told stories of people feeding the tarpons and losing cameras. Not too long after they got the engine running again and continued on the path back to the cruise ship. They dropped us off and we made it exactly in time to catch the very last tender at the very last second. Not only will I never forget that moment on the beach but I’ll also never forget our adventure to make it back home!
The Captain who saved us! (LITERALLY!)
