How We Met
Joe and I began dating October 1st, 2012. We met maybe a year beforehand. At that point in my life I was your typical college “party girl” and had no clue what I was doing with my life. I was in an off/on relationship with someone who was honestly a complete loser in all aspects. The kind that wasn’t really doing anything with their life. The kind where you pay for everything because he couldn’t hold a job. The kind that would use you over and over again. Break up with you to get his way and do what he wanted then come crying to you when he felt lonely. He was also very manipulative and emotionally abusive towards me. But I was young, dumb, depressed, insecure, and in “love” so it continued.
I remember I was at this ex’s friends apartment just sitting on the floor looking absolutely terrible when Joe walks into the apartment. He skated a lot in that time period and had his board with him. He was all sweaty and I still remember how taken aback I was when he came in. I thought he was so incredibly handsome! I remember thinking dang, no chance of that in the future since they are friends haha! I would run into him every now and then because he would throw get together’s at his house and funny thing is we even had a double date game night once. I never thought anything would come out of it. He was a very nice guy but really shy. Didn’t talk much. Little did I know, Joe was in a pretty bad spot in his life too battling with depression and feeling like his friends weren’t really “true” friends. My ex being one of them. They were never really even that close to begin with though. Over the year he started gradually pulling away from all of them and I saw him less and less. He was working on himself which proved to be so beneficial to us in the future.
Around May of 2012 I finally called it quits with my horrible ex. It was a hard time for me because he had successfully warped my mind into thinking I was not worthy of anything and I’d be alone forever. I credit him for teaching me many lessons though and learning what I wanted and needed in a relationship and partner. I grew stronger because of that relationship. That summer was spent hanging out with great friends who pulled me out of that rut. I had started thinking about dating again by the end of the summer. Well lo and behold one day Joe randomly likes a selfie of mine on Facebook! I think wow, I haven’t heard from him in so long how random is this?! I still tease him that it must have been an accident. I almost talked myself out of it but I decided to send him a message on Facebook. One thing led to another and we were chatting on messenger for the next hour! As he was signing off for bed I gave him my number hoping to hear from him again. The next day passes and I hear nothing. I tell my friend man I was stupid he was just being friendly he would never date a friends ex! 2 more days pass and nothing. I don’t know what overcame me, normally I don’t want to come off as desperate but I just knew I had to try messaging him again. I sent him a Facebook message saying “Hey!” and headed off to work. When I went on my lunch break I was ecstatic to see I had received a text from him! He told me he texted me days ago and just realized he had gotten the area code wrong when he saw my number pop up in that thread when I messaged him again (I had a different area code because I moved to Washington from another state and kept that number). So he was sitting there for days too feeling rejected wishing to hear from me! We both laugh at that now and think about what almost didn’t happen! We planned to go on a date at the Ruston waterfront the next day. We met up and spent almost 3 hours just talking about anything and everything! He even helped me move out of my apartment into my new one with my best friend that weekend, what a sweetheart! The rest was history.
Joe is the kind of partner you dream of having someday. He is so kind and sweet, thoughtful, romantic, generous, honest, fiercely loyal, trustworthy, hardworking, hilarious, and the list goes on. Everyone sees it and all my friends envy us haha. I have never met someone who swept me off my feet so fast and that I can be my 110% super weird self around (although he may be weirder and more awkward than me though haha!). He is so selfless in every single way and does everything he can for me and for us. He would take a bullet for me in a heartbeat. We have grown so much together over the last 5 years and have really transformed into completely different people. I have loved watching our relationship grow and seeing us mature into the adults we are today. I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without him and I know he wouldn’t be the man he is today without me. Together we have gone through college graduations, career changes, many travels and new adventures/experiences, family deaths, financial hardships and gains, adopting our two fur babies, and so much more. He is the best support system and everything to me. I would wish this kind of love and happiness on anyone.
how they asked
Joe and I have been together for 5 years and 3 months at this point and I had a feeling that our holiday vacation might be the perfect time for him to pop the big question. He had been working a dead end job that he didn’t enjoy anymore and just finished going back to school and got a degree in computer programming and web development and that alone was cause for celebration. We were thrilled for his new career field change in something he’s been very passionate about and couldn’t wait to celebrate this new chapter. Joe and I had talked about marriage quite a few times before and we both knew that we wanted it to happen. I’ve always known he was the one.
There have been many moments where I thought MAYBE this could be the day! Joe and I are adventurous and outdoorsy people who travel often and have been to some incredible places. I knew he would never propose overseas for fear of losing the ring or getting it stolen but I thought with this being more of a family vacation and still within the states that maybe this would finally be the time! Before the big moment he told me there were so many times during our outdoor adventures around the island that he just wanted to pull out the ring and propose then and there but he knows me…I’m a fanatic for photos and memories and I adamantly had discussed wanting pictures of the special moment. I mean who wouldn’t want to remember one of the most exciting milestones of your life?! I am very thankful he respected those wishes.
The day of the proposal had been planned in his head for awhile. He booked dinner at the Kona Inn (a nice restaurant on the island with lots of history) before we left the mainland and told me that we would be having dinner with his sister and her husband. They wanted to congratulate him on graduating. I happily agreed. I ended up getting sick on the trip and the day of the proposal was the beginning of it all. We had spent the morning at a beautiful beach and came home to rest up and get ready. The funny thing is I almost wanted to cancel but something told me not to. He helped me pick out a dress for dinner and then told me he wanted to stop at the Old Kona State Recreation Area to try to get some pictures. We love this beach park and 2 years ago when we visited Hawaii we had gotten the most amazing sunset photos here and I thought he wanted to recreate this since we had much better camera equipment now. We didn’t get to go exactly at the timing he wanted thanks to me taking so long to get ready, ha! But it still all worked out. As we are driving to the beach his sister and her husband did a great job at keeping it cool and we had a group conversation about bitcoin the whole time. Who knew that a proposal would be taking place in just a few minutes with that kind of conversation going on?! lol.
We arrived at the beach and started walking to the spot we first took those sunset photos. Well unplanned for Joe but a family happened to be taking professional photos in that exact spot! He seemed a bit disappointed but I told him we could go further down on the beach and that I could see a great little secluded spot for photos. Well lo and behold another family is halfway down the beach taking professional photos too!! No worries, I say let’s keep going a little further. Little did I know I was picking out our proposal spot! We finally find a nice spot and walk out onto the lava rock staring out at the beautiful ocean. The 2nd family had just finished up shooting in one spot and were starting to walk towards us. Soon they were almost directly behind us. At this point Joe looks clearly irritated. I tell him don’t worry we have a right to be here and take pictures too, I’m not moving! So we start testing out the camera, the angles, the lighting, etc. His sister then takes the camera and says she wants to get pictures of us and vice versa. She starts taking test pictures. Joe takes the camera back from her and tells me to turn around and look out into the ocean like those pictures we took back in 2015. Not even 30 seconds later I hear him say “Hey Kelsie…” and I turn around and he’s on his knee and I can’t even contain myself! I had this feeling deep down but it still surprised me how taken aback I was. I immediately gasped and put my hands over my mouth as you can see in the photos and I cried which I didn’t quite expect! Joe was so nervous I could tell. He was speechless. He only could utter “Will you marry me?” and I jumped up and down saying YES!!! We embraced and I hear the families in the background saying No way! and erupting into applause for us. The rest is a blur. His sister and brother were thrilled and congratulating us. Of course they were in on it the whole time. Pretty much both our families knew everything for several months now! We took more pictures on the sandy area of the beach and they inform me they were never going to dinner with us and that their parents are on the way to pick them up to take them back to the condo. His mom arrives crying and we all embrace. I call my family and close friends and then we head to dinner.
The funny part is he planned this whole thing months ago and he made it a point to book the reservation before we left the mainland. Well he accidentally made a reservation for Saturday instead of Friday! Of course something had to go wrong in typical fashion for us but they were kind enough to fit us in still. We ended up having the best dinner as well as the best server! He was enthusiastic, so kind, and super excited for us. He said we were a beautiful couple and that he couldn’t wait to see our future babies (lol, woah now one milestone at a time please!). We got free dessert too, score! The whole evening was so romantic and everything I could have dreamed of and more. Unfortunately the sickness really kicked in that night and so I was bedridden the remaining 3 days on the island. We did attempt one day out together which was fun but I was in poor health the whole time. Just my luck and perfect timing right?! It was still such a beautiful moment and one I will never forget. Joe tells me now that he had so much more to say to me in that moment but froze. He knew I would say yes but he says the nerves are inevitable. I truly feel for the partner who proposes! Anyways, that concludes my very long engagement story! I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with this incredible man who I fall more and more in love with every single day. I am the luckiest woman on earth.
