How we met: Highschool sweethearts gone wrong- it was my first year in college and first time being completely on my own. I had only moved about 50 miles from my tiny hometown and my boyfriend at the time, of two years, had moved to Arizona to attend school out there. Like most long distance relationships it didn’t last long and eventually hit a hard rock bottom and like most newly single college freshmen came the constant going out and socializing to forget the past.
I was 18 at the time and I had become real close with a girl from my class, Krystle. She was 22 and had a boyfriend in the music business. She was constantly inviting me to shows and parties, but who wants to be the third wheel? I finally was convinced to go. We met at a friends house to gather the rest of the party and head to the show together, that’s when I met Zach. I introduced myself to everyone there and when I got around to Zach instead of shaking my hand and formally introducing himself back he gave a me a subtle head nod and said “sup.” Having no idea what his name was and thinking he was completely rude I went to find Krystle to situate who’s riding with who.
In our car was myself, Krystle, her boyfriend Tyler, Tyler’s friend Brandon, and Tyler’s younger brother… Zach. We headed down to Long Beach to a little pizza parlor/ bar and nightclub where Tyler would perform. Naturally barely knowing anyone I stayed with Krystle and lightly socialized and being the brother to her boyfriend, Zach did the same. Mostly everyone there was older than me, being 18 I couldn’t even look at the bar but with Zach having a fake ID (since he was only 19) he bought us both a beer and brought it back to our table. We got to talking and my opinion about him quickly changed and he redeemed himself. He admitted that when I went to introduce myself he got real nervous all of a sudden and didn’t know what to say and somehow just “sup” came out. He told me about how he had a long term girlfriend in high school and how it fell apart when he went to school in Ohio while she went to school in another state as well.
Ultimately we both bonded over our failed relationships and hung out the entire night and have been inseparable ever since.
how they asked: January 19th: It was a Monday, one that I usually worked and it was odd that I had it off while a coworker of mine who usually doesn’t work Mondays had picked it up. I didn’t put too much thought to it though because I definitely wasn’t complaining since it was my three year anniversary with Zach. I thought we would be doing something small because we would have to attend a business dinner later on that evening so maybe some lunch or just quality time. All week he had been telling me how important this business meeting was for his family business and I need to make sure I’m wearing something really nice. I was stressing trying to figure out what to wear because of how much he pushed the fact that this was so important to him, little did I know. I had planned a nail appointment in the morning and a makeup appointment in the early afternoon and by the time I had finished up Zach had told me that we would need to leave earlier than expected leaving no real time to spend together on our three year anniversary. He didn’t even acknowledge the fact that this business dinner was taking up most of the day and actually he didn’t even mention the fact of our anniversary. I was certain he had forgotten and was a little disappointed. A car was coming to pick us up and take us to the dinner, his family does business with a car service so this was no surprise, but then a limo came to get us instead.
He had a big smile on his face as he told me “I love keeping you on edge.” I wasn’t sure if I should be suspicious or not since we’ve been picked up by limos for business dinners before, but why would he make that comment? We’re driving for about half an hour and I start to ask questions, “Are we picking people up or is this just for us? Where are we going? Is everyone meeting us there? Who’s going to be there? What is this meeting about again? ” Everything he answered with was brief so I just left it alone and enjoyed the ride. Another hour and we were at our first destination, Crescent Bay Point Park in Laguna, Ca.
When we got to the park I was starting to put it all together, work, the limo, going to this beautiful beach so I laid off the questions and even though I knew what he was going to ask and thought I was so prepared, I wasn’t. We were overlooking the pier and Zach got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Obviously I said, YES!!! . The limo driver was told in advance what was going on and had taken pictures of the entire thing. Zach himself had even gotten a little teary eyed and I was crying an ugly cry. It was more perfect than I could have imagined and I am so thankful to have this man for the rest of my life.
