How We Met
Cole and I have gone to school with eachother since 6th grade. We’re from a very small town where everybody knows everybody. I didn’t truly meet Cole until we got put into the same class in 8th grade. This is where it all started. Our teacher sat us right next to eachother in class. We owe it all to her! I was a cheerleader and he was a basketball player. On homecoming night the cheerleaders were supposed to “pin” on a basketball player’s colors. Which meant you write the basketball player’s last name on your shirt with his number.
I wanted to pin on Cole’s colors so badly, but I could never work up enough nerve to ask. At the end of the school day, homecoming, right before the bell rang, a girl in my class asked whose colors I was pinning on. I said that I didn’t have anyone. Cole overheard and said, “You can do mine if you want. I don’t care!” And so I did. I wrote “CROSLAND 21” on the back of my shirt and the rest is history. After the game, our moms made us take a picture. Cole being so embarrassed wouldn’t even put his arm around me! I still have the shirt hanging in my closet. Who knew almost 8 years later I actually would BE a “CROSLAND” in the year 2021. A coincidence? Nope.
How They Asked
Cole is the kind of guy who excels at everything he does. He seems to be good at just about every single thing. Back in March, he mentioned to me that he wanted to build a boat. While this might sound crazy, I honestly didn’t think much of it because he does crazy projects like this very often. I just thought this was another one of those! So for almost 4 months, he spent hours upon hours working on this boat. He’d stay up so late, wake up so early, and buy all sorts of supplies to make sure it looked perfect.
When he was getting towards the end of it he told me he wanted me to paint it how I wanted. I thought, “Why does he want ME to decide how to paint this?! He’s probably going to go fishing or hunting in it.” But I decided to just go with it! So I went to the paint store, picked out a pretty navy and white, and got to painting. After a few days of painting, we were getting really excited. We decided we wanted to test it out that week! Me being a photographer, I am always looking for photo opportunities. I had told Cole that I really wanted to get pictures taken of us in it one day, but I didn’t think he would be okay with it being so soon!
He insisted that we should probably take the pictures the same day we test the boat out because it may sink and it might be our only chance for a few pictures. I wasn’t very thrilled about the super last-minute plans, but I was just happy he agreed to pictures so I said “okay!” The day came to test it out. At my house, we have a river that runs in our backyard. That’s where we decided to put the boat in. I told my mom to walk down to the river when we pulled up to take some quick pictures of us. Cole and I drove down the road to the boat ramp and then we were off! No leaks! We were so excited. The boat looked so perfect. I was so excited to get a few pictures.
Cole rowed us down to my house and I saw mine and Cole’s immediate family walking down to watch us. I didn’t think anything of this because they had mentioned wanting to come to watch to see if the boat floated. But as we got closer, I saw a few more pairs of feet behind a car. That’s when I knew. I looked at Cole and pretty sure I just kept saying, “no way….no way…..no way” over and over! Then 2 photographers (Zach and Sarah Photography) who I adore came out from behind the vehicle and I knew what was about to happen.
Cole told me to stand up on the front of the boat. It was SO wobbly, but I knew I had to do it because I knew it’s exactly how he had envisioned him asked. I carefully stepped up onto the front of the boat and Cole got up there with me, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. I was giddy with excitement and said “YES!” After that is pretty much a blur. I felt like I was in a dream. Or a Nicholas Sparks book. It was the best day. It’s been 3 days and I still feel like it’s too good to be true. Cole built the boat JUST to propose to me. The most kind, self-less, romantic thing anyone has ever done for me. I feel like I’m dreaming and I never want to wake up.
