How We Met
We’re not positive where our story starts, or even when we met, but we think it was sometime around seventh grade when we were in school club together. Freshman year of high school is when Alex and I started having classes together and hanging out in the same crowd. My crush for Alex was obvious to everyone, including him, and I invited him to both of the “girls ask guys” dances that year (which went unreciprocated.) We grew into best friends over the next few years, spending time studying together and playing Mario Kart. It wasn’t until senior year of high school that he started to see me as “more than a friend” but he asked me to homecoming that year and we made it official shortly after.
We dated the rest of our senior year but didn’t want the pressures of a long distance relationship in college. We are from Colorado and I attended Purdue University in Indiana, while Alex went to play soccer and study Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. Throughout college, however, Alex and I would talk on the phone constantly and spend all of our time together when we were at home. After we graduated in 2014, we both moved back to Colorado and picked up right where we had left off.
how they asked
Some of my sorority sisters were coming out to Colorado for a long anticipated reunion trip. Leading up to the trip, my friends started teasing that Alex would propose while they were there, but I thought a proposal was still a ways off. We had plans to go hiking in Estes Park, an almost 3 hour drive from our Denver home. Alex drove and endured the entire new albums of Justin Bieber and One Direction the whole way (what a trooper.)
When we got to Estes park, we started our hike. My friends, who all grew up in the Midwest, were a little intimidated by the hikers that we saw. They were in yoga pants and tennis shoes while surrounded by people with walking sticks and hiking boots. Not to mention the three inches of snow that dusted the trails. Nevertheless, we began the trek toward our destination, Emerald Lake. Along our trail there two other lakes, and as we reached the second one, the 9,500 feet started to hit all of us, especially my sea level born and raised friends. So, we all agreed the second lake, Dream Lake, would be our final destination. The name didn’t disappoint, as Dream Lake truly wound up being a dream.
After Alex took a few pictures of all of the girls, everyone went off to explore the breathtaking views. Alex found a perfect spot for a picture, so he setup his GoPro and called me over to get a picture with him. One of my friends offered to take the picture and after she took a few, I turned to head back to the group. But, Alex suggested we switch sides and take a few more. My friend was confident she had taken a good picture, but Alex was insistent we take another (which is very unlike him.) As I turned toward him to pose for the picture, Alex was down on one knee holding a box that held the most beautiful ring.
He asked me to marry him, and I was thrilled to say YES!
