How We Met
Cooper and I went to the same high school but only crossed paths a few times. I saw him one night at a talent show (he played the guitar and sang…. like an angel) and it was like the air was knocked out of me. After he finished, he came and sat by my group of friends and all I could work up to say was “Hey Cooper… You’re really good”. Who was this guy?? A tall, dark and handsome with a guitar at my school…? My friend told me later that night that he never went to any parties or dated girls because he was too focused on baseball.
A couple of weeks later, my dad was going out of town so I decided I was having a party. Inviting people in our high school parking lot, I look over and see Cooper’s truck in line about to pull out and I ran up to his truck and invited him. He said he would love to! After he drove away, I realized he never got my number or address… And he never ended up showing. I guessed my friend was right.
2 years later, I was in college getting ready to go on a cruise with my roommate for spring break and two days before, she texted and canceled. So I drove home to Holden Beach and called my best guy friend, Spencer, and he insisted on me throwing a party. So I called up all of my high school girlfriends and Spencer told me he was going to bring his friend. The party was just getting started when I see Spencer walk in and beside him walking through my front door was my tall dark and handsome… Cooper. That night sitting around a bonfire, Cooper pulled out his guitar and sang a tune that brought me right back to my high school butterflies. We stayed up all night talking and giggling and haven’t stopped since.
The following summer, we spent our days and nights sitting in the bed of his truck / having beach picnics / climbing out of his bedroom window to his roof gazing at the stars and him singing me songs he had written for me. We would dream about our future, places we wanted to travel (always Hawaii), what our puppy one day would be called (that’s still an ongoing discussion), what life together forever would be like, how many kids we wanted to have, etc.
We have never stopped working towards those dreams we’ve had together but the biggest dream of all is daily life together… Getting excited to see each other everyday, getting to hear that voice and look at that handsome face everyday, holding his hand throughout the day, the way he will look at me so in love and then start writing a new song, smelling his scent on my clothes, listening to him laugh at my jokes, and saying I love you too many times to count…. The puppies and travel are just a plus.
How They Asked
One day Cooper came home from work and brought me out to our dock. We were just talking about our day and gazing up at the stars and he looked over at me and said I can’t wait to be doing this on a boat with you. I thought he meant the sailboat that we are eventually wanting to buy but he was actually hinting to me that he booked us a cruise and we were leaving in two days. We were to fly to Florida and leave from there. Two days later we just landed in Florida and are so excited to hop on the cruise but the airport looked nothing like Florida.. He turns to me and gives me our next ticket and says baby, we are actually in Houston, Texas and we aren’t going on a cruise… We are going to Hawaii. I’m sitting in the airport, the wind was just knocked out of me and crying my. eyes. out. How he pulled this off without me knowing? Every time the intercom came on he started talking to me really loud and telling me he likes my eyelashes….
We get to Oahu, and his planning is constantly blowing my mind. We stayed on the North Shore at the most beautiful villa. We had the best two days swimming with turtles and dolphins, jumping in freezing waterfalls, candlelit dinners on the floor eating sushi, jumping off the highest / scariest cliffs hand in hand, laying on the sand watching the brightest Hawaii stars, eating the most colorful açaí out of tiny huts and visiting every beach we possibly could on that island.
The night before our third day, Cooper told me to pack a bag because we are waking up at 5 am and going to the other side of the island. There was a fancy restaurant that he has had many recommendations for and a beach that we haven’t visited yet. So we wake up and at the end of the hour drive, I’m starting to realize that we are driving back to the airport… So many things were running through my mind… (are we picking up my best friend, my family? we can’t be leaving, all of our stuff is at the villa…) Well, we were in fact leaving… In the security line, he told me we were going to the island of Kauai!! Which was the first Hawaii Island we ever went to together about a year ago? He told me he couldn’t bear the thought of going to Hawaii and not coming to a place that was so special to us. He wanted to spend the day doing the things that were the most memorable to us. Again, crying. my. eyes. out. That was the sweetest and most thoughtful thing for me.
We get there and pick up our second rental car of the trip and the lady gives us a convertible “because we seemed so happy together” I was so excited about this but little did I know Cooper was slightly stressed about it… Driving through Kauai’s famous tree tunnels I go to put the top down and he says “But baby you worked so hard on your hair this morning”… He’s never said anything like that to me because he knows I’m not afraid to get my hair messed up. So I kept pushing the button smiling at him and start swaying with the breeze. The end of the tunnels leads us to our favorite beach on this earth, Shipwreck Beach.
But we don’t turn left for the beach, we turn right into this beautiful hotel. Walking in they gave Cooper an orchid lei to put around my neck and we look in to see a jungle lobby with parrots and an insane beach view…. Cooper looks at me and pulls a beautiful cream dress out of his bag and says Baby do you mind putting this on? I immediately start to cry because it all dawns on me what is going on. This whole time I have been so wrapped up in the amazing trip, I haven’t stopped to think he might propose…. I walk into the bathroom sobbing and shaking and come out sobbing when I see the outfit that he changed in too. Butterfly goosebumps go all down my body. He is the most handsome man I’ve ever seen and this man is in a linen outfit.
We walk out to the beach and he starts talking about our last visit to this beach and what it meant to him and as he is talking we are walking up to the cliff. My whole body felt numb but I could feel my heartbeat vibrating all through my body. He squeezed my hand and helping me up the rocks. I think I said “I have never hiked in a dress” about three times and he laughed like it was funny every time.
At the top of the cliff we made our way to our favorite grassy spot with tiny pink flowers scattering through the vines (the place we sat at for hours the last time we were here and never wanted to leave) He turns to me and said “Baby I have to tell you something…. Ever since we met, I knew you were my soulmate. You’ve taught me how to live this amazing life to it’s fullest and most importantly how to live life through God. I can’t live without you baby because I live life for you. I’ve been waiting so long to ask you this… (kneels to one knee) Madeline, will you marry me? ………Best day of my entire life.
We spent the rest of the day with the top down, screaming we are engaged, driving up the Kauai coast and sitting overlooking the Napali mountains daydreaming about Oct. 5th, 2019. This day that we had dreamed of since we have met and trying to soak every second in. At the end of the night, we had dinner at the lava beach club, ordered a large fry and listened to the band play. It was the dreamiest day I have ever had but it still does not beat a life with my tall dark and handsome.
