How We Met
Little did we know when we started our Junior year at St. John the Baptist D.H.S., we would meet our soulmate.We had Chemistry together, ironic huh!? Travis was the type of student who didn’t like school and rarely did his homework. Maria was quite the opposite. They exchanged numbers so Maria could “make sure he did his homework”. They went off to college and attempted to go their separate ways, but fate and destiny had other plans. 7 years after graduating high school, Travis asked for forever and Maria said yes!
how they asked
Travis told me a week before, he wanted to go to this art exhibit and that his friend Christian was taking photos for it. Travis went to school for industrial design and always loves going to different museums, so this wasn’t an unusual outing for us. His cousin told all of our friends about it and it was set for us all to attend. Travis told me he wanted to get there for 6:00 pm, even though the exhibit started at 7:00 pm, because he wanted to make sure that they didn’t shut the exhibit down during the event.
We spent the day with our friends hanging out by the pool. It was time for us to get ready and I was running late. We didn’t end up leaving my house until just before 6:00. We arrived around 6:20 and knocked on the door. A security guard answered and told us that there was a private event about to start and it was invitation only. Travis explained that we knew the photographer and he said we could come early. The guard told us to hang tight for a minute while he gets the curator. Once the door closed, I turn to Trav, “Invitation only?! We don’t have an invitation and neither do our friends!” Travis told me to “Just relax”. The curator came to the door and told us we weren’t allowed to come in because of a private event. That was when Christian came over and explained that he knew us and told us to come in early.
The curator, Beth, told us that only because we were friends with him were we allowed to enter, we just had to be quick. She handed us a packet that had short descriptions of the pieces of work in the exhibit and told us to enjoy. Travis led us down this hallway with pieces of art that I took my time to admire, and showed me to a room he wanted to check out.
As we tried to enter the security guard, who at this point was following us around, told us we weren’t allowed to go in there but Travis asked if we could just check it out; he agreed but reminded us that we needed to quick.
I start to walk around the room and look at things but not really take anything in. In my mind I’m thinking “We gotta be in and out! We’re not supposed to be here!” I turn around to Trav and say “This is cool.” and he goes, “Why don’t we check out that piece over there.” and points to a pedestal by the windows. I walk closer and on the pedestal is a manikin hand with a band on the left finger with a sign that says, “If lost return to Mrs. Mitchell”.
You’d think I would catch onto it about now, but nope, it went completely over my head! I thought to myself, “Oh my gosh! We should take a picture to send to his mom!” As I turn around to tell him this thought, he is down on one knee and asks, “So, will you marry me?”
I couldn’t believe it at first! I was so confused and then thought he was joking with me. I couldn’t stop laughing, screeching and asking if he was serious! Finally, I realized I never answered him and screeched, “YES!” and pulled him to his feet so I can kiss him!
When he put my ring on I was amazed- it was everything I ever wanted! The band on the manikin hand, is the matching wedding band to go with the engagement ring! And it turned out that Christian wasn’t here to take pictures of the exhibit and the event, he was there to capture this moment! And the security guard, he was Travis’ cousins friend, who actually is a security guard, but not for the event; he was there as an “actor” for our big day to throw me off. Beth, the curator, was obviously in on the whole thing and was so happy for us.
Travis then took me back around the room to shadow boxes of recreations of various shared experiences. The first shadow box was of Gouveia vineyard we went to during one of Travis’ visits during my Graduate year in Connecticut.
He included everything, including the “Beware of Snapping Turtles” sign we saw while sitting on the dock, sipping on wine, taking in the beautiful New England fall scenery. The next shadow box, was full of stars and had the lyrics to one of “our songs” Fruition by The Dream.
The third shadow box had a piano theme; both of us played the piano for years when we were younger. It also had lyrics to one of “our songs”, For You by Sanchez.
The final box, the most thoughtful, was a classroom scene, specifically a science classroom. (We met in Chemistry class in high school our Junior year.) On the black board he had equations; the equations included our birth months (4 + 12) divided by 2 which equals 8, and birth dates (12 + 14), divided by 2, which equals 13. That is the date is proposed! 8/13/16.
After that I called my mom and found out that he arranged to have all of our family and friends meet us at the museum so we could share with them this amazing story and include them in our special day. It was all more that I could have ever dreamed of. I feel so special and lucky to be able to call Travis my fiance and I get to spend the rest of my life with him.
