How We Met: Joshua and I met the first day of school at college orientation – yes cheesy, I know! But we were friends that first year until we were Sophomores and we finally started dating. [Shoutout to Butler University!]
I remember that first day of freshman orientation. I was scouting out all of the eligible men in the classroom. I remember Joshua – he was in cargo shorts and a baseball hat… I remember he laughed at a lot of bad jokes :)
My best friend from high school asked me about a month after we started dating, “are you going to marry him?” NO! We just started dating, and we are so different – we won’t get married but it’s great so far.
Proves how wrong you can be….
Joshua and I became close freshman year, hanging out in between our business classes. Our first date was at Red Lobster – very romantic. Here is our first picture together.
The following 5 years were a great adventure … and continues to be.
how they asked: Where do I even begin with this story? The words: unexpected, crazy, surprise, phenomenal and exhilarating come to mind…
Joshua worked hard on this one. In the video, I mention that he “has been tricking me for weeks.” Yeah … no. Try months … or a year.
I took off work for a week for a camping/road trip. I packed everything – cooler, walking stick, fire starters, fleece, knives (almost left those in my carry on…). After an exciting start to our road trip, thirty minutes in, I found myself at the Indianapolis Airport. I suppose I’m just SO trusting that I didn’t even realize we were heading West to the airport instead of South … one of many blonde moments, I’m afraid.
I packed all of my “camping stuff” into my backpack and we boarded a flight to Newark. We happened to have an 8 hour layover and my parents happened to be in NYC – yes truly all a coincidence. We saw them, which was awesome. We grabbed lunch and Joshua and Dad suggested an Irish Pub. “I won’t say no to that!!”
Dad ordered Shepherd’s Pie and Smithwicks. Joshua ordered Fish & Chips and a Guinness. They though they were pretty funny :)
Back at the airport, Joshua and I waited in the food court area until 5 minutes before boarding when he finally gave the green light to make the walk down the terminal and to our gate.
The video pretty well shows my level of shock and excitement when I saw the word “Dublin” at the gate. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so surprised in my life. I was BESIDE MYSELF.
And I couldn’t contain my excitement. I bought a round of drinks for our whole row and didn’t sleep the entire flight. My mind was racing, ‘what does this mean? This is big. He’s going to propose. No he’s not. If he doesn’t propose in IRELAND he’s a crazy person’ … it was this for 8 hours….
Ireland is a special place for the Hughes family. Our ancestors are from Ireland, but for me it starts with my Grandpa Bob. He’s is so proud (and rightly so!) of being Irish. He’s been there more times than I know and he talks about it like it’s home. My mom picked up on the love for the country as well and I from her. There is just something about the Irish countryside that gets us – it’ll capture you.
I was feeling this – very emotional – that morning when we drove through the winding roads, grazing animals, and stone walls and made our way to the far side of the Cliffs of Moher.
As we hiked up to the cliffs we were all laughs and talking about the video segment we were going to shoot. I really thought this trip might truly be about continuing our travels … we’ve been to 11 countries together – this could just be another one of those incredible backpacking trips…
Except … instead of a giving me a mic, Joshua and I looked out at the incredible view and he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. That time seemed like it flew by. I thought I said yes right away but wow – in the video I clearly needed a few seconds to process what was happening!
My answer was obvious -YES. I’m ecstatic to spend my life with this man – this man who cares and loves so much and so deeply.
We celebrated by showing our audience of cows my engagement ring … and dancing off down the trail like two crazy children.
That’s that. We’re engaged. We shared an incredible time in Ireland and the best is still yet to come.