How We Met
I met Joel when I was 16. It was a funny story because his cousin was trying to set us up and nether of us wanted to be set up on a date. It wasn’t until a year later that we had a school class together that we started really talking and flirting like crazy. We had a fitness class together it was a split class as he was a grade higher than me. We spent the whole class flirting and challenging each other on workout machines. It wouldn’t be until months later after summer had ended and school started again that I would see Joel. He came back to school for one more semester and was dropping one of his classes for a spare and I was in line in front of him to do the same. It was always so easy to talk and flirt with him. The first time I met him he was my height and now he towered over me a 6’2”. I had an immediate crush.
We spent that semester spending our spare together. Eventually it turned into nights we would drive in his truck sometimes anywhere talking about life, other times to a beach where we had our first kiss, a lot of the time to the movies which we both enjoyed, and even just sit in the bed of his truck and watch the stars. It was Halloween night that year when I realized I was in love with him. Unfortunately, not all love stories go exactly right. We broke up almost a year after. We were young and I came into his life at the wrong time. A year after that I was in University and decided to send Joel a friend request at 3 am. I couldn’t sleep and to be honest he was on my mind. I remember waking up the next morning trying to cancel the request, but he had already accepted it.
I never was able to get over the blue eyed boy I fell in love with at 17. We met up for coffee and I spent the entire time telling myself “Yup, you are over him and you can move on now”. But only later that night he walked all the way across our small town to go on a walk with me and I said yes. From that moment I don’t think either of us looked back. The last 5 years we have spent taking on life together. I fell in love with a remarkable man who is so passionate, kind, loyal, respectful, and sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky.
how they asked
With our 5 year anniversary coming up I asked Joel if he would let us take pictures. We never had nice pictures taking of us and when he agreed I was so excited. I planned it for months with my sister who was taking them for me. His grandfather let us use his classic car and his parents let us use their property. My sister and I planned on taking some by the car and after an outfit change on a picnic. I remember being so stressed about the weather because it was supposed to rain. We got there and started the pictures by the car and after an outfit change we walked to the back of the property. His parents have a few acres of land full of trees so we had to walk down a path to the back. My sister took a few pictures and when it came down to sitting for the picnic she told me to shake the champagne. When I looked up Joel was kneeling holding the ring.
I pretty much cried the whole time.
When you love someone that much for so long its a bit overwhelming when this moment comes. He was actually a bit worried I was going to say no, but I said yes.
The entire time I was planning pictures he was planning a proposal with my sister. He went to the ring store and picked out my ring. I guess he carried it around in his pocket for almost a month even bringing it to work so I wouldn’t see it. There was a point that I completely rearranged our room and he panicked because it was in his drawer.
Earlier in the day before our proposal he gave it to his mom to keep. When we were walking to the back of the property he hid it in the basket under the flowers. He told me he was so worried I would feel his heart beating like crazy and give it away. P.S I managed to cover him and the ring box in red lipstick.
