How We Met
Ryan and I met in high school when we had a Pre-AP Geometry class together. Ryan always likes to joke that he remembers me from the first time he saw me, (cute brown headed freshmen with hipster glasses before they were cool), but I never remember him. We always ran in similar social circles, but he was dating someone, and I didn’t have time for boys. Our friendship really formed when he was a senior, and I a junior, and he broke up with his longtime girlfriend. He was known as the patient and reliable guy among our mutual friends, and he proved to be that for me as well, only just as a friend. Our friendship remained somewhat intact during college, Ryan attended Texas A&M and I attended Texas Tech; Christmas and Summer breaks would provide some time for catching up, but eventually our lives grew apart.
Fast forward to September 2014, where we were both living in the Dallas area but didn’t realize it. I had just got out of a very serious relationship and a tragic event had just happened in my family, Ryan had just started a wonderful new job that had him traveling to Colorado every week. One Wednesday morning, I woke up to a text from Ryan, (I was surprised he still had my number), that said, “I randomly woke up last night and you came into my head as I laid there trying to go back to sleep. The weird thing is, you haven’t entered my mind like that in a long time. I had seen your recent post on social media asking for prayer, but I had no idea what you were going and working through. Long text short, I couldn’t shake you out of my head as I laid there. So, I spent the rest of the morning in prayer asking the Lord to ease whatever in you world may be turned upside down.” At this point in my life,my philosophy had become there is no reason to hide what you are going through, and Ryan was willing to listen to all that was happening. For the next few months, he patiently listened to what was happening in life, comforted me when needed, while I enjoyed having a reliable and fun friend. Little did I know that he had told his friends he was interested in dating me, but was biding his time until the right moment. However, I was stubborn and slightly gun shy after my previous relationship, so when asked, I told him we would never date. This frustrated Ryan to no end, and would consistently pray, “God, why her? Why is she in my life?” A few more months passed, Ryan asked again to take me on a date, to which I finally agreed; I guess his patience had worn the wall around my heart down! After the date, I knew that he was different; Nothing big had happened, he hadn’t tried to kiss me or taken me on an over the top date, it simply was the comfort and fun we had together. We began officially dating shortly after, and have been inseparable ever since. We share several passions, one a love of travel, so we have gone on several trips together all over the country. Since Ryan worked most of the week in Colorado, our most frequented trips were to the mountains, (which just so happens to be my favorite place to be).
how they asked
Knowing how much I love being in the mountains, Ryan decided to give me a ski trip to Breckenridge as a Christmas gift. We had never been there, so I was excited for a fun new place to explore and he was excited because he knew the real reason we were going! We arrived New Years Eve around lunch time, and he told me we were going to a fancy cafe that was a slight distance from the Main Street area. It just so happened that day, that it was only 2 degrees with a wind chill of -6, so looking cute was a challenge! But we trekked on towards our lunch destination, only Ryan had no intentions of taking me to a nice lunch. Instead, when began walking and he suggested we take a route that had us cross the Blue River Plaza bridge, where he said we should look to see if the water was flowing (I should have been tipped off at this point with freezing temperatures).
As I was peering over the edge, he began talking to me about lots of mushy things, nothing that was out of the ordinary for us given we had been talking frequently about our future together in recent weeks. He turned me around, kissing my head frequently, and asked, “You know I love you right?” to which I responded with a whole-hearted yes, still not catching on to what was happening.
He began to tell me how he has known for a long time that God placed me in his life for a reason, and telling me about why he loves and appreciates me. Still not catching on, I told him I loved him and loved hearing all of those things, but “Baby, my hands are cold!” to which he responded, “Are you telling me to hurry up?” Looking at him quizzically, it finally hit me as he began to get down on one knee.
I looked at him down on one knee, as both of us began to tear up, when he asked me to be his wife.
Shaking my head yes, and immediately kissing him, I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect way to end 2015 and begin a new chapter in 2016.
But there was one more surprise for me! After he slipped the ring on my finger, (which fit perfectly!), he pointed out a photographer that had been snapping pictures of the entire proposal. He quickly whisked me over to him, where we were able to capture the first moments of us being engaged!
It was a magical moment, in a place that is stunningly beautiful, with a wonderful man who is now going to be my husband!
