How We Met
In August, 2013, I mustered up the courage and visited some friends in Oahu for my solo soul-searching trip to Hawaii. I wanted to immerse myself in the Hawaiian culture, since I practiced traditional Hawaiian dance in New York City. I had a lot of questions about my life in New York City at that time, and needed to get away to do something I love – dance hula and swim at the beach. During the end of my trip, a friend drove me to Lanikai so I could enjoy a different beach outside of town. We got ourselves settled and enjoyed some quality time together. Most of my friends are not swimmers, but I wanted to fully enjoy the water. I jumped in the ocean and swam to one area. I tried to move as much as possible since I hated just laying down at the beach! After I came back from my swim, Tim appeared right in front of me, almost blocking me from getting out of the water.
When people are friendly and start a conversation, it’s generally hard for me to decline, so instead I asked him, “Do you hula?” Unfortunately, he answered, “no”…so obviously I was not interested!! If you couldn’t take me to a hula class, I was not interested in you at all. However, he was very friendly and reassured that he was not a “creepy guy” (however, I don’t know how effective that would have been outside of the islands) and allowed me and my friend to use any of the beach equipment he owned. I have to be honest, at that point I was only thinking about the paddle board he offered to lend and contacted him the next day! My friend ended up not being able to come, but it worked out that way the best. We hit it off on our first day together and kept in touch ever since.
Since we were in a long distance relationship (New York and Hawaii), I know it’s hard to imagine how we communicated. Despite the distance and time difference, we spoke to each other almost every day for the next three months of our friendship. That was a sign for me to pursue the relationship in December, 2013. My love for him grew as we spent more time together, and now we are finally getting married after three years!
how they asked
Tim is a “kid at heart” because he loves to stay active and always finds fun in everything. Once he gets into something, he is very persistent and will talk about it over and over again to me. This is exactly what happened with drone filming. Tim had been talking about a certain drone camera for a year and finally had the chance to try it out in August, 2016. He planned out “shots” on the drone camera, which would film him and a friend hiking, skateboarding, and swimming. My initial impression was that he was going to do this project with a friend, but that “friend” turned out to be the drone photographer, so somehow I was “forced” into accompany him on this project. Since he was so into the drone, I wasn’t suspicious. We had also spoken about marriage several times prior to spending our summer in Oahu, so I was not expecting a proposal at that point.
On the morning of the video shoot, I felt under the weather but something was telling me I had to go. We hiked and skateboarded as planned and finally got to the beach. Instead of jumping into the water, Tim pulled me up to an enclosed area where I saw boats. Knowing the drone camera was following us, I kept tugging him over and saying under my breath, “Why are you going up there?” As soon as we walked up the pile of sand, I saw a beautiful heart made out of palm leaves and rose petals! I was in such a state of shock since I instantly realized that this whole entire “drone project” was actually a “proposal video”!
The proposal location was right by the area where we met at back in 2013. When I asked him why he made a video, he responded that he did it for my family and close friends that were not there to be with us during the proposal, and that the most important part was the intimate moment we had together when he proposed.
I fell in love with him again from that moment!
