How We Met: Alex and I went to the same middle school and high school, but he was a year older than me and we never had any classes together. We met in 2009, at the end of my sophomore year of high school. I had a class with one of Alex’s good friends. His friend was telling me about a field trip that he would be going on in the near future and I was interested in going.
After school I met up with Alex’s friend and he handed me a permission slip to go on the field trip. His friend called Alex and asked if he would give both of us a ride to my house, and Alex was nice enough to come pick us up at the school even though he had already arrived home.
Not even a week after Alex and I had met he asked me for my number and we began to get to know each other. Our first date was at the local Dairy Queen. The day after my birthday Alex and I went on a movie date. He gave me a cute birthday card and a little Easter basket since my birthday had fallen on Easter that year. At the end of our date that night he drove me home and walked me to the door. We talked about our date and the movie and then nervously he asked me out. I said yes, I gave him a hug and then we exchanged our first kiss and we said our goodbyes.
Shortly after we began dating he asked me to his junior prom, and I said yes.
A year later I was Alex’s date to his senior prom.
Finally, it was my senior year of high school and I got to take him to prom.
I never ended up going on that field trip, but I am thankful that we happened to meet on that lovely day in 2009.
how they asked: It was a warm August morning (August 9, 2014 to be specific), and Alex and I were headed to the Outer Banks for our yearly weekend summer getaway.
On our way to the hotel we ended up hitting some traffic. Poor Alex was all sorts of anxious and stressed about the traffic, and I kept telling him to relax since we didn’t have anywhere until 4 pm when we could check into the hotel. On the way there we saw lots of fun activities that we might try while we were in the area.
Finally, we made it to the hotel, but we still had a few hours until we could check in. We changed out of our comfortable traveling clothes and into something a little more practical. We enjoyed a little snack and then we were back on the road to find something to do.
I thought of the idea that we should visit a lighthouse since we were relatively close to some of the most famous ones in North Carolina. We both thought it would be cool to visit the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse until we realized that it was a little over two hours away, and we had just finished several hours of driving and sitting in traffic. We decided to visit whatever lighthouse was the closest one to us, and that happened to be the Bodie Island Lighthouse.
Upon arrival we get our tickets for a tour of the lighthouse. There was a little time before our tour started, so we took advantage of that time and we explored the area.
Then it was our turn to explore the lighthouse.We slowly ascended the stairs of the lighthouse as the tour guided educated us about the history and details of the lighthouse.
The climb was worth it once we got to the top and saw the view. Once I satisfied my need for taking pictures of the beautiful scenery Alex suggested that we ask the tour guide to take a picture of us. He was busy talking to a family about the view, so I asked a woman that was near us if she would take a picture of us with my phone, and she agreed.
Alex suggested that she take one more picture of us just in case the first one came out blurry. I was a little hesitant because I felt like we were asking too much of the woman that was kind enough to take our picture, but then I went along with it. She asked me how she could keep taking pictures and I told her to keep pressing the circle that is on the screen. As she took a few more pictures for us Alex turned to me, begins to kneel, and said, “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long time.” And in disbelief I had the biggest gasp of my life and screamed, “Nooooooooo!” (I felt so bad about that after it all happened)
Then he said, “These past 5 years have been amazing, and I would love to spend the rest of my life with you. Nicole Marie Hale, will you marry me?” While in some strange state of shock and disbelief I managed to say, “Yes, of course!” I knew we would laugh about my reaction for years to come. I felt like I was on top of the world, and I had the biggest smile on my face for who knows how long. It was the perfect way to start our perfect summer getaway.