How We Met
Jay & I met at work starting in the same department at Mayo Clinic. We were hospital operators before we moved onto advanced roles in different departments. I had started a year before him so it was funny when I had to train him for a couple of days when he first started because our old coworkers wanted us to get together. The office is mainly made up of women, so when it was announced that a guy accepted an open position, everyone was super curious to know what he was like. I remember when I came in for my shift on his first day, I thought he was good looking but at the time was nervous to get involved with anyone because of past breakups & we also had an assistant supervisor that was very much a bully & didn’t want to get singled out. But I was very drawn to him after we were introduced. When Jay left for the day, everyone immediately looked at me, kind of smirking like “yeah you need to go for him!” I kept telling them, “No I can’t date a coworker, you guys!” But the more we talked & got to know each other, the more I liked him & kept thinking, “Wow, he’s the guy version of me!”
It didn’t take very long for us to start dating even though I was still a little scared to put myself in a position where I could get hurt again, but it was different with him & I knew deep down he was the one. I had never felt like this with anyone before & we both fell head over heels in love with each other. June 29, 2017, is when he officially asked me to be his girlfriend, & we’ve had nothing but happy times & fun adventures ever since! Sure we’ve gone through hard times together over the past 3 years, but we’ve never really fought with each other & we always get through it. I can’t tell you how happy Jay makes me, it’s truly indescribable!
How They Asked
With the COVID-19 pandemic, I didn’t think it was going to happen this year because of everything getting canceled & I was hoping he would propose on our 3 year anniversary in June, but it didn’t happen. We hadn’t been able to go on a vacation this year either because of the pandemic & we went through some furlough periods at work that didn’t align at the same time, but finally, we caught a break in October. I wanted to do something special for Jay for his 30th birthday on October 16th; he originally wanted to go on a cruise, but of course, that couldn’t happen with the pandemic, so his plan B for his birthday trip was to go to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. We had never been to Arizona before so we decided to make it a week-long adventure of flying into Phoenix & driving everywhere we could to explore! I was hoping he was going to propose while we were there, but I also didn’t want to get my hopes up & be disappointed if he decided to wait longer, so I tried not to think about it. But I got my nails done before we left just in case. ;)
He wanted to propose the first day we were at the Grand Canyon at sunset, but we ended up getting there a little bit too late & he was pretty annoyed. Of course, I didn’t know why & said we were going to be there for another couple of days so we could try again tomorrow to catch the sunset. He switched the plan to the next day but decided not to wait until sunset because driving back to Flagstaff at night was a scary experience for us! We almost hit a huge Elk driving back! So on the second day, we left earlier & got there in the early afternoon. He was super antsy trying to find a great spot to “take pictures” & again, I said there were plenty of good spots for pictures not knowing what he was planning.
Once he found a spot he liked, he started setting up the camera & tripod so we could take some pictures with the Grand Canyon behind us. You’ll see in the video but I started asking him if I was standing in a good spot & getting ready for pictures. He then reached down into his camera bag & said “Do you know what I really want for my birthday?” I answered “What?” Then all of a sudden he has a white box in his hand & I immediately start freaking out! He started to come over, went back to throw the box that was holding the ring box, came back to me, got down on his knee, & asked me to marry him! Of course, I said YES!! I was in such shock that I didn’t start crying until about 5 minutes after he had proposed! What’s also super funny is that a crowd had formed & started applauding as he was getting down on his knee! I also didn’t know he recorded a video until after.
I had been dreaming of this moment my entire life & I’m so glad he proposed while we were on vacation exploring a new area together! Plus celebrating his birthday! It was perfect, I can’t imagine it any other way! I love Jay with all of my heart, he’s my soul mate & the love of my life! I can’t wait to marry him hopefully in 2022! (Fingers crossed the pandemic is over by then!)
