How We Met
High school sweet hearts!! Austin and I became friends our junior year of high school through mutual friends. The closer our friend group became, the closer our friendship grew. I found myself wanting to hang out with him more and more and honestly felt like no time together was long enough. Our friends would joke that we liked each other and say “you should just date already!”, but we responded with the classic, “we are just really good friends!”
Senior year rolled around and Austin went to visit his older brother who, at the time, was a junior at Norte Dame. Per usual, we would text and update each other on what we were doing, but the distance and short time apart brought out a feeling I don’t think either of us was expecting. We genuinely missed each other, but questioned why since he would be back in just a few days. At first we brushed it under the table. We thought it was simply a normal “I just miss one of my best friends” feeling. It wasn’t.
Soon after, the I like you stomachache really kicked in when another girl voiced that she started to like Austin. It was the first time I realized that if another girl came into the picture, I would have to take a back seat. Shortly after that, I asked him to our Sadie Hawkins dance and the rest just fell into place. We dated throughout senior year, and the summer before college. I’m not sure we went a day without seeing each other that summer, but we both had college in the back of our minds and were planning on attending different schools.
I was going to Gonzaga University in Washington and he was going to Oregon State University in Oregon (about an 8 hour drive apart). While the thought of goodbye killed both of us, we knew college experiences were important and deiced to “break up.” To this day, I think that was the most we have ever cried. We stayed in touch, ended up getting back together only a month later, and continued dating until sophomore year of college.
At that point, the realization that college is a once in a life opportunity hit home and we decided to break up for real. Nothing about it was easy. The learning curve of not talking to your best friend is a real thing! No jokes there. While we missed each other, we knew it was the best for both of us and barely talked for two years. Our conversations never consisted of anything more than wishing each other a Merry Christmas or happy birthday. Honestly, talking really just made it harder.
However, after two years apart and dating other people, we knew that high school crush was never going away. Christmas break of our senior year in college we met up for drinks and asked if the other person was happy. On a surface level, everything in our lives was good; but, without each other, something felt missing. After that night, we spent the majority of that Christmas break together and started dating again.
My plan after college was to find a job in Seattle. Austin was going to attend law school and chose Santa Clara University where he is currently a 2L. I decided our long distance relationship needed to end for good. Now, we are both now living in the Bay Area and loving the newly engaged life!
how they asked
About two weeks before Austin was ready to propose, he suggested we take a trip to the beach to celebrate a big law school assignment due that Friday. This sounded like a fun way to celebrate with friends and get away for the weekend. We arrived to the beach Friday night and woke up Saturday morning to the clearest, blue-sky day. Austin had suggested we take our cameras out for a walk and go to a great viewpoint his friend recently showed him. We walked a few blocks from where we were staying and came out to the prettiest view in Santa Cruz. He suggested we set up the self timer on his camera to take a photo of ourselves, but much to my surprise, the camera was recording a video. After a few shaky words and exchanges of “I love you” Austin got down on one knee and asked to marry me. I couldn’t have been more excited to say “yes” to forever with my best friend.
After some embracing hugs, smiles, watery eyes, and laughs he mentioned he had one more surprise. Both of our families flew down from Portland, OR as well as his brother and sister-in-law from Chicago. They had been waiting for us back in Los Gatos with glasses of champagne to celebrate. The day continued with a few games of bocce ball, and dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in down town Campbell. Our day was filled with so much joy and we could not have had fuller hearts. Austin and I agreed having our families there to help celebrate made our day that much more special and we couldn’t be luckier with the group we have behind us.
Everything about the day was us. The private location, the scenery, and family time. We could not be more excited to continue through life together with all the laughs, joys, and trials and tribulations to come.