How We Met
Erik and I met in the Spring of the year 2014. Our church was having Easter presentations all week. I was new to this huge church and wanted to get involved during this time. Erik was one of the youth pastors at the time and needed some older volunteers to help lead the youth during our Easter craze. He had such a serious demeanor and did not seem approachable at all. Here was this huge rugby guy with facial hair yet I felt that I could not stand him. After observing his relationship with the youth I began to think maybe he was not that conceited. We had yet to even have a conversation when he comes over to my station and tells a girlfriend of mine to keep it down. Completely turned off by his tone, I look at my friend whose laughing (I didn’t know they played like that at the time) and give her a look of disbelief. Who does this guy think he is?! I lean over and whisper “WHAT A JERK”! Apparently, my whisper was not really a whisper and Erik turns around and looks straight at me and asks – “What did you say”? In a bold and confident, not gonna mess with my tone I respond, ” I SAID, YOU’RE A JERK”! He was completely shocked that I responded with such sass; I should have stopped there, but nope. “THAT’S RIGHT! YOU HEARD ME, TURN AROUND AND KEEP WALKING”! He seemed so confused yet so intrigued, that he did just that. Turned around and kept walking.
Now, he says that he indeed was confused, but acknowledges THAT was the moment he knew. Sass and all :)
how they asked
Erik and I have been dating for a little over three years. I, along with several family members and friends, have bugged him about a future ring! The day it all happened will be one that will never be forgotten. I was internally suffering because I had such a hunch it was going to happen this day. His story was that we were going to go check out some houses after work. After about three hours of freaking out with a close friend, that later turned into a therapy session, Erik picked me up from work. My legs felt like jello. Is this it? I tried to keep up with small talk and pretending this wasn’t going to happen (I thought it would help calm the nerves).
We turn into this beautiful lakeside park, I automatically start taking deep breaths. He tries to play it off by saying, “it’s a shortcut, babe – lots of traffic the other way.” So I agreed to believe him and stayed calm. We then get to the bottom of the park, and see a lake; he insists we go check it because he “had childhood memories there.” We walk up to a tree stump with an envelope with my name on, he hands it to me and tells me – “I’ll see you in a minute” then walks away.
I am freaking out because at this point I know “THIS IS IT”! I read the envelope and start following the bend as the letter instructed. I found another envelope nailed to a tree, I open it and as soon as I finish reading it, I look up. I see a trail of twinkling lights, candles, and rose petals. Tears start to stream down my face and I cannot move. I literally cannot move. I kid you not, in my broken voice and tears streaming down my cheeks I shout “I CAN’T WALK”! So of course, Erik being the gentleman that he comes on over, hugs me, kisses my forehead and walks us to the designated proposal spot. He gets down on his knee, and professes his love to me and sweetly asks me to marry him. I’m floored and cannot contain the excitement and say “Yes”!
Suddenly, I hear a crowd cheering and screaming! Our family and close friends come running down to congratulate us! It was the most magical day of my life. I thought I had the perfect proposal thought through for myself – nope. My fiancé has proved me wrong and completely outdid himself.
