How We Met
In March of 2013, I started a new job, this was such a huge point in my life, at the time it was my ‘dream job’ and I was so excited to start my career journey. I arrived at work on my very first day, I reported to the front reception area and surprisingly, I was welcomed by a tall, dark and handsome gentleman. I blushed, I smiled, he smiled back, and it was from that day I knew he was the one.
So rather than bore you with general life details, we are going to jump forward again, another few years, to 2016. A lot had happened as you can probably imagine, in life and at work, and a lot of fun had been had. That tall, dark, handsome gentleman I mentioned earlier, well we had become good friends and by this point, we also worked on the same team. It was such an amazing team, we all built the most incredible bond and as a team, we spent a lot of time together, both inside and outside of work.
One day, as friends only, myself and the tall, dark, handsome gentleman decided to go shopping together. It was a wonderfully strange day, so many occasions that we found ourselves comfortably silent, just gazing into each other’s eyes.
We arrived back in Surrey around dusk and the sun was setting over the Surrey Hills, it was a charming, warm evening. We had arrived back earlier than expected, with about 40 minutes to spare before we both had other plans and secretly, neither of us wanted the day to end. He made an executive decision to waste the time wisely and he suggested we pull up somewhere with a view to watch the sunset together. He drove us to the top of a quiet little road that overlooked the Surrey skyline. We sat in his car, the sun burning through the window, crying with laughter over dog videos on YouTube, and desperately not wanting to leave.
So one last time, jump ahead another couple of years, to October 2018. I and that tall, dark, handsome gentleman still reminisce over that evening and we have been together ever since.
For a long time, we had been looking to buy a property and back in May of this year, after scrolling through pages and pages of Rightmove, we found a cute place on the internet. We went to view it, we fell in love with it, we put in an offer, and I can now happily say that we are fully moved into our very own beautiful 3 bedroom house, but the best part?! It turns out, completely and utterly by chance, the house we have bought is located on the exact same street where we parked up and watched the sunset together those years ago, right before we fell in love.
How They Asked
We are so lucky to be happy and healthy right now and the fulfillment in my heart it has given me, seeing the smiles on our friends and families faces, when we have shared our wonderful news, has just been unimaginable.
Now the question that EVERYONE has been asking. How did he do it?
Well, let’s face it, given that we are in lockdown until god knows when, it was certainly unexpected.
I am a control freak, I always have been, I always will be; however, the proposal is the ONE area of my life I have NEVER given much thought or input to, other than… “please don’t ever do it in front of people”.
On Tuesday 31st March 2020, Tadhg decided to pop out for a walk with our Stanley Bear. As I hadn’t showered or washed my hair for what felt like a lifetime, I decided to spend a couple of hours in lockdown, in our bathroom.
Tadhg returned after only 20 minutes and I was having a right old moan about it (in my head) whilst in the shower. “Why has he taken Stanley for a walk for 20 minutes, that just isn’t long enough” my inner monologue bitched.
After finally exiting the bathroom, we decided to take Stanley for a ‘proper’ walk and embark on our ‘one piece of exercise’ for the day. I was unsure as to why Tadhg had popped out earlier that day and he was being very weird when I asked where they went.
Anyway, the clocks had sprung forward and it was a lovely sunny late-afternoon. We returned home from our walk and Tadhg immediately ran off upstairs, shouting at me to follow him.
I excitingly ran up behind him, to find him sitting in our bedroom, headed for his bedside table.
Tadhg often joked that he had already bought me an engagement ring and if I found it, I could have it. So as he reached for his watch box and said “I just couldn’t wait any longer to give you this”, I immediately thought he was trying to wind me up. I uncontrollably laughed and shouted at him, “I KNOW YOU’RE LYING BECAUSE I HAVE ALREADY LOOKED FOR IT IN THERE!”
I continued to laugh, however, he continued to stare directly at me, whilst saying that he just couldn’t wait. As he lifted open the lid of his watch box, I immediately noticed a small grey ring box inside.
I screamed “YOU CAN’T DO THIS NOW BUBBA” in utter shock, still trying to figure out if it was some sort of evil quarantine joke.
He got down on one knee beside our bed, Stanley proudly sat directly in front of him, both of them staring up at me and said something along the lines of (anyone engaged will know this part is usually a blur):
“We could be stuck in lockdown for months and although I had something very special planned after the jeweller hand-delivered this to me today, I just couldn’t wait.” He slowly opened the ring box and continued, “all I know is that I love you more than anything and I want to be with you forever”.
