How We Met
Jared and I differ on this story: he claims we met during our freshman year of college but I don’t remember meeting him until the summer before our junior year. We had mutual friends freshman year and he says that he came to my dorm room with those friends because he had a crush on me and wanted to meet me – I have no recollection of this encounter.
I was at home in San Diego in the summer of 2010 and a college friend invited me to the beach one afternoon. When I got to the beach, Jared was there. We said hi and shared very casual conversation, but when I left the beach that day I didn’t think twice about the guy that I’d met that day. A few months later when we were back in school, we both applied to study abroad in Europe. When we found out we would be in neighboring countries that spring (Spain and Portugal) I reached out to him to congratulate him. He followed up by asking me to get lunch. I didn’t see the text until the next day and I felt horrible. I immediately apologized to him and he was very gracious and somehow spun the original lunch into a dinner date. He came to my sorority house to pick me up the night of our first date and was such a gentleman: he opened my car door, ordered for me at the restaurant, and paid for the meal. I remember the conversation flowing so naturally that it was like I’d always known him. There weren’t instant fireworks or anything over the top on my side, it was more of a calming sense of ease and comfort – he felt like home.
7 years later I look back on our first date and think, “I should have known then that he was my person.”
how they asked
Last year for my 27th birthday Jared and I went to Boston and had high tea at Rowes Wharf Sea Grille and I absolutely loved it. So when we booked a vacation to Canada this January Jared found high tea for us at the Ritz-Carlton Montreal. I didn’t think anything of it because Jared is so thoughtful and will often plan romantic dates or outings for us, so I just thought this was another really sweet date.
When we were getting ready for tea that afternoon in January, it was rainy in Montreal and I didn’t put much effort into my hair or my outfit – that’s how he knew I had no idea what was coming. When we arrived at the Ritz we walked into a beautiful room called the Palm Court. The woman that escorted us to our table took our coats and offered to take a picture of us at the top of the staircase. The stairs were in front of these beautiful mirrored doors leading to the grand ballroom. I was getting irritated with Jared because the photo was being taken at what I thought would be an unflattering angle. So when we got to the top of the stairs, he just grabbed my hands and turned me to him and told me we weren’t there to just take a picture. At that moment I just lost it because then I knew exactly what he meant. He looked in my eyes and said I was the love of his life, and then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was so thoroughly surprised my only reaction was to drop to my knees and cry happy tears.
As soon as I said yes there was champagne ready and waiting to be served to us along with flowers on the table and a framed photo of us. Jared never ceases to amaze me with the lengths he’ll go through to show me he loves me.
