How we met: Casey and I met at Jefferson Elementary School, in Colorado Springs, CO, while I was in 3rd grade and Casey was in 5th grade (that was 1991). We were Art classmates in our deaf/hard of hearing education group at the school – Casey is deaf, I’m hard of hearing. In the Summer of 1992 at the end of school year, Casey moved away and I can remember like yesterday it broke my heart when I hugged her goodbye after school.
We reunited almost 20 years later in Colorado Springs, CO. Our Teacher Miss Timm (our speech therapist) passed away and Casey and our old classmates and teachers held a ceremony dinner in her honor at a restaurant March 4th, 2011. When we saw each other it was like a hurricane of love in the air. She immediately knew I was the one, but it didn’t hit me until a few weeks later when we dated long distance (she was living in Texas, I was living in Colorado). Then we traveled to see each other eventually couldn’t stand to be away from each other so I moved to Houston in June of the same year to be with her and her 2 young sons (who now proudly call me their daddy).
how they asked: My future Mother-In-Law, Dianne, and I planned my proposal since early January after she stopped
me from engagement ring shopping for Casey. Dianne wanted me to use her Mother’s (Casey’s Grandma) ring for me to use to propose. I was delightfully honored to accept.
At the time I had a few ideas of how and when to propose but I decided quickly to do it at a Houston Astros baseball game at Minute Maid Park Stadium. Reason being is because Casey is good at figuring me out and I didn’t want her to be suspcious or pull a spoiler. I bought the tickets to use for our oldest son’s (my step-son) 13th birthday and used that to mask my surprise for the game we all attended with family and friends.
During the bottom of the 6th inning I signaled to Casey’s Mom Dianne who was sitting next to me to hand me the baseball with ring in it as I tapped Casey’s elbow to get up out of her seat. She gave me a confused look, thinking I may have dropped something under seat. As Casey stood up then I got down on one knee and did my proposal, speaking from the heart in sign language.
Then she said YES and cried uncontrollably with shock.
As you can see in the videos and pictures our love was magnified and deep with passion for each other. It was the best day of our lives as she and I waited 3 (felt like forever) years for this special moment.
We will be married in June 2015!
