How We Met
When I was 7 and he was 8, we met at church. It was my family’s first visit, and my brothers and I tried to make a good impression by sitting up front and standing during the hymns. My now-fiance–an avid Simpsons fan–watched this from seated vantage in the back pew and thought to himself that we looked exactly like the Flanders family. He resolved to never speak to us. Well, unfortunately for him, it turned out that we’d be going to the same elementary school. In fact, not only that, but his mother had asked mine to nanny him and his brother after school. It was a Seinfeldian situation, kid-edition. Luckily his horror was not long-lived. He and I made fast friends, and before long we were watching Dragon Ball Z, playing Super Smash Bros, and discussing our mutual love of the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and aliens. Our favorite activity was “alien hunting” in the evenings. We’d wander around in the semi-darkness pretending that airplanes might be UFOs.
how they asked
When my family decided to move across the country in 5th grade, we were both heartbroken. He was my best friend (and crush, who are we kidding)! He took me to the backyard before we left to sit together and talk, and looked me in the eyes as seriously as he could. He said that when he grew up and could make his own decisions he would take me to Loch Ness to see Nessie. You might already see where this is going… Through the years after that, we kept in touch, lost touch, reconnected, graduated university, dated others, but still carried a secret flame for each other. When we got together in 2014, I was 23 and he was 24. We were crazy about each other (also maybe just a bit crazy). He moved across the country for me, and then across the Atlantic when I attended grad school in England. After I finished my thesis, he planned a trip for us to Loch Ness to make good on his childhood promise. At the waters of the loch he bent down and asked me the BIG QUESTION. I didn’t see Nessie, but I got something better–a best friend for life. :)