How we met: It was my Sophomore year in college. I was in a season of life where I was very much not myself–very antisocial, no desire to meet new people, and felt very fond of the idea of keeping to myself. That ended quickly one October day in 2012. After getting out of my last afternoon class, I was feeling more myself than I had for awhile, but I was completely unsure as to why; nothing had triggered this, it just happened. The sun was shining, the air was warm, and I had bit more skip in my step than usual.
I saw a friend of mine whom I hadn’t spoken with since the previous Spring semester, and decided that I wanted to go say hello to him–again, which was very out of the ordinary for me in this season of life. After walking up and giving my greeting I turned to the friend he seemed to be conversing with before I so “graciously” greeted them with my presence. “Hi, I’m Taylor” I said as I put my hand out to shake his. I quickly realized this was the guy I had seen across campus a few times prior to this meeting, and said to myself “Wow, he’s cute, too bad I’ll probably never meet him.” Guess what, I did. He introduced Himself back. Matt was his name. I can still hear how he said it in my head.
After the introduction I stood there as they continued their conversation–which thinking back, must have been incredibly awkward, seeing that I had just barged in upon them. “Mind if I sit here?” I said as I was already half way on the ground next to Matt; he didn’t seem too sure of how he felt. As a few minutes passed, Jesse, our friend, decided it was time for him to leave. We bid him adieu. For the next three hours, the sun was setting and we were still sitting on the same patch of grass outside of the library. We talked for hours about music, passions, and life; it seemed as if no time had passed. It was from then on, I was determined to get to know this guy.
how they asked: After spending the summer apart due to internships–Matt being out at Mars Hill in Seattle, and I at Gateway Church in Dallas, were finally reunited the last weekend of August. Matt leads the student lead worship night at our school (Palm Beach Atlantic University), so we were unable to spend a lot of time together when we had first returned to campus. One night, Matt suggested that since he would be busy all weekend due to his position, that we go and watch the sunrise at the beach on Sunday morning; this was one of the special things we would do together every once in awhile. I, exuberant at the idea did not hesitate to say yes.
5:30am Sunday morning rolled around and I went to pick him up. We arrived at the beach, and headed toward the Lifeguard Stand where would always sit (it was where we sat the night we shared how we felt about each other for the first time, and decided to pursue a relationship). As we approached it and got closer, we realized there was somebody’s stuff there… Uh Oh! Matt seemed frazzled when I suggested we sit somewhere else. “But.. But that’s our spot!” Seeing that I am sentimental, I decided I would do anything to make sure we sat in this spot, since it seemed to mean so much to him; I loved it.
Moving the stuff to the side with a plan of action in mind, we waited for the sun’s appearance. Matt began telling me all of the things that he loves about me, as well as how he felt that there were many things that pointed for the need for me in his life. “Do you think it would be a good time to take a picture?” My thoughts? “Um… no?” It was cloudy, and the sun hadn’t risen quite yet. He insisted, so I followed. We jumped down from the lifeguard stand, and I followed Matt, assuming he was attempting to find someone to take our photo. Suddenly, I saw a large crowd of people walking towards us, not thinking anything of it, I turned and looked. I was my entire family, as well as Matt’s family! Completely confused as to what was happening, it became more blurred when I saw our friend Jesse (yes, the one we met through in my ‘how we met’ section) with two cameras around his neck. I turned to look for Matt, and found him down on one knee.
I immediately began crying. “Taylor, will you marry me” he said, and after he spoke those words the sun came out from behind the clouds. It was truly breathtaking. I remember hearing myself think “Taylor, you have to speak, and you have to say yes”. I said yes, and Matt grabbed me into his arms, and he held me, as I cried and internally thanked Jesus for giving me such a gift as Matt.
Photos by Stephanie Plateroti