how we met
I was just the newest addition to Domino’s. Everyone already knew my father as a previous worker so I was often referred to as “Kody’s daughter” for the first year. At the time, Tom was a manager and we worked more often together than not. I remember thinking on the second year of working at Domino’s, “Oh gosh! I think I’m attracted to my boss…” Eventually, he invited me to go hiking and the hanging out outside of work began. We changed our schedules so we could spend all our time together both on the clock and off. I moved up to being a delivery driver and he stepped down as a manager to do the same, mostly for the money.
Our first ‘official’ date was an hour drive to Glenwood Springs which included a hike to Hanging Lake and dinner at Juicy Lucy’s. I was lots of fun and we even bought matching bracelets at one of the gift shops!
how they asked
We dated for almost 5 years before he proposed. He is a fun and romantic man, but he was terrified of making a commitment. Year four was the hardest. Just waiting…and talking…and more waiting. We talked about marriage plenty of times. Yet he had to overcome his feeling of not being good enough for me. That was the fifth year. It was full of proposal preparation. I had already bought my wedding dress a year and six months before he would propose to me. We took premarital classes and we both worked on bettering ourselves before we tied the knot. Ya know, the whole ‘do not become unequally yoked’ thing. We would often go to Glenwood Springs since it was so close to us. This time we brought my two brothers and sister to come hike with us at Hanging Lake. The sign said that parking was full and the park was closed. Little did I know Tom had planned to propose to me during that hike surrounded by my siblings.
We ended up having dinner in town and driving back home. A few months later I wanted to try to go hike Hanging Lake again since it was my birthday. Before we left, I looked online to see that the park was opened. When we got near the exit the sign again said, “Parking full. Park closed.” I was determined to hike and we took the exit to the the park anyway. When we arrived 3 spots happened to be opened. I was so excited! We made the climb all the way to the top stopping here and there for pictures. We were both sad so see much of the lake chained off. Back then, they tolerated tourist to walk on the log floating in the middle of the lake were are first picture of us was taken together. Unfortunately, the lake had to take precautions against people ‘accidentally’ falling into a lake where swimming was not allowed. He wanted to recreate the first photo we took as a couple and propose to me on the log.
Instead, he asked the closest person if he could take a photo of us. Tom asked me to sit on the rock. I didn’t want to. He asked again and said it would be fine so I begrudgingly complied. To my surprise, he turned around to propose! On my birthday he proposed!
I was so caught off guard that I shouted, “Oh my gosh you jerk! Yes YES! Finally.” The stranger named Alex looked up from the camera and said, “I really just thought i was taking a normal picture! My heart was pounding!” I’m not sure who was more surprised, me or Alex. To end the evening Tom took me out to our favorite steak house: Juicy Lucy’s.
