December 18, 2014

Our Story: Engage!

Just to switch gears a little bit, I thought I'd tell a little bit more about our story.  Last time I left off with us starting dating.  From the very beginning I knew there was something different about him.  I was so comfortable with him.  It was like hanging out with my best friend, even though we had only known each other about a month.  I felt fine completely being myself, whatever that meant (meaning a lot of dorkiness, lol). He also pursued me, rather than me pursuing him, which unfortunately had been my experience through most of college.  He was everything I had hoped for in a man too:  He was (and still is of course) kind, caring, generous, smart, funny, had similar values, and most importantly, his faith was very important to him.

The first month we were dating, we went out on so many dates I don't think I even had to buy groceries, lol.   We did fun things like make cookies and pancakes, play with nerf guns, and go go-carting.  We went to our first movie together, Love Happens.  Granted, most of our dates were study dates, but still, super sweet :).  My whole worry about dating distracting me from my studies turned out to be completely unfounded.  The Hubs was always there to help me study and focus when I needed to.  

To be completely cheesy, it was one of those moment were I first started to feel like I was in love with the Hubs.  Finals were coming up and I was freaking out (law school finals are no joke).  Not only had the Hubs supplied me with study materials (law school is very competitive, very difficult to get people to share) but he took time out of his study schedule to help me out when I needed.  One of those nights I was super nervous and could not calm down, so I went to visit the Hubs.  He talked me through it then hugged me, and I just felt all that stress melt away.  Even today, there's so many times he's the only one that can calm me down. 

After finals were over we went back to our separate states for Christmas break.  That wasn't a fun couple weeks but before I knew it we were back together.  Then his Dad visited.  Talk about nerve wracking, but it went well.  Right after his Dad left, he first said he loved me :).  Not a super romantic story, we were cuddling and the Hubs just kind of blurted it out, but it was perfect.  

Reality soon threw a wrench in the works though.  Around 6 months in, we realized things were getting serious and that there could be a future there.  Problem was that whole separate state thing.  We both planned on going back to our own home states after law school... which happened to be just around 3,000 miles apart. It was the subject of a lot of debate, but we were both set in our own opinions. Things weren't looking so great...

About a month later was barristers ball, aka "law prom".  Everybody took a break from the studies, cleaned up, and looked pretty.  After dancing my feet off, I got a little tired so I wanted to go soak my feet in the pool at the venue and the Hubs came along.  While I was soaking my feet in the pool, the Hubs sat down next to me... and told me that some earthquakes might not be the worst thing in the world, and he'd be ok coming with me to California.  Poor guy didn't know what he was getting himself into, but problem solved :).  Things just got better from there :).

Soon enough it was summer time, and back to our separate states we went.  At the end of the summer though, he came to visit me and check out his future home state.  It was an interesting trip, involving a funeral, the county fair, and the beach.  And at the end of the trip he asked my parents to marry me :).   Things were great!

Again, slight problem came up.  See, the Hubs asked my parents then because that was the last time he would see them in person for the foreseeable future.  However, he wasn't quite in a place where he was able to propose yet.  Back before the summer break, he had been in a car accident, and his car was totaled.  He didn't need a car over the summer, so he was planning on getting a new one in the fall.  The car situation needed to be taken care of before he could get the ring (budgetary considerations and all), and he was having a hard time finding the right car.  It was all very complicated.

Anyways... long story short, it all snowballed and much tension about the whole thing ensued.  In hindsight, it wasn't all a bad thing though, it led to a lot of ...honest conversations, not only about ourselves but about our families too, which was good, even if it was hard at the time.

Finally, after our last exams of that semester, and before everyone was about to go home for Christmas, the Hubs wanted to take me out on a date.  I wondered if it could be the night, but wasn't sure.  When the Hubs came to pick me up I wasn't ready yet.  He waited with my roommate in the living room, pacing back and forth and rearranging little decorations we had around.  My roomie knew something was up.

Once I was ready to go, we headed off to dinner.  He surprised me and took me to... the very same sushi restaurant we had gone to on our first date.  Then we walked down the same road, stopped by the same place with the super yummy homemade donuts... hmmm.  Yea, I definitely knew something was up by that point, lol.  Then we went for a walk on the beach.  After walking for a bit, he stopped, got down on one knee, said some really nice things that I cannot remember for the life of me, lol, and asked me to marry him.  The nice things he said were really nice,  I blurted out yes before he was even done asking :).  With that, I knelt down on the sand with him and he slid the ring on my finger, though on the wrong hand at first, lol.  At the same time, the fog closed in around us, making us feel like we were the only people there. It was perfect.  So, on December 18, 2010, exactly four years ago today, me and the Hubs got engaged!

This was a reenactment, but you get the idea

Yes, the title of this post is another Star Trek reference.  I can't help myself.  Sorry.

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