I love you, for sentimental reasons;Wow, what a week! I am currently in the Orlando Airport, waiting for our flight...that was delayed. That's another story. So, a really cool thing happened this week... I got engaged! I cannot wait to share with you the spark notes about my fiancé, our story, and the proposal! About my FiancéI feel really bad that the ring is the center of this photo, but it's the guy in back that has my attention. That adorable human right there is my husband-to-be! His name is Sam, and he's pretty cool, if I do say so myself. Sam is everything that I've ever wanted in a future husband and more. He's true gold, and I can't wait to spend forever with my bestie. Sam is a God-loving, quirky, nerdy, musical man. He continuously shows me Jesus-like love, and I'm so grateful for that. because of my anxiety and my past with depression and cutting, I've always had these lies in my head that I was unloveable, and that no one would want to marry me because of it. This man broke all of those lies with the way that he loves me. Sam is constantly thinking about my needs, before I ever think about them. He never complains when it comes to caring for me (no matter how many times I ask him to rub my back) He continuously shows me patience, and Lord knows I need it. I'm an anxious person. and I absolutely hate being that. But Sam is patient with me, even if I don't make sense, or if I'm being a little irrationally picky about something. He continuously shows me adventure in everything. Learning new things either about him, or how to navigate our relationship has been so cool. I am learning things about myself and the different things he brings out in me. Lastly, he continuously shows me laughter. Sam sure can put a big smile on my face. He's a big ol' goofball. Life is bright and full with him in it. Obviously there is more, but we've got a lot of ground to cover in this post. So, hopefully you're up for a road-trip because this is going to be a tad longer than most posts. Our StoryHere is our story - Timeline Edition! Fall // 2015 - first sight - Sam ended up coming to our youth group at Crosspoint for a few weeks in the fall, where I was leading worship all of the weeks he came. We definitely noticed each other, but we were too shy to say anything! January // 2016 - first meeting - Sam was working for a indie/pop/rock band called Bread of Stone. He had a few months off, and finally was going back to tour around the US in January of 2016. They have a yearly concert at River Valley Alliance in Watertown. Our youth group was invited to go, so I went. side note -- Facebook kept suggesting Sam in the, "people you may know" box. So, I added him, and saw my friend Mike Spoke was mutual friends with him, and asked him to hook a sister up and introduce us. so we get to the concert, Mike introduces us. But, again, we are shy so we kept glancing at each other the whole night but didn't say anything after that. A week later we added each other on all the social media's and talked until he asked for my number, then nightly FaceTiming sessions were a routine of our lives. I'm talking about 6 hours of talking, until like 4am! May // 2016 - first date - After months of continuous conversation, Sam was able to come back for a week long visit before they went off on the road for summer season. He was here for 8 days. and out of those days we spent about 6 days together. and out of those 6 days, we spent 50 + hours together. I took off work early on a Monday afternoon, and he showed up, and we drove. First time meeting since January, and the awkwardness of it all quickly faded. We visited his grandparents and ate lunch with them. I know that sounds weird to do on a first date, but it was a good opportunity for him to see them while he was home for such a small amount of time. Then we spent the afternoon in Milwaukee. I treated him to Stone Creek Coffee, and we ended up just walking around by Lake Michigan. For dinner, we went to the Spy House, which is now one of our favorite places to go! This was a 'we are on a date, but we didn't talk about it and we probably like eachother' kind of date. I cannot stress how shy we both were. So, before he could tell me his feelings for me, and before I could ask, he had to leave. I remember him driving from my house and I literally cried because I thought I lost my chance. I texted him asking about his feelings and he just didn't know if I'd want to date him since we'd be long distance and all. I still did! So we waited for two weeks until we would both be in person again (in Florida) to be officially dating. June // 2016 My old Youth Pastor had booked the band Sam worked with for this camp, I flew down by myself for a short weekend. This was so awesome, and it was fun to see the kids that I had met a few months earlier. As we sat in the ocean on Daytona beach, Sam asked me to be his Girlfriend. Very memorable. Mostly because we got super sunburnt that day. This photo does not do it justice. Present // 2017 - Sam moved back home to Wisconsin in September of 2016, and the rest is history! The ProposalSam and I and my friend Emma had taken a trip to Florida to visit some friends and be apart of Camp Gnar (The same camp we attended last year when we first started dating). Emma and I stayed at a friend of Bryan and Brie's and Sam stayed with our friends Ross & Emma again. It was day 2 and Emma told me she had a migraine and needed to stay home for a while. Sam rode up with Emma H and her son Clark and we drove to Symmetry coffee for some crepes. Later, Sam needed to be dropped off at church because we were leading worship that night. I was so upset because the day before he was gone for a while and I didn't know where or why, and then he wanted to go to church to keep practicing and getting set in with his guitar. I partially understood, but mostly I was sad that I wasn't spending time with him. So Emma and I watched the Goldbergs, and waited for Clark to finish napping. Emma tried to be sneaky and left as soon as she saw the window, and took me to a place called "Silver Springs". Sam and I had gone here back in December and it is this very scenic area. That's when the proposal started. Emma asked the ticket booth for an envelope and it read me a letter that told me that there would be a series of letters I needed to open. These letters contained sweet words of what Sam loved about me. These little cuties were placed carefully along a trail. Emma M and Sarah the photographer popped out and started capturing these moments. I've never had such a hard time doing such a simple task like opening an envelope. I was overwhelmed by what was happening, and counting how many letters I had to open until I could see Sam. Finally, I rounded a corner and saw this beautifully decorated arch with the last letter attached to a pole. So, I read the last letter and turn around thinking that my man would be there on a knee, but when I turned around it was just the Emma's and Sarah. I was a little confused for a second but then heard twigs snapping behind me and when I turned around, Sam was walking through the brush to get to me. He took my hand and with a shaky voice and teary eyes, he told me he loved me and asked me to marry him! What made this moment super special was that people like Emma and Bryan who had been mentors and super important people in my life were there to witness this. I'm super excited for the years to come, and am so in love with this man. "So, when are you getting married?"The funny thing about getting engaged in Florida is...we aren't in Wisconsin. We haven't really had the opportunity to plan anything yet. We are shooting for dates in May or June of next year, though! Thanks for reading.
I'm super excited to share this exciting time with you. -A
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