Sarah

  The Meeting In July 2005, Sarah went to Boston to visit her friend Diana, whom she went to high school with in Hawaii.  Diana invited Sarah to a moving party thrown by a coworker, and for some reason, Sarah was very excited  to meet this coworker Joe Spence.  On Friday, July 22, 2005, Sarah and Joe met for the first time at his apartment.  It was instant... something (at least for Sarah).   Over the next week, Joe's humor and kindness became more and more apparent, and Sarah grew to like him.   The First Date On August 3, Joe and Sarah had their first date - a day-long event.  First, they went to the Museum of Science, where they saw more dioramas than anyone ever should  in one place.   Then they went to The Fours for a sports-themed lunch, and then back to Joe's interim apartment where he introduced Sarah to Ron Burgundy.  After watching the Channel 4 news team take on San Diego, Joe and Sarah headed to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox beat the KC Royals 8 to 5.  In the third inning, a foul ball hit by the Royals' Mike Sweeney rolled off fingertips, bounced off shoulders, and ultimately landed on Joe's foot, where he calmly picked it up and raised it in the air for all to see without ever leaving his seat.  And Sarah knew then that Joe was kind of a big deal.   The Waiting By the time Sarah went home to Guam, she knew she wanted to move to Boston for the culture, history, and better opportunities.  (Ok, who are we kidding?  Joe might have had a little something to do with it too, just a little.)  For the next five months, they kept in touch by email, texting, messaging, and phone calls, getting to know each other better while living a world apart.      The Dating   On January 12, 2006, Sarah and Joe officially became residents of the same town, and officially became a couple.  They dated for two and a half years before moving in together in July 2008, and after the first year living together, Sarah knew she wanted to marry Joe.  As she watched everyone around her getting engaged, planning weddings, getting married, she wondered when it would happen for her.  After the fifth anniversary of their first date passed, Sarah gave up hope of a proposal in 2010.  The Proposal Joe went to Long Island for a long weekend to attend his high school reunion.  While making breakfast the morning of August 8, 2010, Aiyana, Sarah's daughter, asked if she and Joe were ever going to get married.  Sarah said she didn't know.  She spent the rest of the day cleaning the apartment in preparation for their California vacation. When Joe came home that night, they exchanged weekend updates and after hearing about Aiyana's question about marriage, Joe said, "We should get married while we're in California next week."  Sarah knew Joe was not the eloping type, so she just rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, totally."  Joe went to put his stuff away, while Sarah sat on the couch exhausted and cranky.   "Hey, Sarah, can you come here?" Joe called from the kitchen.  When Sarah went in, Joe was looking around in the fridge.  "If we were going to get married in California, I thought we might need a ring."  He turned around to face Sarah and had the engagement ring his father had given his mother in his hand.  Sarah just stood there in silence for what seemed like hours before asking if he was joking.  After assuring her that he was in fact not joking, he said, "Sarah Zaragoza, will you marry me?"  Joe put the ring on Sarah's finger and she just stared in more stunned silence.  Finally she said, "Yeah."