Taylor

February 19, 2011. A boy that I had seen around high school, but never talked to, showed up to my 9th grade birthday party with his sister, who I was friends with. For the next two weeks, our mutual friend keeps talking each of us up to the other person. March 2, 2011. Our mutual friend wants to set us up, convinced that we would be a perfect match. Promising that I won't break his best friend's heart, I agree that he can give the mystery boy my phone number. That night, I receive a text message, and we spend the entire evening and subsequent days getting to know each other. March 12, 2011. Ten days later, he asked me out. While the early days of our relationship were spent as an awkward high school couple, we quickly evolved into the incredibly goofy and loving individuals that we truly were. We spent the next four years of high school doing everything together, and even ended up at the same college by chance. We discussed getting married, even in the beginning. But, we wanted to wait. Throughout college, it got harder to put it off. We wanted to experience the joy that is being married... February 11, 2017. Early on the morning of the proposal, while I was still in bed, his mom came to our apartment to drop some items off. Unexpectedly, she brought the ring from his uncle's jewelry shop with her. Though my fiancé had planned a casual hiking outing for that morning, he knew something had to change because he couldn't wait. As we were getting ready for our hike, he grabbed his winter coat - strange since the weather was pretty nice for an Iowa February. Without too much questioning on my behalf, we set off on the drive to the trails while I commented on how muddy the trails were going to be from the rain the previous night, how much I was probably going to regret not grabbing my coat, and how I wanted to try a new trail. Without faltering, he managed to convince me that everything was going to be okay, that we should just go to our regular trail since we hadn't been there in a while, that it would all be worth it. Hand in hand, we walked until we reached the part of the trail that overlooks the lake. With our noses running, our hands freezing, and our shoes covered in mud, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was a blur. I didn't even hear what he was saying; the moment he stopped talking, I knew that I wanted to say "YES!" His unplanned proposal turned into one of the best days of my life. October 20, 2018. We will say "I do!"