48 Weeks!

On June 26th, 2012, my boyfriend’s parents renewed their vows on the beach at Gulf Shores, Alabama, after 30 years of marriage. I was floored when they invited me to come with the family on vacation, but I was even more excited to be part of their special ceremony. It was lovely, at dusk, and we were all dressed up for it. I was the designated photographer, trying to get photos of everyone from different angles. It was really sweet.

My boyfriend and I have been together, officially, since mid-January 2012, but our second first date was December 2, 2011.

I know. I know. That sounds weird. It’s true though! Here’s the gist:

About 5 years ago (sadly, neither of us can come up with the specific date), we were set up on a blind date by a friend and her mother. We went on it, seem to remember having an ok time, but neither of us really being that interested. I’m blaming myself, really. He might have been more interested, but my priorities were completely different back then. It took a trip across the world to teach me that I desired a husband with a servant’s heart rather than a ministry job title.

Regardless, it didn’t go anywhere. We became friends on Facebook, but that was the extent of it. Over the next five years, both of us went in and out of other relationships, I finished college and traveled to Japan, came back to work in a couple different fields. We casually observed each other over that time and didn’t think much of it.

In November, we began talking again and then talking some more. We decided to meet up for a second try at a first date. After all, so much can happen to a person in 5 years, it’s almost like meeting a brand new person. We had a great time. Chose an art festival-type event called “First Friday” up in Middletown, OH. It’s a fledgling art community, but we had a great time and there was plenty for us to talk about and see.

We decided to keep dating, just to see if it really was going well. It was and we decided to become an official couple in January of the next year. I’ve loved our relationship so far. I have never felt so comfortable or at ease with someone else. I felt like I could tell him anything and I wouldn’t face any judgement. When I have an important decision to make, he lets me work it out on my own, giving me his opinion, but not hounding me with it. I respect him for that. Also, I can be the most silly thing with him and it just makes him love me even more. I try my best to return the favor and really, I’m so glad that he can cut up and be goofy without apology. With my family, that is a necessity! None of us really take ourselves seriously.

So, after the vow renewal was over, Matt and I decided to walk down the beach while the sun slipped further below the horizon. His brother needed something out of his car, so I didn’t think anything of it when he returned with Matt’s keys before we really took off on our stroll (he was really grabbing the ring from a secret hiding place). We walked a good way down the beach, the sky getting darker around us. I was just getting tired enough to decide to walk back to the condo when I heard Matt call out my name from behind me. When I turned around, he was down on one knee, holding out what I could just make out to be a ring, saying something about “love, heart, life, would you, me.” He had to repeat to me what exactly he had said later because I was too tickled to really comprehend the actual words. I just knew he was asking me to be his and plopped that ring on as fast as I could.

Let me tell you that I am so glad I was miles away from most everyone during the first few days after being engaged. We waited to become FBO (Facebook Official) about half a day until we could make phone calls to the necessary people and send out pictures of the ring. Once we did, though, our Facebook profiles went quite a bit crazy. But, being that far away from home (southwest Ohio), it was easier to ignore the phones and just enjoy being engaged to each other. Of course, it was super fun coming home and seeing all the special people in our lives for the first time and celebrate the event over and over.

I’m going to try to be diligent and blog about each week as we prepare for the wedding. We are shooting for June 1st, 2013 (pending reception venue), so as of right now, we have 48 weeks to go. I’ve not been very good about keeping my blog the last year, but that’s because my creative writing reservoir was being used up elsewhere. I hope that I can be more proficient at this. We have an official “Wedding Website” set up, but it’s not completely finished yet, so you will have to wait a little while until we can get that put together. Until then, you can hop over to my Wedding Bells board on Pinterest and see what fun things I’m scoping out. Be sure to click on the “Getting Married” category for more posts about my wedding prep and process.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sarah ><>

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I’m getting married to my, you guessed it, best friend on June 1st, 2013! Matt and I are super-excited and since we have quite a bit of time to plan this thing, I decided it’d be fun to blog about it. Well, maybe not always fun, but at least informative and it might give me a welcome distraction. You can find all the posts by clicking the “Getting Married” tab on the right of this page, or by clicking here. Thanks for stopping by!