I met my husband, the love of my life, just 3 months after I graduated high school. My best friend, Sandy, worked with him and she set us up. I can still picture him standing on her front porch (she’d invited him over for a ‘kick back,’ old school talk for a small gathering of friends), hands shoved in the pockets of his baggy jeans, wearing a Spitfire shirt, and his jet black spiked hair. He was handsome – and I mean really handsome – light eyes, dark hair, broad shoulders, and a smirk that made you wonder exactly what he was smirking about. We spent the evening talking about everything from our families to what we wanted to do with our lives. Around 4 a.m. we had our first meal together, drive thru Jack In The Box, that we ate in the front seat of his old Saturn coupe.
Looking back on that night, I know that’s when I fell in love, but I told him I wasn’t interested in anything serious because my family was planning to move from California to Texas in the next year. That, of course, went out the window pretty quickly! Within weeks, we were spending all of our time together, going to the movies (our favorite date night), going out to dinner, and hanging with our friends. Doing all the things young kids in love do.
A little over a year later, on our first official anniversary, and about 1 month before I was moving, he planned a surprise for our anniversary. He was still in college back then and had a class later that day so we took an early drive up California’s Highway 4. It’s a beautiful area of California with rolling hills and vista point turn-outs with breathtaking views. We pulled into one of the turn-outs to watch the sunrise; it was a gorgeous September morning that is forever imprinted in my mind.
While standing on that vista, he gave me my anniversary gift, which was a Black Hills gold ring I’d seen in a store recently. I was so surprised! I loved it! We went back to enjoying the view. He had his arms wrapped around me from behind when all of a sudden he spun me around! He was on one knee and was holding the most beautiful marquise cut solitaire engagement ring. To this day I can’t tell you the words he said except the part where he said, ‘Will you marry me?’ Without the slightest hesitation, and with tears in my eyes, I screamed, ‘YES!’
