Ten Years Ago, We Got Engaged

Written 4/11/2007

What I'm sure you are all dying to know is how'd he do it?

Let me back up to Friday. Friday we went down to Houston to celebrate Good Friday at Cirque du Soleil's Corteo with my parents. It was fantastic, by the way.  We bought tickets for that months and months ago, acknowledging that the following day would mark a year and a half since our first date, but we didn't really care. I didn't think it'd make any difference whether we spent it in Houston or Austin. But, as the date got closer, I kept asking Henry what he wanted to do for our semi-anniversary and he said he'd like to do something in Austin. That made it easier on me because I was scheduled to work and driving back on Saturday would mean I wouldn't have to find someone to take my shift.

So, that's what we did. We drove back to Austin on Saturday morning, and I went to work at 1. After I got off work at 6 we were both hungry and I was craving Madam Mam's fried rice, so we went there and got some. Now that I think about it, he kept trying to persuade me to cook something at my apartment instead of going out, and I wonder if I messed up part of his surprise...hmm. I'll have to ask. Anyway, it was getting close to 8 o'clock by the time we left the restaurant and here I was still in my work clothes. I began to wonder if we were really going to do anything special at all, or if we'd just go watch a movie or something.

Then we got back to my apartment and he told me to wait in the living room while he did something in my bedroom. A few minutes passed and he told me to go look. There sitting on my desk were purple hydrangeas and a card. The card was sooo sweet! It said all of these mushy things that I'll spare you on and then at the very end it said, "Put something nice on I want to take you somewhere special...."

So after some hemming and hawing over what to wear, because believe it or not it was like 34° F outside and really rainy! he took me down to the car and blindfolded me (my idea because I wanted to add to the surprise as much as possible) and took me to the secret location. It was so funny because even after multiple turns somehow I still figured out that we were on Congress, so then he tried to mix me up by driving in circles through parking lots and through neighborhoods. Even after all this, I still guessed that we were on Congress and I was right!

Anyway, once we arrived at the place and got out of the car I tried to walk along with my blindfold on, but because I was afraid of tripping over something, I was walking at tortoise speed. Henry picked me up and carried me on his back to the place and when we got up there he put me down and told me I could open my eyes. I did and I saw a park bench and not much else because I was blind! Henry had forgotten my glasses in the car!

So he said, "Be right back," and ran back to the car. Then of course when he tried to put them on me he missed and put the arms in my ears. It was so cute.

Once I could see again I was still a little disoriented and I think I asked him where we were. Then I turned around and I could see the buildings of St. Edward's University, the place where we had our first date. We were at the top of a hill that had a great view of downtown Austin. It was pretty. I just couldn't enjoy it too much because it was so dang cold!

I think we were standing there for all of 30 seconds when he dropped down on one knee (onto the wet ground! what a trooper!) and asked if I'd marry him. I said yes, he asked which finger he was supposed to put the ring on, we hugged and then I ran back to the car. haha. Now he likes to tell people that I ran away with his ring when they ask if I said yes.

It was sweet and simple and definitely memorable! Henry was kind of upset about the weather and things not going quite like he'd planned. He asked me, "what does that say about our relationship?" My reply:  "It can weather any storm."  

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Henry and I participated in a dating panel for the youth (ages 12-17) at our church tonight. We were definitely the youngest couple there (both in age and in terms of the length of our marriage), and I have no idea how we were picked (though we were called "the cutest couple in the ward" once before...thanks Nadine!). But seriously, I hope no one was disappointed after hearing our answers.

With all of the rehashing of my dating experiences tonight, I realized I haven't written much about the beginnings for me and Henry. I alluded to our first date and wrote about the proposal, but I haven't really told the story of how we met. Plus I have some unusual, if you will, dating memories that are lingering in my brain that I would like to share.


So here it goes...I'm going to pose questions as if someone were actually asking me...

How did you meet Henry?
The short answer:  He showed up unannounced on my doorstep. The long answer:  It was the year 2004, August to be specific. Henry had just returned from his two-year mission for our church, and our mutual friend William (who is now our brother-in-law...'nother story) invited Henry to a Bible studyish group (FHE to the LDS folks) that was held on Monday nights at my apartment. Henry likes to be early, so he was the first one to arrive rather consistently and a friendship developed.

Was it "love at first sight?"
Nope. I was in a long-distance, pretty serious relationship at the time, so I didn't think of Henry in a romantic way until about six months after I broke up with the other guy. We were friends for a little over a year before we started dating. He didn't have a car, so I'd give him rides here and there before we started dating.

What changed for you?
Kind of interesting...so between the time I got out of the serious, long-distance relationship and when I started dating Henry, I dated quite a few guys. I was 19/20 years old. I decided I was done with serious dating for a while, and I wanted to have fun and get to know a lot of people. I went on multiple dates with two guys, one who I was attracted to and one who was just fun to hang out with as friends. I let the latter guy know I didn't see any potential for a romantic relationship with him, but the former "relationship" was kind of a "yes, we should date/no, we shouldn't/yes, we should/oh wait, no we shouldn't" situation. The final "no, we shouldn't" was a teensy bit hard because there was chemistry there, but ya know, that's certainly not all that matters. What seemed like the very day after this "break-up" (using these terms loosely because we were never boyfriend/girlfriend), this guy texted me. All it said was "I think you should date Henry." First I thought, "the nerve!" Then I also recalled how on another date (maybe the only one I went on with this particular guy), Henry came up in the conversation, and we pretty much talked about his coolness. Pretty soon I was thinking, "hmmm...maybe he's on to something..." After that, I realized that maybe Henry was interested in me already (and maybe the other guy picked up on this, and that's why he sent the text. If I ever talk to that particular person again, I will definitely ask him why he decided to tell me that and thank him!).

What did you do for your first date?
We went on a double date with our wonderful friends Dave & Serena. We saw a play at St. Edward's University about Cesar Chavez's life. Random activity (Dave was a professor at St. Ed's so he got the tickets for free or discounted at least), but that didn't matter so much because it still gave us a chance to really talk to each other and spend time together (both one-on-one and with our good friends). We went back to Henry and Dave's apartment (they were roommates) and ate ice cream after the play. Our first date felt different from other first dates because I already had a crush on Henry. I was excited and nervous.

How long did you date before you were engaged?
18 months to the day.

How long from first date to wedding day?
21 months to the day. 7+7+7=21. That's how I chose the date of our wedding.



That's all I've got for tonight. Any other questions?