Life. Love. Home. Faith.: Throwback

Saturday, February 14, 2015

The Proposal

A few months ago I shared about how I wrote a book for Fred one year with our love stories in it and I shared here one of them of our first date. For this Valentine's Day I thought I'd share our story about the day Fred proposed! The day he put a ring on it! Here it is...

Their spot...

Every year Fred and Nancy looked forward to going to the LA County Fair on a special date. They would go there every year to visit the spot where they shared their first kiss. It was a special spot, under the moon and stars in a garden on a hill lit by lights hanging from the trees. They would grab their favorite fair food, a bloomin onion and philly-cheese steak and then take it to their spot to share.

Nancy should have seen it all coming.

A few months before leading to that day, anytime they went to the mall they looked at engagement rings "just for fun," Nancy tried on rings only dreaming of one day day actually owning one and being engaged. They were only 19 after all but she knew one day he would ask her to marry him so she wanted him to have an idea of what she liked for when the time came.

Little did she know that Fred was in fact looking for the ring he was going to propose with.

That night on, September 27, 2007 everything was going as expected for Nancy; the weather was perfect, the air smelled like sweet kettle corn and they strolled around looking at all the booths and vendors. On the other hand, Fred was a nervous wreck and all he could think about was that he was about to ask the girl of his dreams to become his wife.

They grabbed their traditional dinner and went straight to their spot. When they finished Fred shared with her a few verses from the bible and they listened to some worship songs Fred had picked out for that night. This is why Nancy was so in love with Fred, he always found ways to include the Lord in their relationship.

He stood up and asked her to stand up with him to give her a hug. Nancy was sitting on the ground so she grabbed his hand so that he could pull her up, she noticed he struggled a little bit to help her up but didn’t realize why. He had trouble helping her up because in his other hand was the ring. Fred held Nancy closely that night on that hill with twinkling lights all around. His heart was beating out of his chest that she could feel it, his breathing was also unusual so she thought it was from that moment he had helped her up, must have winded him!

As they embraced each other they reminisced on the first kiss they had shared on that very spot, Fred declared his love for her and the night could not be more perfect, Nancy thought in her heart, “Maybe next year we’ll get engaged here, this would be the perfect spot!”

A few seconds later Fred took a deep breath, got on one knee, pulled out the most beautiful ring and asked, “Will you marry me?” Nancy overwhelmed with joy and tears fell to her knees on the ground with with him. He put the ring on her finger and her answer was “YES!” She couldn't believe it! The man of her dreams had proposed to her!

The first thing she frantically asked was, "Do my parents know?" They were so young, in college, did they really agree to this? Was this for real? We're they really that much closer to getting married? He reassured her, "Yes I sat with them and talked to them, I talked to our pastor," and she couldn't believe that her best friend, her boyfriend was now her fiancé and soon to be husband!

That night Fred and Nancy were the happiest people at the fair just like the night they had shared their first kiss.

The night he proposed

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Ten Years Ago: Our First Date

2004

I wrote this a while back for a shutterfly book I made for Fred, I wrote all about us and our first date, how he proposed, our wedding. Since it's our anniversary I thought I'd share the story of our first date 10 years ago! I like to relive this special moment, the beginning of our love story. Here it is, once upon time:

Fred and Nancy were both 16. Fred was a greeter at a small church. Sunday mornings he would greet people outside coming into church, but he would always wait anxiously for one special person. As a gold van pulled up to the building Fred's heart would pump faster and his palms would get sweaty. There he would see Nancy coming out of the van with her family. He would politely shake everyone’s hands but shaking Nancy's hand was his favorite because he secretly liked her. He didn’t know at that time but she also liked him.

One day at church Fred bought a WWJD bracelet for Nancy. He handed it to her and shyly walked away. She didn’t know that Fred had bought this bracelet specifically for her and since he quickly walked away, she thought he was handing them to all the people at youth group but he was trying to show her that he liked her. Later he befriended Nancy and he would take his friends to church to show them the girl he secretly liked.

As Nancy and Fred became better friends they would talk on the phone all the time and wrote letters to each other back and forth. It was obvious that they both felt the same way for each other, so Fred asked Nancy on a date.

Nancy asked her parent's and they agreed to let her go with him to the movies but she had to take Mercedes her foster sister that lived with them because she could not go alone so Fred took his friend Richie to also accompany them.

At the movies Fred paid but Nancy had a coupon, her thriftiness surprised him and made him like her even more. Then the couples separated, Fred and Nancy went to watch Tom Hanks', The Terminal. They sat next to each other both with hope that they would hold hands but they were too shy to make the first move so with joy and excitement they gladly shared the armrest.

For dinner they had Del Taco, it was Fred's favorite but he was too nervous to eat his food. Nancy was very hungry so he offered his fries and she didn't hesitate, she ate them up! Fred's love for her just kept growing so he knew what he had to do next.

That night Fred built up the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend. Richie and Mercedes took a walk while Fred and Nancy sat on the bed of his truck. It was a June summer night with a chill in the air. Fred lovingly offered his cardigan to keep her warm, she accepted. Fred was unlike any other guy she had ever met. He had her heart.

It was time to take her back home so they got in the truck to pick up Mercedes down the street. As they were driving Fred finally said what he'd been wanting say to her all night, "Will you got out with me?" Nancy replied, "Where?" He then made himself clear and with embarrassment explained that he wanted them to be girlfriend-boyfriend. The question caught Nancy off guard, this was their first date and she didn't expect Fred to ask her to be his girlfriend so soon. She was speechless but pleasantly surprised!

At that very moment Fred pulled up to Mercedes and Richie. Nancy got out of the truck, she opened the door to let Mercedes in. Fred was panicking not sure what Nancy's response was going to be, he got out to let Richie in and forgot to put the breaks on! When he realized the car was slowly rolling away he quickly jumped in the car and slammed on the breaks and the door on Nancy's side swung and hit her from the impact!

Fred was so embarrassed and felt like a failure. He had just made a fool of himself in front of the girl he loved. Nancy was nervous to respond because as much as she wanted to say yes, she was not allowed to have a boyfriend. Her parents had agreed to let her date until her senior year in high school, she was barely going to be a junior that fall.

Fred walked Nancy to her front door unsure of what she was going to say. They paused at the door and Nancy explained she had to wait a year before she could have a boyfriend. She wasn't saying no but she was saying wait. Fred loved Nancy and was willing to wait for her until she was allowed to date. He admired her willingness to honor her parents and wanted to do the same.

For a whole year Fred and Nancy were friends, they got to know each other and loved hanging out together, their love for each other grew and grew. That next summer before Nancy's senior year of high school her parents gave them the blessing to become girlfriend and boyfriend.

And 5 years later they married and 5 years after that they celebrated 10 years of love and had 2 babies!

I love you Fred, I love that you still offer your cardigan like you did that day, I love that these last 10 years have been the best years of my life. We've gone to prom, celebrated high school and college graduations, got engaged, got married, relocated states, got a dog, started careers, suffered miscarriages, bought a house, had two beautiful boys, we're kinda broke but rich in love and blessings and unbelievably happy! The Lord has been good to us, we don't deserve it. May our marriage always point to him and may we glorify the Lord together in all we do. I love you handsome. Happy 5 years of marriage and 10 years of love!