Saturday, May 05, 2007

Cinco de Mayo, AND...

Today is Cinco de Mayo! A celebration of Mexico's Independence Day. I love the Mexican culture-great food, music, faith, families...one day hubby and I may visit Mexico and see its beauty.

Today is also the day hubby proposed to me. :) Five years ago, in 2002, my husband surprised me by asking me to be his wife.

We were in our senior year of college, and it was just a few days before graduation. It was a Saturday-a gorgeous day. I was living off campus with 3 other girls.We had a cookout, and after dinner, my husband asked me to go for a walk. Being nothing out of the ordinary, we headed out.
We walked to the nearby cemetery.

Before you think "cemetery?!", let me explain. We went to school in Steubenville, Ohio. The town is not much to be desired. AT ALL. Major pollution, there is an unpleasant odor that always lingers from the polluted Ohio River...and it probably goes without saying that there are very few scenic areas, including parks.

HOWEVER, there is a cemetery that is absolutely gorgeous. Students would always go there to jog, walk, catch a moment's peace. It may sound odd, but trust me. It's not as morbid as it sounds!

So we walked through the cemetery 5 years ago today. I'm chatting about, not noticing how nervous dh seems to be getting. He was leading the walk, and he brought us to a stop. There were a dozen roses set aside. Beautiful roses. And he had dropped to one knee, asking me to marry him! I was surprised, of course answering yes. Smart man that he is, he respectfully asked my father's permission beforehand. (who seriously thinks that is outdated or caveman-times? It is so respectful and meaningful!)

We enjoyed our moments there in the cemetery. I giggled and asked dh if he proposed there so he could throw in "he'd love me til death". Oh no. He is much smoother than that.

When we were on one of our first double dates, we all went to the cemetery at night before heading back to campus. It was erie and I got nervous, so I grabbed his hand. We were not yet officially a couple, so this was one of those "steps" taken in a budding relationship. He took me back to that exact same spot to propose. He told me that when we held hands that first time there, he knew at that moment that I was the one he was going to marry.
Isn't that sweet? :)
And then a long 13 month engagement later, we married on June 21,2003.

I love looking back on stories like this. It reminds me we're still friends and lovers, more than just parents and mom and dad. We had our own beginning before the real world, before parenthood. It was fun. irresponsible...and it was great because it lead us to where we are now. We are a family with 2 beautiful, energetic children (plus one in heaven). We are a faith-practicing family. We're blessed.

What happened 5 years ago today was wonderful.

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

I remember when all of this was going on! And I remember the first time you showed me a picture of Pat and asked if I thought your "friend" was cute--FRESHMAN year I think! Wow--time sure flies, doesn't it? It's great that you can still think of him in this sweet way--four years is a long time and some of out friends and relatives can't say the same things about their relationships as we can... :o)