Joie De Vive

Over 6 years ago, I walked in the front door of my college in philadelphia into the RA office, and my life was never the same again.....

My first day at college, I met my lobster - that was April 2nd,  2004. He describes the first time he saw me.. the day I walked into the RA office in a manner very similar to how Ed Bloom in Big Fish describes the day he met his wife: "They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops, and that's true. What they don't tell you is that when it starts again, it moves extra fast to catch up."

He swears up and down that he knew I was "the one" the second he saw me.

Me..... I took a little more convincing, but almost a year later we were discussing marriage, my dad came to meet him and before we even knew it, we were getting married in July of 2005.  Because of how things happened so crazy quickly... school ended, dad met him, dates were set, and ta daaaaa wedding over the summer break - He never got a chance to really get down on one knee and ask - propose.

He did send me a message via my brother the night before our wedding with a sheet asking me to marry him - of course I txted him back saying yes.

Our first year of marriage came and left quickly in a blur and before we knew it, we'd been married almost 5 years, with a baby girl on the way. Its so insane how quickly time flew by..... every year he tried to come up with something grand planned to propose to make up for how things happened initially. Now with a baby on the way and our 5 year anniversary coming up, I'd all but lost hope that he'd ever really ask "for real".

So father's day was on Sunday, June 20th of this year....... it started off with us going to a cute little diner for brunch and to watch the world cup match. Lobster is quite the big fan of "futbol"... being Ecuadorian will do that ;)

After brunch, he decided to take us to Longwood Gardens (if you've never been, I highly recommend it during good weather). We walked around for a while... it was so cute seeing him all nervous. I mean we've been married almost 5 years.. together for 6 years total and to see him like that really hit me... This guy's nuts about me. Still. Yeah it rocks

We walked around and hit up various parts of the garden:




We finally reached the 100 fountains... Lobster walked me over to a set of stairs and dropped down on to one knee. At first, being the dork that I am, I was completely convinced he'd fallen or something.... then it suddenly hit me what he was doing.

He was proposing!!!!

From there onwards I couldn't wipe the dorky grin off my face that managed to plaster itself.

There was no ring, mainly coz I absolutely adore my ring, the one he put on my finger the day we got married. But he did finally ask. It was something along the lines of how he's never been able to take me to Venice, Rome or Spain.... and hopefully someday we will go. Every step of the way for the last 5 years of being together he's realized more and more how much he loves me (awwwww) and now that we're about to be parents to a beautiful little girl (inshaAllah), he couldn't wish for anything more and can't imagine his life without me... AWWWWWWW.  He also said "I know father's day is supposed to be all about me, but I can't imagine my life without you".

Then he asked if I would marry him (again)... of course I had to go and be my usual stupid self and come out with "hmmmm maybe I will.. I think I'll keep you". I love him for not telling me I was a retard then and there hehehe.

So yeah.... after almost five years of being married, I finally got proposed to by my husband. What does this mean? This means in the next few years he and I will be doing a renewal of vows hopefully in Salinas, Ecuador where he's from - on the beach he grew up playing at....

Its easy to agree to marry someone when you're standing at the edge of the rest of your life - when you're all mushy in love and starry eyed.....

Its much harder to stand in the trenches of your lives after being married for a while - having seen each other at your worst and your best and despite it all still want to turn around and say "yes I'd marry you again". I think that says more about a marriage than the very beginning.

Was it all grand and crazy? No... what is was... was absolutely perfect - it was totally us and I'm so grateful he finally asked.

Good thing I said yes ;)