Well, about 14 years ago I met Trevor and it was love at first sight... for me. Also, envy at first sight, what with him already being secured to one of my sorority sisters. Whoops! But I loved him, very quietly and secretly, all through college. After college--and after their break-up--we very nearly got together; but owing to an undiagnosed inner ear condition and a night that involved too much alcohol, I was forced to cancel a lunch date that could have rewritten the last ten years. However, truly believing that everything happens for a reason, we choose to avoid the what ifs.
I went on to grad school(s) and he went on to get married and have two gorgeous children. When we reconnected at our 10 year college reunion, he was still married and I was getting ready to start a job as a professor; but, when we first saw each other after all those years, the hug we exchanged spoke volumes about how much we had missed and how much we had meant to each other. After he separated from his wife and started the divorce process, we reconnected again (ah, Facebook, you wonderful, conniving whore) and began exchanging harmless messages, catching up on the years that we'd spent apart and consoling one another through difficult times. He came to visit in January of 2010 and we spent the weekend drinking coffee and talking; nothing more. Stronger feelings developed from there, and when he visited again the weekend of March 5th, he came with intentions. At 2:00 a.m. March 7, 2010, Trevor told me he loved me and I told him that I had loved him for 14 years. By June of last year, we knew where this was headed.
It has been an amazing year+ and the girl who never, ever thought she'd find someone she could love with all of her heart has found someone she loves even more than that. From the outside looking in, people would say we're disgusting and saccharine, but from where we stand, we don't have the words to describe accurately just how much we love one another. I thought Jane Austen wrote fairy tales, but I'd put the love I share with Trevor up against any of her fictional couples any day of the week.
On April 1, 2011 (leave it to Trevor to pick April Fools' Day!), I came out of my faculty meeting and was met by Trevor and my dog Brandon. I knew Trevor was coming for the weekend and had been texting him throughout the faculty meeting. Trevor suggested we take a little walk down by the lake, and so we did. I didn't get suspicious until he said we should go into the boathouse and out on the dock... then, I admit, I began to wonder. Out on the dock, he got down on one knee and proposed. Me being me, I got pretty emotional.
How I'm going to get down that aisle without streams of mascara and eyeliner going down my cheeks and making me resemble a member of the KISS Army, I just don't know.
But I (obviously) said yes.
We hugged and kissed, the ring was put on my finger, and we started to proceed back up the dock and through the boathouse. At that point, I thought we were headed home to... um... be at home. But instead he wanted me to walk up beside the boathouse... I was completely lost as to what was happening... and then he opened the door to the indoor area of the boathouse. There, in front of me, stood a group of my students and a number of my colleagues. The students had decorated the whole place with lights and flowers and candles and balloons; set up buckets full of wine, beer, champagne, and pop; had placed cakes and food on another table... it was insane and completely unexpected. I immediately collapsed on the floor in shock while they all laughed. After that, I was made to stand off to the side and wait as my students lined up and Trevor grabbed his guitar. Explaining that, at OWU, after a proposal all the Delt brothers would have gotten together to serenade me, Trevor said that he had arranged for something else... he and my students serenaded me, singing "Leather and Lace," by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley. Yes, it's corny, but man, did I cry! My girls, all standing there (some of them trying not to cry--we're sappy at this school; so much estrogen in one place) and singing something they had practiced over the course of the week. It was very touching. After that, Trevor sang a solo of our song, Over the Rhine's "Drunkard's Prayer."
I honestly cannot imagine a better proposal.
And so, I'm engaged! To the man I have loved the longest and to my very best friend. How I got so lucky, I don't quite know... but I could not imagine being any happier than I am right now or than I've been for over a year now. Now I just have to plan a wedding.
Oh wow... holy shit!
