We Eloped!

Dating on the internet is hard, but I guess we're what you would call an "online dating success story." Greg sent me a quick sarcastic one liner message. I usually passed those right by, but I had time to kill and was intrigued by his barely filled in bio and minimal pictures. Again usually something I would avoid, but I replied with something short and snarky. Somehow, after that strange beginning we ended up on a first "date." Nothing too serious, just coffee in the morning. Well our morning coffee trip lasted five and a half hours. I don't think I have ever felt such a fast and natural connection to someone before. I can only compare it to being young and meeting your future lifelong best friends, only you kinda want to kiss them as well. Looking back it's hard to even recall any specifics of what we spoke of. What I do remember is the way we both felt sitting there just sharing our past, dreams, hopes, and flaws. That was it. That was the beginning of it all. To think, that such a small quick message could lead to such a healing, healthy, and loving relationship. It feels very pre-written that it should be.

I think we both knew a few years in that we were each others future, but in 2019 life took a very unexpected turn. Beck's father was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. A few months into 2020 it went bad to worse. It became apparent that we would soon have one less family member. There was no initial surprise, or romantic setting to propose. It was just the two of us in the living room of Becks childhood home having a conversation. We thought we had all the time in the world, but everything from the prior year taught us just how unexpected life can be. We came to a decision. We both knew there was no way we would lose such an important person without sharing the news. So that's what we did. We set down and told him that Greg was officially going to be his son-in-law. We may have since had to say goodbye to Phillip, but we will forever be so grateful that we were able to share the news with him first. After we made the decision and planned the entire wedding, I still wanted the actual proposal from Greg. I wasn't sure it would ever come, then I got a phone call from Greg one day. He said he was on a road call for work and had a major emergency and, to meet him at an address. I didn't ask any questions. I just kicked my maid of honor, Bobbie out and went to meet him. Bobbie told me to be careful and let me know we were okay. Once I arrived at the address and realized it was a campground, I had no idea what he could be doing there. When I got out Greg had an entire campsite set up with a fire, tent, candles, and food to prepare. Until he literally got down on one knee, I had no idea what was going on. Turns out Bobbie was in on the whole thing. I was surprised, it was beautiful, and it was so thoughtful. He really checked all the boxes, but I always knew I picked my future husband well.