We’re getting married! (Finally)

I don't actually remember meeting Efren and before you ask-no I wasn't drunk. I have this really fun habit of not remembering people's names/people when I think that a stranger is just approaching me out of the blue. Efren first introduced himself to me 5 days after my 21st birthday at The Badlander, my first ever Thirsty Thursday going out in Missoula (for real). Supposedly, Efren introduced himself to me-I don't recall-and I curtly answered and turned my back to him. Turns out-he hadn't just been some stranger, but had been with a group of mutual friends, I just didn't put 2 and 2 together. Fast forward to Saturday night and I find myself at Bodega with the aforementioned mutual friends. I see this guy with the group that I don't recognize, so I take it upon myself to go introduce myself, stick my hand out and say "Hi!, I'm..." but before I could finish, this guy says "Cali. I know". That guy was Efren. I laugh it off, apologize that I must have been drunk and forgot who he was. He promptly tells me that I definitely was not drunk, that it was at the beginning of the night that we met. Now I'm starting to feel embarrassed at the fact that I've not remembered who he is, so naturally I accuse him of thinking I'm someone else. No, he insists, it was you. Not admitting my error just yet, I say "Oh, if you're so sure it was me, what was I wearing?" Those of you that know Efren, know that rarely does one win when asking Efren to "prove it". This was not one of those rare moments. He promptly told me about my entire outfit, down to my shoes. Turns out, he was right, we did meet and that night was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

Efren and I, through a series of events and mutual friends, became fast friends. Our friendship deepened from August through November and we became incredibly close, talking daily and spending lots of time together. One night, around Thanksgiving of 2012, that all changed and our friendship turned to something more. Those of you that have been with us since the beginning know that there have been some ups and some downs but we wouldn't trade it. 7 years, 2 houses together, and countless memories later, we are still strong and I can honestly say I love him more every day. (Efren will never admit it, but I'd like to think its the same for him ;)

About 5 days before we went to Hawaii, Efren had dinner with my parents, alone. The trip to Hawaii was incredible. Efren is not normally a picture taker but he regularly staged pictures during sunset time of people near the water and in 'shadows'. I was suspicious While there, we went on a sunset dinner cruise along the Na Pali Coast. I was SO sure that this was going to be it. He was going to propose to me on a catamaran, in the Pacific Ocean, at sunset. I was convinced. I was wrong. I definitely wrote off the fact that he was going to propose in Hawaii at this point, since it was now our last night. We spent our last day at our favorite snorkeling spot and then we did a quick stop at the VRBO before heading to Hanalei Bay. At the VRBO, suddenly I hear Efren yelling and asking what I'm doing. I sassily (surprising I know) respond that I'm waiting for everyone which garnered me an exasperated "no, we are going straight to dinner after so if you don't go change, you'll be stick and sandy for dinner". "FINE, I'll go shower" I retorted."Hurry, we don't want to miss sunset" Honestly, at no point did I think this was going to be it, that it was going to happen. I was able to do a swift shower and change and off we went. Once we arrived at the beach Efren asked if I wanted a pictured down by the water of just myself, I said nah. He convinced me that I should do it, so I stood staring off into the sunset, I started to turn around when I though my photo was done only to be met with shouts of "Nooo, you moved, you ruined it! Turn back around and hold still" For once, I listened. I turned back around and held still. Efren then said "Here, come see if you like it" When I turned around, there he was, down on one knee, and the tears immediately started flowing. He said some of the most wonderful things, I cried some more, said "YES", and then our wonderful friends popped bottles of champagne and we celebrated the night away. I couldn't have dreamed anything better.