we wanna "i do!" with you!

So many people have said to me that when something big or life-changing occurs, you'll know in that instant that it's happening. I was on lunch in my classroom, standing behind my desk, tidying things up, waiting to have a sit down meeting with the director of the new performing arts center in our school district, which had been planned earlier in the week by my program supervisor. Anxious to share my ideas about my newly developing program at school and curious about this new performance center, I was looking forward to this meeting. Not necessarily excited, but interested in having a conversation about future possibilities. A knock on my door interrupted my organizing and my supervisor walked in. Following her was a handsome, tall, blonde, blue-eyed gentlemen, who had the most genuine smile on his face. The kind of smile that you can't help but smile back at. The kind of smile that incites an internal giggle that just almost makes it out. He was wearing a slate gray suit, with a royal blue button up shirt, neutral-toned shoes and belt, and a watch that caught the light when he moved his wrist. When they talk about knowing it the moment it happens, it really is true. I knew right then that this person, whose name I still did not know, was going to be someone immensely important in my life. I didn't know how or why, but I knew that he would forever be a part of my life's journey from that moment forward. We exchanged the usual polite pleasantries and sat down to talk about programming, our backgrounds, what I hoped my program could accomplish, what ideas he had for the center, how we felt about the arts, and specifically, that he was going with a modern mid-century aesthetic for the center. I left the conversation half artistically inspired and half wondering who it was that I just met...when it happens, you just know. My heart knew exactly who he was and it didn't take very long for me to know it, too.

One evening, on a trip to Chicago, Kyle and I were caught in a torrential downpour on our way back to the hotel. I asked, "Should I grab an Uber?" He said, "I'm okay, if you're okay," not yet knowing that walking in the rain is my favorite pastime. I knew then this was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. As Kyle and I jogged, strolled, laughed, and moseyed our way back, I thought of all of the ways I could try to make this man happy for the rest of his life. Since then, I had been waiting for the perfect storm. I waited and waited and waited. I started to second guess this silly proposal idea. Maybe I could just make him dinner and put the ring inside a fortune cookie? Or write to Ellen Degeneres to pop the question in a high speed round of Heads Up! September 20, 2018, the rain came. I immediately asked if he was up for taking a walk in the rain the instant I came home. Kyle snubbed the idea. My devastating, "okay," must have been truly pathetic, because he sweetly appeased me and said, "Let me get my rain boots." Shortly after, we set out on the stroll that would change both of our lives. We made it around the block and I couldn't find the perfect place. How did I think through everything else and not WHERE I would do it? As we arrived back in the driveway, I thought, "this is the place - our home." I let him trek a few steps ahead and got on one knee. Sufficiently soaked, I muttered, "Babe, can I ask you something?" "What?" Kyle spoke aggravatingly (I mean, I had already dragged him unwillingly into the pouring rain). I am sorry that none of the photos our neighbor was able to take captured the next moment. The smile I saw staring weepily back at me when he turned. That is the moment I got to ask the question I had been waiting so many months for. Waiting, since that rainy night in Chicago. It took Kyle a moment to realize he was supposed to answer the question, but once he did I heard his resounding, "YES! YES! YES!"