It’s a Beach Wedding!

It all started with Emily’s senior prom. In Houston Texas, it is common for groups of friends to go to prom on a Friday night and then celebrate the “afterparty” in Galveston over the weekend. Taylor third-wheeled to Emily’s after-prom party where they officially met at the Casa del Mar beachfront condos. They had heard about each other before from friends who were trying to set them up and knew they had one big thing in common- a love for the beach. On Saturday, the day after prom, the whole group went down on the beach. Everyone was soaking up the sun and having a blast! The boys were throwing a football and on one throw that Taylor had to run to catch, he tripped over a piece of driftwood and fell flat on the sand. He had everyone laughing! Emily thought this whole occurrence and his ability to laugh at himself was so endearing. They struck up some conversation and realized they had quite a bit in common. They exchanged phone numbers and texted back and forth as friends for a few weeks.

After Emily’s high school graduation, Taylor asked her if she would want to go on their first date. Meeting at a Starbucks off of 1960 and 249, they both wore t-shirts and neither one had any idea what to order off the coffee menu. After finding a couple of leather chairs in a corner of the dark coffee shop, they sat and talked for hours. Eventually, one of the employees walked over to the table to tell them that they were about to close. Looking at each other and laughing, it was then that they realized just how much they enjoyed each other’s company and set up a second double date. The following weekend, Emily and Taylor joined their friends at the Drive-In movie theater in Tomball. They sat on the hood of Emily’s car under a starry summer sky and talked about all their favorite foods, movies, music and surf brands. Then, they realized a group of kids were playing football at the bottom of the big screen and they decided they wanted to go play. They walked up to the group of 10-year-olds and asked if they could join, then spent the rest of the movie running around and laughing at how they both loved to find the fun in life. All it took was two dates and they knew they were a well-suited match. Emily went to school at the University of Texas San Antonio and Taylor would drive up to visit most weekends. He first told her he loved her on their first camping trip in Port Aransas after chasing crabs under the moonlight. They were just a couple of kids who always dreamed of one day living by the water; and had no idea that in the next 8 years, they would manifest the life they now live in Costa Rica.

One evening after guests checked out of the bed and breakfast, Taylor was cooking dinner and Emily sat down to watch Netflix. Taylor looked out the kitchen window and asked Emily if she would want to go down on the beach for sunset. This is her favorite thing to do and Taylor usually doesn’t want to join, so she jumped up with excitement and said “Yeah!” As they started walking down, the mosquitoes swarmed around as if they could just carry the two of them away. Emily thought it was strange that Taylor wanted to go down on the beach when the sunset was mostly hiding behind clouds and the bugs were so bad. They walked towards the water and admired the few rays of sunshine. Emily started walking back towards the house when Taylor looked over the water and said “Let’s stay for the end of the sunset.” As they turned around and Emily walked ahead looking for a nice piece of driftwood to sit on, Taylor got down on one knee with a wooden box holding a beautiful ring and popped the question. It had been twelve years since that first date and happy tears poured out of the two of them as they sat under the darkening sky wrapped in each other’s arms. They cherished the rest of the night together. just the two of them, dancing in the kitchen full of love.