It's Happening!

"Oh you have tattoos?" At a house party during my final semester of my undergraduate education at Northeastern, I was asked this question by a stunning woman with blue hair, a nose ring, and - yes - some tattoos. She was at the party with her friends, now some of my closest friends, who were satellite friends of the host. I, on the other hand, was ~casually~ dating the host and it just so happened to be her birthday party. I was enamored with this person - the woman with blue hair. We ended up deep in conversation in the kitchen, watched silently and closely by Doug, Matt, and Peter. I can remember how her long hair framed her big eyes and full lips and the electricity of her fingertips "fixing" the collar of my shirt. I was pulled away briefly by the host to dance, only to escape at the first chance to return to Gloria. She and her crew left the party before I did, but on their way out I was offered the "blue-haired girl's" number by her best friend (who was fully aware of the situation). I told Doug he was an asshole, then quickly accepted his offer. Not long after, I texted Gloria "do you want to get coffee or make out or something?" I ended things with the host the next day, and Gloria and I went on our first date the following Wednesday. Here you are, just over two years later, reading the "how we met" section of our wedding website.

Okay, to be clear...I technically proposed first. I read that Elizabeth Warren proposed to her husband and I got swept up in love and feminism and jumped the gun about a year early. Finally Alston and I go to the actual point in a relationship where we were talking marriage, because people who just propose out of the blue (like I did) are insane. I went with Alston to pick out the ring setting, and from that point I was left out of the loop. I didn't want to know when Alston would propose, but I obviously still asked about the ring all the time. Alston kept telling me that he "didn't even have it yet", while also periodically fake proposing to me with toy rings, keeping me on my toes. Little did I know, Alston got the ring about a week after I picked out the setting. That snake lied to me. He carried the ring waiting for the right time. He nearly popped the question at my friend, Doug's birthday party. Some of my friends found out, and watched Alston like a hawk all night. At one point he bent down to pick something up and they screamed. I was completely unaware. Alston didn't ask this night because the party was a lot wilder than we anticipated. Another night he nearly proposed when we went out for a quiet date night with food and drinks. But then someone* got too drunk and the ring stayed in his pocket. *(it was me) Then one Saturday morning we were laying in bed together. He fake proposed and I said "you have to stop doing that without the ring". Alston laughed and said okay. A few moments later, he got up to get some water and came back and fake proposed again holding his closed hand in my face. I responded "what did I literally just say?!" He then opened his hand and revealed the ring. I was actually surprised and didn't believe it was the real ring at first. He got me. It was so sweet and true to us. Some of my favorite moments with Alston are when it's just us laying in bed together on a Saturday morning. I told him maybe.