At Long Last...

Per the norm in todays society, Joe and I met through the online dating app ’Tinder’. I remember his dating profile saying “if you don’t have anything you’re passionate about, it will be hard for me to be passionate about you” and I thought to myself “well… what am I passionate about?” I hesitated swiping right but looked through his pictures again and saw one of him with his friends and thought “Lets give it a shot” (the pictures of Yuna helped). We instantly started chatting about everything and nothing all at once. He was so easy to talk to. At one point he messaged and said “Can I have your number? This app is killing my battery” to which I responded “Is that your way of asking for my number?” and proceeded to give him my phone number. A couple weeks after that he asked me out on our first date. We met downtown at a restaurant called Henry’s. We shared some interesting theories about life, the afterlife, and what we think the future of the world looks like. It was actually pretty odd topics for a first date but there was never a dull moment. The following week Joe had to work late on what was supposed to be our second date Instead of going out to eat, we met at his house and had Chinese takeout. He showed me his studio, let me try VR, and we watched Rick and Morty. Once again we talked and shared laughs. He was so easy to be comfortable with. When it was finally time for me to leave, Joe (ever the gentleman) walked me out to my car. He leaned in and asked if he could kiss me. I answered yes, and we shared our first kiss. We’ve been inseparable ever since.

Leading up to the proposal, I had made it clear to Merecedes that on our trip to Mexico that I was not going to propose and that I didn't want her to be let down because both her friends and family had been telling her it was likely to happen. In all honesty, I was not planning on proposing. Though I had been considering proposing long before, it wasn't until some serendipitous events took place the week before our flight. I had made a point to speak with both her mother, Jennifer and her father, Mike to ensure they were onboard. I hid the ring inside of my neck pillow so it wouldn't come up before the time was right. I was so nervous going through TSA that it might set off a red flag or that Merecedes might see it on their screen. They did flag a different item which gave me a real scare but we made it through without issue. The first day of vacation went perfectly and towards the end of the night, I said I was going to go grab a bucket of water just as our assigned butler, Luis was leaving the room. I told him what my plan was and asked if he could leave some rose petals in the butler door to surprise Merecedes in the morning. He came through and they came as bulbs in the loudest plastic bag that I was nervous Merecedes would hear me putting them up high in our closest. I woke up early the next morning, to beat the sunrise and setup my phone on the table outside the door, as well as my gopro to capture the moment. I was sitting outside picking the petals off of the rose bulbs when Merecedes came out because she woke up early and noticed I wasn't in the room. She asked what I was doing to which I replied that I wanted to get up early to watch the sunrise. At that point she hadn't put on her glasses so she thought I was eating strawberries without her. She went back inside to make a cup of coffee and I hit the record button before going back in the room. I told her to come outside and I popped the question. She was so shocked that her first words were "shut up" before she cried laughing saying "I do", making me the happiest man on earth that day.