forever and always

As most of you know, we met on Tinder. It was both of ours first date on any dating app or website. We met at Schnoogs Cafe in Sonora at about 10am and didn't leave until they kicked us out at 4:30pm. We talked and listened and laughed and told a few things most people shouldn't on the first date, but that only made us want to see each other more. Everything felt right and as if it were all falling into place. We couldn't believe how fast our feelings had grown in such little time. Our love grew so much in those first couple months, we decided we wanted to see if this "thing" between us was really as special as we thought it to be, so we put it to the test. We moved in together after only knowing each other for just over 2 months. Two rental houses and a mortgage later, here we are. Living in Sonora, in our own home, with our little family of fur-children.

For the 3 weeks leading up to the proposal, Michael kept telling me how much he wanted to hike around Pinecrest. So much so, that his heart was set on it no matter what. I tried telling him that it would be far too busy to truly enjoy and that we should plan to go later in the year when it was less busy but no, he said he would be disappointed since he already had this vision of being able to go to Pinecest. In the week leading up to the proposal, I told Michael that it would be hard to go to Pinecrest that day (a Saturday) since I work the night before until midnight. I suggested we wait to do the hike until Sunday after I had a proper amount of sleep. Still, Michael said he would get me up one way or another because he really wanted to go to Pinecrest. He even went as far as to guilt trip me by saying I didn't want to go as much since I have had the free time to go up there this summer already. But, this would be his first time being able to go to the lake this summer and it was only fair that we would go. The night before the proposal, I was working in the ED and talking to my coworkers about how adamant Michael was at getting up at 6am the next morning to go hiking at a place full of people (remember, I work until midnight). My coworkers half convinced me he was crazy and not taking me into consideration that I was working so late and I should just not go. The day of, I wake up to Michael making me coffee to lure me out of bed and telling me, "all you need to do is get dressed. We. Are. Going." And so we did. Thirty minutes into our hike, Michael convinces me to go off trail, over rocks, and through brush to let the dogs drink water. He said he wanted to try taking a photo with his camera as he started setting it up, but not before I made my average amount of objections to his every request. Eventually, he got everything set up so that we were taking a "picture" (video) and he was able to get down on one knee and ask me to be his forever. I said, "of course."