We're Tying the KNOT

09 Honda Civic, that's the make, model, & year of the car that brought us together. Rafael always jokes about how I got a 2 for one special, which I kinda did! I needed a car & found that car on the website of the dealership Rafael was working for. I called up & scheduled an appointment for a test drive. I arrived a little early so I spotted the car & started to check it out where out the corner of my eye I see this guy bolting down the aisles of cars coming throws me, I told him I had an appointment & he escorted me in the trailer where "Jenna" met me (that wasn't her name) Jenna tells me based on my credit score that I would have to settle for a ridiculously high interest rate. Rafael was behind her trying to get my attention to tell me to just leave, the conversation was going LEFT. I kindly told Jenna I wasn't going to accept this & if God has meant this car for me it would be here for me when I can get a better rate. Well, well, well Jenna decided that was her moment to tell me that God isn't concerned with worldly possessions, this is when I decided it would be best to keep it moving. All the while, Rafael was listening & watching my pale cheeks get red with anger & he let me walk away. Fast forward a month from the encounter & I randomly received a call from Rafael apologizing for his managers behavior & that she was no longer working with the dealership. He asked if I was still interested in the car & told me to come in for a test drive that evening, so I do! While on the test drive Rafael sparked up conversation, asking about my interest, my hobbies, & my beliefs. In conversation, we realized we had something in common, we grew up in the same church! I honestly never remembered seeing him but he remembered me, embarrassing. From there we sparked a great friendship that very quickly evolved into being inseperatable. We started to have some awesome dates & as corny as it sounds it felt truly meant to be.

I literally had NO clue. It was one of those things where you KNOW it's going to happen eventually but assume you would 100% know when it would happen and then BOOM u are smacked from left field with my prince charming on one knee with the prettiest, glittery piece of jewelry you EVER had asking to marry you. It was truly a dream. It was the week before Christmas and I was coming down with a cold. In an attempt to knock that cold out ASAP I drowned my chicken soup with siracha sauce and crossed my fingers. In the moment it seemed like a great idea, boy oh boy was I WRONG! A few short days later the worst burning sensation took over my chest and I thought I was having a heart attack, it was acid reflux. I never had experienced this kind of pain in my chest and stomach in my life and Rafael was amazing taking care of me. There was still so much I had to do for Christmas and he went out and did ALL the rest of the shopping while making sure I was okay. Needless to say, I was so preoccupied with being sick that I missed all the signs I thought I would catch on to. Christmas Eve comes and we planned on going to NJ to my aunts house, nothing unusual their, my stomach was finally feeling a bit better so I was excited to eat and spend time with the family. It's normal for my family to take tons of pictures, so we got everyone together to take pictures in front of the tree. Rafael, Gaby & I gather together for a photo and my mom is asking how to record on my phone, how I didn't catch that one I chalk up to acid reflux brain. I show her how to do it and head back in for the picture. My mom counts down "ok ready? one, two, three!" I felt Rafael pull away from me, annoyed he was ruining my picture I turned to find him on one knee with a little red box! I jumped! I screamed! It felt like a dream 😊