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How we met: Or should I say, How we got to know each other? In 1993 I joined a local youth group, summer music marching band drum corps thing. Something all my band nerd friends were doing, so I thought I'd give it a try. Well, since I danced all my life, I made it into the colorguard. Chris played trumpet there, had been there since 1988. Back then, we knew of each other, never really hung out, talked much unless we were around each other or anything. 3 years later, we're on the same bus every year for tour, but never really paid attention to one another because we were busy with our own thing.
After 1996 I left the activity and had another life with college/work/new set of friends, etc. In 2000, I had Reese and life was rough for me. Things got better after his biological dad left the scene. I picked up my mess and moved back to CA from MN.
In 2002 I found myself with the same youth group I mentioned earlier participating in an alumni activity. It was the group's 35th anniversary. Chris wasn't there, but he was with another group that was a take off from ours but for adults based out of SF which I later ended up joining.
My first day at the new SF group, The Renegades. I pull into the parking lot, parked my car, got my stuff ready.... and there was Chris. We had our first 'Hey, how have you been?' in 7 years at that moment. Nothing has changed with him. He still looks like he's 18. I thought nothing of that meeting that day, but he thought otherwise. He insists that he'd had a crush on me since that day. ....I think that's so adorable Over the next year, his feelings for me grew and grew. I never knew it until one day I get a phone call from a close friend telling me that Chris has a crush on me. He is so painfully shy that he won't speak a word when we're around each other. So, our 2 friends who were trying to get us together kept at it and planned things to purposely set us up when we all would travel together as a group.
Chicago and beyond
It was hard to initialize conversation with Chris being that our friends are always around. But we finally got some moments alone during our trip to Chicago earlier this year. 3 days of nothing but getting to know each other. Oh, and a couple of performances and rehearsals in between. When we got back home from that trip, we made a point to meet for lunch at least once or twice a week. Escape to our beach in Santa Cruz when we can. (Both of us had just had a nasty break up with our significant others and were cutting loose ends with them)
We took our last trip to PA in September. It was truly magical. We spent every spare moment together (again, with a few shows and rehearsals in between somewhere). He's so sweet and wonderful from the inside out. We also found out that we had a lot of things/feelings about things in common. I asked him if I could 'keep him' he said 'yes, for as long as time' ...geez, I still get butterflies in my stomach when I think about that.
One night in October, sometime after my birthday. We were sitting around talking like we normally do every night. He told me that I was 'it' for him. That he could see us growing old together and having children and living our lives out on the beach somewhere when we retire. I told him that I could see that also. So from then on, all we could talk about is getting married somewhere along the shoreline and looking forward to having our baby.
The Proposal
Friday December 17th 2004. Chris is online instant messaging me teasing me about my Christmas present. He said that it had just arrived and he has it in his pocket. It was already wrapped up pretty ready to go, but he can't put it under the tree because I would know exactly what it was as soon as I saw it. I had no idea what the heck he got me. I'm really into scrapbooking and calligraphy, so I thought maybe he got me a set of pens I wanted or something.
That night, we got home at the same time. He couldn't stop being nervous. Finally, I asked him what he's so giddy about. He said he wants to give me my Christmas present now. By then, I was getting nervous too just feeding off his energy. I kept telling him no, I wanted to wait, why would I want my Christmas present before Christmas? We kept talking about it until we were ready to go to bed. He asked me one last time if I wanted it now, I said 'Ok, yes, I want it now' because I knew he wanted to give it to me already.
He put the beautifully wrapped box on my pillow .... it took my breath away. My hands are now shaking. He said 'This is it, this is why I didn't want to wait til Christmas' .... I opened it, it's a floral band with very delicate details all around it. The diamonds are set in the crevets of the flowers and leaves all around the ring. He got it from a place where they make one of a kind jewelry. I'd want to say antique jewelry, but it's not old. But, just like me, he said it's one of a kind. Then he asked me if I'd marry him. Of course, without hesitation, I said yes.
Before he took it out of the box, he said 'It's a size 6, there's only one, so I hope it fits' The ring fits my finger perfectly, like it was made just for me. He said that the nervousness he was feeling was actually from worrying about whether this ring will fit me not because he was afraid my answer might be a 'no' or something crazy like that. There is no way to get this ring sized. So I can't gain weight... lol.
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