We're Getting Married!

I didn't think marriage was for me which was confusing because Lindsay was the perfect person for me with all the qualities I had been looking for in a wife. We had an amazing time together, constantly laughing and exploring interesting ideas, exploring parts of the world neither of us had seen before. One day while driving together, a song came on by one of my favorite groups, Odesza, and she liked it. But for me, it turned into so much more. Over the course of several months, when my playlist shuffled to it, I was transported to a scene that became more and more clear in my mind's eye: I would create a celebration for her with all her friends and family present. Then, disguised as her birthday present, I would show her a video that contained a clip I had recorded a few years earlier. Just when the song was about to reach its crescendo, I would cut to a white screen, get down on one knee, and ask her to marry me. I was fortunate enough to be able to accomplish most of this and the video above is what was shown.

In October of 2019, Colin and I met through bumble, a dating site. His profile picture showed off his massive shoulders while he cuddled an adorable corgi. It was a no-brainer, of course I swiped on him. After chatting a bit, I learned it was actually his parents' dog, but I decided to give him a chance anyway. When we decided to meet up, it was a truly magical first date with tapas, drinks, many laughs and first kiss that could have been taken out of a romance novel. When we first connected, we had both expressed that we were only interested in dating and nothing serious. And yet, for the next 6 weeks we got closer and closer, cooking together, sharing our interests, running errands. Eventually it was decided that we would stick to our original intentions, and move on. For me, that 6 weeks showed me that what I wanted was not to casually date, but to find my person. I thought fondly of Colin often, and hoped he was finding what he wanted too. After a few months, amid the pandemic, I saw that he posted a video about mental health and the importance of talking to people. I couldn't explain it, but I felt called to reach out to him, so I did. I was seeing someone else, he was seeing someone else, we were just chatting as friends.... Right? I don't know what Colin will say about the moment he realized he didn't want to just chat as just friends any longer but for me: we were on the phone talking, I was sitting on my apartment porch while he was on a walk on the trails behind his parent's house, and as we were talking about what we had been up to etc. I could hear a smile and even sense a hint of blushing in the change of his voice and I vividly remembered how he looked when he had smiled like that on our dates. It sent a rush through me that felt like Christmas. I knew things were going somewhere despite our circumstances. Anyway, about a month later, after figuring out the drama of opening up our social circles in the 2nd month of covid, and making sure we were both emotionally available, we decided to meet up again. We vowed that if we were gonna do this, it was not going to be casual. I think we succeeded!