The beautiful Crystal and I met seven years ago, midnight after valentines day at the Courtyard in Laredo, TX. A couple of friends and I were gathered in the parking lot, talking the night away when I saw her walking towards me. Technically, she was walking towards my sister Tania who had invited her. Let us pretend it was towards me for the sake of the story. She was wearing a Brooklyn jersey, black hat and the unforgettable black rim glasses. She introduced herself to me and reached out for my hand to shake it. I was in complete awe of her beautiful eyes, voice and just how she carried herself. How cliché, "Love at first sight" I had never believed it until I met Crys. We talked some more before she made her way through the rest of the group. Before you knew it, I called my best friend and was talking up a storm about the girl I had just met. I didn't realize how much time had passed by or how I ended up laying in a stairwell talking on the phone. It had been over an hour and Tania had tried calling me with a friends phone (which I didn't answer because I didn't recognize the number). After they found me, we said goodbye to Crystal and I never thought I'd see her again...little did I know that unknown number was Crystal's. A few days later we added each other on Facebook and realized we already had each other numbers. One thing led to another and slowly, but surly she became the text I couldn't wait to receive. Glennon Doyle wrote about how she met her wife and I cannot help but relate to her story.. "Suddenly, a women is standing where nothingness used to be. She stands still there for a moment, taking inventory of the room. I stare at her and take inventory of my entire life. My whole being says: There she is. "

The idea behind the proposal dates back to a couple months after we moved to our apartment in 2014. Ren was unpacking two small frames with pictures of the London Eye and the Eiffel Tower that belonged to her Tio Freddy. She goes on to tell me stories about him and the adventures he had and places he wanted to go, specifically what seeing those two places would mean to her and the memory of her Uncle. This was the first time the idea crossed my mind, almost 5 years later the plan started to take shape. I had been saving and speaking the exact moment into fruition since the moment I knew she was the one. The hardest part was not being able to talk to her about it haha I seriously thought I was going to explode from keeping it to myself. In London, we did a lot of sight seeing with our friends that knew, we made every excuse not to see the London Eye until 10/5. The day ended up being much cloudier than I had hoped and I feared the rain ruining the chance to be able to propose, but we made the walk to the London Eye and the nerves started bubbling, I could feel the Ring box burning in my pocket. We told Ren we were going to take picture of her looking out into the water and during one of those takes I got down one knee behind her and waited for her to turn. Her face was priceless. Due to circumstance I knew that the traditional blessing had not been given to me, but I told her that here in front of the London Eye, the only blessing I wanted was from her Tio Freddy who I knew wanted her to be as happy as she could be, just like me. "Ren, will you marry me?" <3