We’re Getting Married!

When thinking back on the "first" time I met Brandon, my brain goes back to three different occasions meeting Brandon differently every time. The very first time, my friend, Sarah and I were at a fraternity party & I wanted to take a picture with the cutie Asian boy who had no idea who I was. Sarah, being the rockstar that she is, captured Brandon and I's very first picture. (see photo below) Was he scared? I guess, because we didn't talk after that night. A couple weeks later, our second encounter happened. I was with the same friend, Sarah, and we were at the Kappa Sigma party house before heading to a function. I sat on the couch talking with Sarah when that cute boy came out of his room and asked me if I wanted a drink. After declining, (I was a picky drinker, aka only wine. Don't worry, I outgrew that real quick!) we sat and talked for awhile. All of a sudden, Brandon yells "NO! Stop! Bad dog!" as the house dog peed on the floor in the living room. I thought to myself "someone go get the owner" but instead Brandon cleaned it up immediately. I think I fell in love right then and there! Later that night, Sarah was braiding my hair while I was laying on the table in one of the college classrooms (it was Fight Night and I had no interest in watching McGregor on the big screen) Brandon came up to us and said, "checking for lice?" Man, he was a flirter. *insert heart eye emoji x3* (side note: no I didn't have lice) From that night we texted some but nothing really came of it. A couple weeks went by again. The Kappa Sigma bid day party was upon us. Brandon was the Recruitment Chair and I was Kappa Sigma's Sweetheart. It was going to be a great night! Brandon and I had being texting a little (aka I wouldn't leave him alone). I asked him if I would be seeing him at the party that night and he said "maybe" (cutie boy was playing hard to get). That night, I remember him texting me "where are you" and I answered almost immediately "at the beer pong table" and in the blink of an eye Brandon had found me! We hung out, talked, danced terribly to T-Pain and with A LOT of liquid courage from my Sonic cup, I kissed him!! We parted ways and I couldn't stop thinking about him that night. And the rest is history!

After leaping out of an airplane, a perfectly good one at that (credit to Pepper for the joke), 700 miles away from home in an unfamiliar place, I took the leap of asking Lauren to marry me. Two weeks before going on a family vacation to Florida, I found myself confronted by Patricia (Lauren's sweet gram). She couldn't help but wonder why I hadn't proposed yet, considering it would be a perfect opportunity. With nearly five years together, I couldn't blame her. I've always been one to take my time with big decisions. But I made up my mind, it was time. Being together for so long, I knew she might expect it, so I wanted to do something extraordinary and exhilarating to make it unforgettable. After discussing my plan with Melody, (Lauren’s awesome mother) we agreed I was crazy and she approved of it. Now I needed to find a moment alone with Pepper (Lauren’s funny dad). We all had dinner with Lauren's family, and Patricia and Melody managed to convince her to ride home with them. Meanwhile, Pepper and I slipped away to my workplace, where I had stored the engagement ring. By that point, Pepper kind of knew about what was happening, so I sought his approval and received some valuable tips on marriage. When I showed him the ring, he appreciated the gesture. Later, I brought Mason (Lauren’s cool brother) to the store to seek his approval, and he humorously asked to be a groomsman as his only condition. And finished it off by asking Jimmy (Lauren’s sweet papa). During the following week, I spoke to my mom (Love you lots momma) about the plan. She responded with a "about time" and happily agreed to bring the ring to me after I landed from skydiving. We coordinated every detail. My mom and I decided to lie to Lauren that she booked us a skydiving session, as I had told her I wanted to try it before. She has always done anything for me, and we knew Lauren would believe it. Lauren's mom and dad even decided to join us, flying in on the day of to witness the proposal. I arranged for a photographer, booked the skydiving trip, and shared the plan with everyone involved. Together, we prepared roses, a small picnic, a bottle of champagne to pop, and a large banner that read "Will You Marry Me" so that Lauren would spot it as she came down from paragliding. A few days later, Lauren, my mom, and I went on a 15-hour drive to Florida for our family vacation, staying at my aunt and uncle's place. We drove late into the night, while Lauren grew anxious as her parents remained unreachable, and no one seemed to have a consistent story explaining why. I worried she might catch on to something, but luckily, Stranger Things (a tv show) kept her preoccupied. We arrived in Florida late at night and went to sleep. The next morning, we woke up ready to go skydiving. I told Lauren that we were going out for a nice dinner to celebrate my mom's upcoming birthday, hoping she would dress up and do her makeup. However, she saw that my mom and aunt weren't dressed up, so she decided against it. I was concerned, but I thought she looked great as always, so we went on with our plans. (Little did I know that women preferred to be dressed for proposal pictures) We arrived at the skydiving facility, with my mom, aunt, and uncle, while Lauren's mom and dad waited nearby. Our discreet photographer was hiding in the distance, capturing the moment. With Lauren still scared about her parents' unresponsive phones, we both signed the liability release form (just in case we died, fyi we didn’t). We watched an instructional video on how to not die and got geared up with our instructors. Lauren was assigned an instructor I nicknamed "Alejandro," he was a suave Spaniard (Lauren later told me he had bad BO). I honestly don't remember what my own instructor looked like, cause I was too busy thinking “well of course she got him”. There was rain coming, so they rushed us onto the small Cessna plane, where we sat on the floor, preparing for takeoff.

The takeoff was rough and scary. I was looking at Lauren, concerned that she might have a panic attack (she's not a fan of tight spaces), but she seemed fine and even calmer than me. As we flew over the ocean, we got to see the world from 10,000 feet in the air. They then pushed me towards the door and checked our gear. They swung the door open and instructed me to hang my feet over the edge of the plane. It was seriously one of the most terrifying moments of my life. Then, without warning, the instructor pushed us out, and we fell (crazy fast). For the first few seconds, I experienced that stomach-dropping sensation like riding a roller coaster. But then, it went away, leaving only the rush of wind and the inability to focus on anything in the distance (it was actually really peaceful, try it sometime). The parachute deployed, and the instructor then let me grab the handles to steer (scary, i hated it honestly). He then took out the camera, and I thanked everyone for helping and told Lauren I loved her a lot, hoping she enjoyed the whole adventure. Once we reached the ground, our family was waiting. Feeling unsteady, I stumbled over to where my mom handed me the ring (I don't remember this, probably because of the adrenaline). I went to the spot the photographer recommended, waiting for Lauren to touch down. When she landed, she ran up to me, shocked everyone was there. That's when I got on one knee and said, "Baby, you know I love you more than anything. Will you marry me?" With "well of course, yes", I forgot that I had to put the ring on her finger. Our hands were both shaking, but I managed to put it on her finger. We celebrated by popping champagne and taking pictures. It was an incredible experience, and I am grateful to everyone involved.