We're getting married!

Even though Hannah and I started dating halfway through our junior year of college, our relationship was in the making long before then. The first time I heard about Hannah was during my very first week of college through one of our mutual friends. That friend was trying to set my brother and I up on a double date with Hannah and her sister (Hannah and I are both twins by the way). I didn't take the offer seriously at the time, but our paths would luckily continue to cross in the future. Several weeks later, I had just finished up my first physics exam pretty late at night and went to go get some pizza near campus. As soon as I walked into Antonio's, I could see Hannah and her sister at a booth eating with a friend. My brother and I sat down at the table next to them, and I talked with her sister a bit while we ate. Disappointingly, I didn't really get to talk much with Hannah who was on the opposite side, distracted with her high school friend who was in town for the weekend. Even though this was a quick encounter and they had left soon after, I still remember that night vividly. Almost two years went by after that and I hadn't seen Hannah since the pizza restaurant. We went to a school with over 50,000 students and had class at opposite sides of campus so there was a good chance that we may never have run into each other again. Thankfully, that wasn't the case and I did end up seeing her again at a tailgate in the fall. I remembered her immediately and she stood out as the most beautiful girl there. Later that week, the same mutual friend that had tried to set Hannah and I up over two years ago was having a ring dunk (an Aggie tradition). I almost didn't go at first because I needed to stay in to work on things for school, until I heard that Hannah would be there. I instantly got dressed and my roommates and I headed over. This was the first time I had ever really spoken to her but it was so easy talking with her. We talked that whole night. We talked about the stars, how she loved Animal Crossing, but it was when she told me she was going to study abroad for 6 months and was leaving for Europe in a couple weeks that I remember the most. We parted ways after the party and it wasn't until the next day that I realized I never got her number. I was able to get it from one of her sorority sisters, thankfully, and we began texting the week before finals. I asked her out on a date soon after and quickly realized she was special. A couple days before her flight to Europe I asked her to be my girlfriend knowing it was now or never. Some people thought it was crazy and that our relationship wouldn't last going long distance for 6 months when we had just met. Now, almost 5 years later, I'm glad we took that chance and couldn't imagine my life without her.

I had been ready to propose for a while, and since Hannah and I love to travel, I was just waiting for the perfect place to do it. It wasn't until we had just gotten back from a trip to Portugal and booked our trip to Iceland that I realized that was when and where I wanted to do it. In the months leading up to the proposal, trying to keep everything a secret was nerve wracking. The first person I ended up telling was her sister, Sarah. After getting her blessing, she was a tremendous resource that I could go to for help or questions. The hardest part was asking her parents. That next week, Hannah and I went up to visit her parents in North Carolina. I kept repeating in my mind what I would say to her dad anytime I got my chance alone with her parents, but I was never able to get enough courage to do it until literally the very last second. Our last night there I knew it was now or never so I had stayed up coming up with a plan to ask them. This plan ultimately involved us pulling out of the driveway on our departure and stopping at the very end where I told Hannah I forgot some shoes and I ran back to the house. Her dad was already halfway down the stairs in search for them when I told her mom I left them on purpose. She knew something was up and immediately closed the door where I began to ask them for their blessing to marry their daughter. The day after we got back from the mountains, I got a call from one of our best friends from college and it turned out we weren't the only ones getting engaged. A couple weeks before our trip to Iceland we were able to make our way down to Texas and get to see two of our best friends, Logan and Jared, get engaged as well as let them in on my secret. The day finally came for our flight to Iceland and I was nervous as we went through security, fully prepared to pop the question right there in TSA if they took out the ring from my backpack. Thankfully that didn't happen and we boarded without a problem. Once we arrived, we began the day driving from waterfall to waterfall. I had planned the exact spot I wanted to propose months in advance and had a timeline for the day to arrive there exactly at sunset right before the park closed. As the day wore on I was getting more nervous. Right before our drive to the southern shore we stopped to get some famous Icelandic hotdogs and I spilled mustard on my pants. This turned out to be the perfect opportunity to change pants and slip the ring into my back pocket from my backpack at our final stop before the Dyrhólaey cliffs. We drove the 2 hours along the coast and I was hurrying to get there on time before they closed the gates at 7pm. We got there right in time, and while Hannah was looking for puffins, I was trying to find the perfect spot away from tourists. My heart was pumping and as we arrived at the most beautiful point, I knew that was my shot and I went for it. I told Hannah to turn around so I could take a picture of her looking out at the glacier in the distance, and as soon as she did so, I fumbled to get the ring box out of my back pocket and got down on one knee, and she turned around at the perfect time.