Alison’s Story
Kevin and I met a little over four years ago in an enchanted bar called Transmetropolitan. With the lingering smells of pizza and beer, Kevin swept me off my feet during an intense game of darts. How could one not fall in love in such a romantic setting? From that day forward we were inseparable.
We moved in with each other shortly after we started dating. I’ll never forget my dad’s reaction to hearing the news, “What does he do? What do his parents do for a living? How long have you known each other? Did you ask him to move in together or did he ask you?” You get the point – he wasn’t thrilled.
We started off living in a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment in Athens, GA. I was gone most of the time with my new job that stuck me in Cleveland, OH for several months at a time. But when I was home, it was complete lunacy. We had no personal space and we were still in college mode, which is a lethal combination. I knew if we could survive that, then we could stand together until the end of time.
Kevin graduated from the University of Georgia and my company moved me to Atlanta, GA. We learned from our mistake of our last living arrangement and decided to upgrade to a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment. Needless to say we were much more comfortable with that style of living. Kevin got a great job with a company where he is still employed. I was working evenings (wait, that sounds bad…let me finish!) as a call center manager at a (noble) company that assists universities and non-profits in fund-raising for their annual funds. The difference in our work hours meant that we never got to see each other except when I would come home to say goodnight to Kevin and he would wake me up in the morning to say good-bye for the day. So, when my client offered me a job with day hours and great benefits I quickly jumped on it.
The most important point I wanted to make is that through these little life experiences we have become one another’s best friend. This brief history of our relationship somewhat tells you about the journey we’ve already shared. What has not been captured in this blog is the love we’ve shared for each other over the past four years that has brought us to a point where we want to spend our lives, one by one, together.
Kevin and I went to St. Augustine, FL for New Year’s Eve. Leading up to the evening of New Year’s, we tasted wine and toured the San Sebastian Winery; we climbed 219 stairs to the top of the Lighthouse; and we ate lunch at an amazing vegan restaurant called The Present Moment Cafe. We were pretty exhausted after a fun-filled day, so we decided to have a simple dinner. After I called a few restaurants to check their availability, I chanced across a cute Greek restaurant that was not booked for the holiday.
We had a delicious meal of grape leaves, Greek salads, and spinach pies topped off with red wine and chocolate peanut pie at Athena Restaurant. After we were filled to the brims of good food and drink, we ventured over to the Unnamed Bar. Our cab driver from the previous night, “Captain Ed,” recommended the bar. I believe “Captain Ed” had good intentions when he told us to check out that place, but we weren’t in the mood to stand at a crowded bar all night and listen to an all white Rastafarian band attempt to play reggae.
So, we left and walked around the plaza in the downtown St. Augustine area. The plaza was still covered in Christmas lights, which created a very romantic setting. We sat on a bench near a fountain for a little while and then walked to the other side of the square where a gazebo was located. We started to walk up the gazebo stairs and realized there was a homeless man sleeping on the floor of the gazebo with an empty pizza box next to his head. Kevin exclaimed, “I thought I heard snoring!” We didn’t want to disturb his deep slumber, so we continued to walk around the square. Kevin suggested we go back to the fountain because there was no place to sit, seeing as the gazebo was occupied.
Once we sat down near the fountain, Kevin fumbled with his jacket and looked around to make sure there were not a lot of people walking by us so we could have a private moment. He said sweet things like “I love you” and would then kiss me, but I could tell he was stalling to say what he really wanted to express. I giggled and he asked why I was laughing. I said “You’re just being silly is all.”
He then said, “Well I have a question to ask you.” Kevin then got on one knee, presented me with an open ring box and asked “Will you marry me?” With tears in my eyes, I exclaimed, “Of course I’ll marry you!” He got back on the bench and handed me the box. I asked “Aren’t you supposed to put the ring on my finger?”
With a silly grin on his face he asked back, “Oh is that how it works?” We then took a bunch of pictures for our parents and started to walk around again to look at more of the lights.
It was a very sweet proposal – I loved how it completely portrayed Kevin’s personality. The proposal also showed how we define our relationship – full of love and laughter.
