It was 6 am on Christmas Eve, 2009. I was asleep in my apartment and I heard the front door close. A few steps later, my bedroom door softly swung open, spilling a tiny bit of light into the dark. I was either too asleep to consider that a murderer could be breaking into my house or I just knew what was about to happen. 

Confession: I’m terrible at surprises. And by terrible, I mean, I’m unsurprisable. As in, my entire life, my family has been trying to surprise me with parties and gifts and things that most people would be totally shocked by, but somehow, I always figure it out before it happens. There’s a running joke in my family that I can shake a Christmas gift and know exactly what it is, down to the color and size.  And it’s mostly true. Call me observant or clever. To my mother, whose love language is gift giving, I’m just infuriating. To my husband, I’m a challenge waiting to be accepted.

So he knew that the only way he could properly propose to me without my prior knowledge of the exact moment it would happen, would be if he literally woke me up with a proposal. You can’t figure out a surprise if you’re asleep, right? So there I was, messy hair, pajamas, genuinely half-asleep, and there he is, wide awake, all dressed up and wearing his familiar, full-faced smile.

I remember laughing and covering my face when he walked in. I remember him kneeling down next to my twin size bed in the middle of my cluttered apartment space. I remember him placing the ring that held his great grandmother’s engagement ring diamond onto my finger. And I remember saying yes. There were no fireworks or elaborate scavenger hunts or wild adventures leading up to that moment. There were no witnesses and no photos to freeze it forever it time. It was simple and sweet. No frills, no fluff. And that’s the most honest representation of who we are. We’ve never been about the giant gestures. It’s in the everyday that we show our love. It always has been. 

Last week, I shared how we met, how I broke his heart, and how God brought us back together. Our love story started in the quiet conversations, the building of a friendship, the sharing of creativity and dreams. There were no candlelit dinners, no hot air balloon rides, no extravagant gifts. There was me + him. And that was enough. (Okay, let’s be honest. We were poor college kids and couldn’t have afforded those things even if we wanted to, but still…) 

   Love is not always born of romance and reverie. Sometimes, perhaps more often, it’s built in the mundane, everyday, monotony. The choosing to sneak in ever so quietly, to break into ones heart, and ask for their hand every day. This is the cornerstone of our narrative. And every week, I will continue to share that with you. So you can get to know us, yes, but also so I can be reminded of the love that we chose together and the life that we’re building. One everyday at a time. 

  Until next week, friends! In the meantime, want to see more Meet Us Monday posts?

Read our love story + how we met here! Or meet us for the first time and get the lowdown on the top five things you should know about us!