The 31 Day of Writing Challenge continues. It’s Day 8 of my 31 Days of Gratitude 2015.

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On this day sixteen years ago, I drove to the Ontario, CA airport and waited impatiently for Brian’s flight to come in from Monterey. Living over 400 miles apart from each other had been trying, to say the least, but today I was filled with excitement, anticipation and a little nervousness. This was the weekend Brian was going to officially propose to me. It may seem unromantic that we had to “plan” our engagement since we were so far from one another but I couldn’t care less. I just wanted to be engaged to the man I loved and I didn’t care about convention.

As I saw Brian walk over to me, I ran to him and melted in his arms. All was right with the world once again. We stopped to get a bite to eat (I still have the Claim Jumper receipt in my scrapbook) 😉 and talked excitedly. The original plan was to wait until Saturday. Brian wanted to ask my parents for my hand (so sweet) and then we’d go off by ourselves. But the more we talked, the more we couldn’t even wait until the next day. The evening had passed quickly and he asked me if my parents would still be up when we got to my house. I decided to give them a call from the restaurant. (These were the olden days when we didn’t have cell phones. I had to find a pay phone. Crazy.) I called my mom and she assured me that she and my dad would be up when we got there so we grabbed out To Go boxes and headed out the door.

(Brian and I met online. This is when we first met in person.)

Brian was nervous to talk to my parents but I told him to relax since they loved him. (Heck, I think my mom was ready to get down on one knee and beg him to marry me. She loved the guy!!) We got to my house and after hugs and pleasantries were exchanged we sat down at the kitchen table and Brian made his little speech. Tears flowed and more hugs were given until Brian and I stepped outside into the backyard. It was a cool and starry night and Brian held my hand and walked me over to a little section of trees. He knelt down on one knee and started to tell me how much he loved me and wanted to be with me forever. He said he couldn’t promise me an easy life but he promised to always be faithful to me, to love me and do all he could to help me and our future children live a life with God’s kingdom as our goal.

My heart was so full of emotion (I’m crying again just reliving it) I could barely comprehend everything that he was saying to me. Thank God, the writer in him actually penned all the words of his proposal. Later he was going to throw away his scraps of paper but I begged him to let me keep them in my scrapbook for days like today, when I want to look back and remember the words of love he spoke to me.

Brian’s right. It hasn’t always been easy but what life ever is? Sure, the years of infertility, miscarriages and more recently Brian’s cancer, his father’s stroke and the daily stress of family life were crosses we had to (or are working to) overcome. However, all the small (and big) moments of love and laughter that we share together overshadow and dwarf the hard times.They are not what first comes to mind when I think about our life together.

For all these moments, the good and the bad, over the last sixteen years I am grateful because they filled me with love and strengthened my faith. For the man who always seems to be giving, I am most grateful. To God, who gave me such a blessing, “thank you” seems inadequate but my heart is too full to say more…

xoxo,

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