Mine and Kylers
whirl wind romance began five years ago last Saturday. Five years seems like a lifetimes time considering it took me all but five minutes to fall in love with that man. We dated five months before he proposed to me. That is a short courtship by some
{most?} standards and way to long by mine
(I was 19 after all and my maternal clock was a tickin' HA ;) All I really wanted from him was his last name....
was that to much to ask for??
So where were we? OH,Yes on to the proposal. 5 weeks after I met him he asked "Have you ever considered marrying me." What does a girl say to that!? Besides YES, I DO, I WILL...I have never wanted anything more in my life!!...instead I played it coy and asked him if he was proposing to me? As we drove around our small college town both talking about our future....together After that it became not "if" but "when." Always a hopeless romantic I loved the idea of being his wife. Young marriage = long love in my book.
Kyler is a very indecisive yet at the same time so very calculated. My certainty only seemed to shake his. The next few months were a roller coaster of wondering and waiting for him to realize what took me mere minutes to conclude. That this was it. What was happening was real. I was falling in love with him...who was I kidding I was in love with him. I remember praying he would just let himself fall for me the same way I had fallen for him....hard
At the end of May he took me home to Boise to meet his family. He hardly talked or touched me that entire weekend. His family wondered if he even liked me. I wondered the same thing. I already had my wedding gown on layaway.
I felt like a carrot was being dangled in front of me. Nothing stings quite as badly as unrequited love.
One night I walked over to his apartment, ready to end whatever this was. It wasn't funny to me anymore. I sat on an old plaid couch and I cried. The ugly cry. Mascara was everywhere. I was sick of it. He was funny and handsome and I was angry at him for making me fall in love with him for the million things he never even knew he was doing....we were so good for one another....In a trembling voice i asked "Kyler, do you even want to marry me....??" He was silent, he looked confused. I remember I felt like my heart was breaking when I told him goodbye. He grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me in telling me "you can't leave like this!" And he kissed my lips firmly. I felt breathless as I turned and shut the door behind me. I remember standing there, on his door step for what must of been a few minutes...it was a particularly cold summers eve. I couldn't make myself move. I felt paralyzed. I stood there and cried. All I remember saying to myself is"Damn it Kyler why did you have to go and kiss me like that?" (and I am normally not the cursing type;) He had a power over me and I knew in my heart that would not be the last I would see of him.
The next evening he showed up on my door step completely unannounced and told me he to grab my coat...he was taking me out to dinner. We walked down the road and I still remember the chest constricting and throat tightening feeling when he reached over and grabbed my hand. He handed me a hand written letter eloquently telling me how he couldn't sleep all night...He loved me....I was all he ever really wanted...he wrote in a way mere lips service could never had conveyed
(I still love to re-read that letter:) There in an old authentic mexican restaurant with delicious food and dirty floors. He looked at me with an intensity that made me almost want to turn away. I felt butterflies. Not in the going on stage or walking by your middle school crush sort of way...in the way that in that instant I knew he would be the man I spent forever with.
to be continued....
My very favorite part of our engagement story is remembering how I raided mine and my roommates closets trying to find the perfect outfit to get proposed in... with all my meticulous planning that is the outfit I chose?? really?? HA I kind of love that! You can read the first part of the proposal here. ....here we go again ;)
All I ever expected from love...was to love with a love that is deeper than love. I somehow knew with him that we would eventually find that....
I remember feeling like some magnetic force was drawing me to him. What was it about him that made it so that he was never very far from my thoughts? I wondered. I knew that he was good and sweet and a bit stubborn. But mostly I think I was completely intrigued with how he was unusually himself in any situation. Kyler truly is no respecter of person, honest to a fault. I have overheard him talking to the CEO of the company he works for with the same respect and kindness that he uses with our two-year-old son. I love him for the type of man he is. Something else that makes me find him especially charming is that....
He is the "quietly funny type" and that, at least to me is quite possibly the most intriguing of all the types of people that make up this beautiful world, they do hilarious things all. of. the. time. paying no mind if people know or not. How can finding themselves funny be the only satisfaction they need?!? Don't they want others to know that it was them that cleverly put salt in the sugar shaker? Not me. I feel a need to send out a mass text informing everyone I have ever met how hilarious I am :)
After the first time I met that man I knew he was clearly the "quiet sexy type" I might be biased but isn't that so obvious??...(That is just the way I like em'.) His little secret of being quietly hilarious didn't surface until he was getting ready to ask me one very important question. A question like most girls I had waited my entire life to be asked.
Weeks before the proposal Kyler would get down on one knee any chance he had. My heart would stop! He would say in a serious voice “Caitlin Lewis.....will you go to the store with me?" I would roll my eyes and grab my keys. Rinse and Repeat.
And then something happened.
Kyler and I were getting ready to go to the baseball fields to play catch (yes you read that right....I was a much better person back then!) He grabbed his bags plum full of gear when suddenly a huge monstrosity of a forgotten gold ring fell out of the bag holding the balls. I picked it up to examine it. In big block letters it read JESUS. He laughed from his belly when he saw it. Telling me how he had traded one of his Brazilian mission companions his CTR (chose the right) ring for that beauty (Kyler served a two year church service mission in southern Brazil.) He off handed commented that maybe if I played my cards someday that ring could be mine....
I politely smiled only thinking about my innate fear of small objects flying towards my head...I couldn't believe that I agreed to this..The last time I picked up a baseball was during fifth grade P.E. I remember telling myself over and over that I can do this.... this is the price you pay for love! I took a deep breath thinking about all the things I would rather be doing than having that little white ball thrown at insane speeds towards my face ...by the man I was hopelessly and utterly, completely in love with....a root canal, mowing a lawn, child birth, taking an exam all seemed like better alternatives than a game of catch. I tried my best to channel in my inner Mae Mordabito....It is really difficult to pretend to be athletic.....oh but how wonderful it would be if you could...
I remember Kyler excitingly saying that if "today goes well maybe we can join an intramural baseball league together!" I suddenly felt like I was heading for tryouts.
He was agile and poised, I didn't have a clue what I was doing...I wanted to apologize to my poor arms for how sore they were going to be the next day!
Every time I would throw to him a wave of panic would wash over me wondering what type of man would want these genes in his children's jeans.....I remember saying "did I mention how athletic my Dad was.....or my sisters....?"
I think is suffice to say "today" did not go very well...In the sense of the game but I loved how content and at peace I felt by simply just being with him. He was fun. I felt happy when I was with him.
He told me that it was okay, we can't all be good at everything....I mumbled how that really was never a problem for me :) He asked me If I wanted to go hiking at Mesa Falls that weekend....He would bring a picnic.:) :)
Every part of me smiled when I told him I would really like that.
I was still smiling when I not so casually mentioned our big plans to my roommates, my Mom, my older sisters heck even the ladies in my water aerobics class....that he had invited me on a romantic hike and was making me a picnic...I {we} all thought that this was it!!! I would definitely (hopefully) becoming back with something shiny, weighing my left hand down!
The waterfalls were deafening loud, the thump of my heart was louder. Just when I was getting ready to turn to walk up the trail, I saw him out of the corner of my eye drop to one knee!
He looked up at me and smiled.
And then preceded to tie his shoe....
what!?!
To this day he swears proposing never crossed his mind. His shoe really was untied!
That’s the thing about the "quietly funny type" you never know if you can trust them! Or even when they are joking..
To be continued....
The beginning +
The middle and on to the end:
Oh there is something about boys in baseball caps with big gorgeous smiles that makes me weak in the knees and want to melt into a big giant puddle of
can't-even-handle-this-ness. The day my now husband proposed he was wearing both.
When Kyler picked me up to spend the day in Jackson hole Wyoming I was on edge. Everything about planning our wedding without a ring on my left hand was wearing on me. It was all starting to feel.....well a bit awkward.
But I couldn't help but be excited to embrace the sunshine and enjoy everything I thought a day in June should be. I dressed in short sleeves with chacos on my feet. The calender said I could ;)
Unfortunately the forecast wasn't quite as understanding.
Something about snow in June makes a girl with short sleeves and sandals on feel terribly solemn. Oh sure I was completely enamored with my ever so handsome date. But I felt disenchanted with the large wild buffalo and the well stocked museums even the charming little shops weren't filling me with the usual excitement and wonder that a place like that should rightfully induce.
Most of the day I was content being quiet. Taking that charming town in. feeling breathless...wondering when he was going to ask me to be his wife. And thinking about the mountain of books and unwritten papers that were waiting for me when I got home.
But Kyler has always had a way of taking a somber day in June and making it into something completely unforgettable! I love him for that!
He told me he wanted to go hiking.
I looked out the window at the flurry of snow and told him almost snorting
(I really am that lady like ;) "No thanks!"
He said it would be fun. I said
"I hope your are right." I was a lot sweeter back then.We walked and walked I wanted to turn back. He grabbed me by the shoulders and gently yet at the same time with firmness he forced me to sit down on a near by stump. I remember a jolting feeling rushing through my body. I felt safe with him. He got down on one knee.
My mind started racing, my heart was racing faster.
I wanted to speak but nothing audible would come out. My whole countenance was questioning. My knees were literally shaking and teeth were chattering.
In a deep steady voice he locked eyes with me and asked me to be his wife.
I don't have words for the way I felt in that single powerful moment.
I looked down only to see that HUGE giant monstrosity of a gold ring that read JESUS in gold block letters being extended towards me!
Completely caught off guard and quickly recovering from the spell he had just put me under my emotions couldn't decided between finding this completely humorous or infuriating!!!
He was laughing from his belly with a glint in his eye.
I not so lightly kicked him in the shin and told him to stand up. Rolling my eyes. Telling him "No." Just then he pulled out
my wedding band out out of his pocket.
In that moment I was more shocked to see that then I was to see the first ring he had offered to me!
I lunged off of that old stump wrapping my arms tightly around his neck.... completely knocking him over, I kissed his lips firmly and then his cheeks. Tears were streaming down my face.
Writing this I can still feel the excitement and anticipation that filled the air. The sun came out on Que... My ring sparkled in the sunlight. Everything about it felt so right...I slipped the unfitted ring on to my left finger as I carefully kept all my fingers tightly together to help my loose ring stay still. I wore it for the rest of the evening like that :)
So I told him yes, I Do, I will for ever and ever and for always!
The End ;)
