|
We both happened to be living on the second floor in San Nicholas Hall at
UCSB, and met on September 20, 1998, shortly after moving in. One of my
friends from middle school also happened to be living on the same floor, and
the two of us were talking in the floor lounge before the first hall meeting.
Lisa and her roommate also arrived early to the meeting, and the four of us
started getting to know each other. I noticed that Lisa and I had a lot of
things in common, including a love of New York, and though we weren't able to
talk during the meeting, I made sure to talk to her afterwards.
There were several days until classes started, and we spent them together
getting to know the campus and each other. We walked all over the campus,
rode our bikes around Isla Vista and the beach, and occasionally chatted over
a Wendy's frosty in The Hub. We had a great time and kept finding more and
more things that we had in common. On Thursday, September 24, we decided to
start dating.
We started to get serious about marriage in Fall 2003, at about the same time
that we decided to purchase our first home. We quickly found a home that we
liked, and moved in July 2004. I told Lisa that I wanted to wait until after
we had moved in before we got engaged. Once we moved in, we started talking
about marriage again, and Lisa started getting anxious. She knew it was
coming, but didn't know when.
I had decided to propose on my birthday, two weeks after our six-year
anniversary. It was the last significant date in our relationship before our
annual trip to New York in December. We celebrated my birthday with my
parents and grandmother, and got home late. Lisa was tired and anxious to go
to sleep, and by this time she was convinced that she was going to have to
wait until December. I persuaded her to sit next to me and close her eyes.
When she opened her eyes and saw the Tiffany bag in front of her, she thought
I was playing a cruel joke on her. I made her open the bag and the box, and
when she saw the ring, I asked her to marry me. She said yes.
|
