Most girls dream about their wedding days from the time they are young. They wear dress-up veils and imagine how much fun it will be to wear a princess dress and dance the night away with their prince charming. As they get a little older, they may start picking out colors, themes and flowers, even before they meet their one-day husband. I can't deny that some of these plans have colored my thoughts over the years, but the thing I have always dreamed most about is what it would feel like to be in love. To be held in the arms of a man who cherished me and to look into his eyes and know that I never want to live my life without him.
When I met Luke Abare at a John Mayer concert back in the summer of 2007, I had no idea that he would be my dream come true. We barely even talked that night. Then at the end of 2008, we reconnected when we ended up on the same trip to welcome in the new year of 2009 in New York City. The like we felt for each other on that trip was mutual and impossible to ignore and after sharing our first kiss on New Year's Eve, we decided to develop our friendship. Luke went home to Seattle, WA and I went home to Lynchburg, VA. We were on opposite sides of the country and 3 time zones apart, but that didn't stop us from talking every day. Pretty soon, in spite of the distance that separated us, we knew that we cared about each other and wanted to make our relationship official. Luke surprised me by flying to Lynchburg on Valentines Day weekend and asked me to be his girlfriend, to which I enthusiastically said YES.
In May, I flew to Seattle and spent 2 weeks with Luke and then we packed up his car and drove across the country so he could move to Virginia, go back to school and be in the same place as me. The following 8-9 months definitely taught us a lot about ourselves and each other. We experienced ups and downs in our relationship and there we some times when we weren't sure if we would stay together. But through all of that, we realized something: We loved each other. No matter what happened, nothing changed this, and by March of 2010, we had both shared this fact with each other.
From that day forward, I stopped having questions about whether Luke and I were supposed to be together and I started thinking about how wonderful it would be to spend forever with him. The year and five months since the expression of our mutual love have been filled with adventure. Luke spent two months in Africa last summer, my niece Evelyn was born in October of '10 and I spent the last three months of the year traversing back and forth between Lynchburg (where Luke was) and Charlotte (where my family and Evelyn were). On January 1st, I left Charlotte for Lakeside, Montana where I spent 5 months in my DTS with YWAM (2 months of which were in India). Those five months were life changing for me and for Luke. And they solidified even more our love for each other.
Two weeks after finishing my DTS and arriving in Seattle, I woke up early one Saturday morning, the eleventh day of June. Luke surprised made me with a breakfast of pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries and we drove to Edmonds to take a ferry across the Puget Sound to Kingston where we planned to drive the 3 hours to Third Beach in LaPush. The day was cloudy, but we talked and laughed and sang along with Broadway tunes for the whole drive. We hiked a mile down to the beach and I was amazed at it's beauty. A 60-foot waterfall cascaded beautifully from the top of a cliff into the ocean and sun-bleached driftwood covered large areas of the shore. Large rocks in the water were covered with starfish of various colors--so many of them! We walked for an hour or so and waded in the water (even though it was cold). We finally stopped for lunch and after I finished my sandwich, the green-eyed boy sitting beside me declared "I want to do something right now. I want to propose." He got down on one knee and reached into his backpack and pulled out a package wrapped in brown paper which he promptly ripped off. He opened the small navy box in side to reveal the most intricate, beautiful, diamond engagement ring that I have ever seen. The words that followed elude me and all I can remember was sitting there with my mouth open in surprise as he asked me to be his wife. The only answer that could come out of my mouth was "yes" and I meant it with all my heart. (You can read the rest of our engagement story at blanzyandabare.ourwedding.com).
From that moment, my heart has been filled with such joy knowing that Luke and I will be together forever. The feeling that I dreamed of as a little girl--knowing that I couldn't live my life without this person--is here. When I look into his eyes, I know Luke will love me forever and I will him. And I couldn't be happier.
From that day forward, I stopped having questions about whether Luke and I were supposed to be together and I started thinking about how wonderful it would be to spend forever with him. The year and five months since the expression of our mutual love have been filled with adventure. Luke spent two months in Africa last summer, my niece Evelyn was born in October of '10 and I spent the last three months of the year traversing back and forth between Lynchburg (where Luke was) and Charlotte (where my family and Evelyn were). On January 1st, I left Charlotte for Lakeside, Montana where I spent 5 months in my DTS with YWAM (2 months of which were in India). Those five months were life changing for me and for Luke. And they solidified even more our love for each other.
Two weeks after finishing my DTS and arriving in Seattle, I woke up early one Saturday morning, the eleventh day of June. Luke surprised made me with a breakfast of pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries and we drove to Edmonds to take a ferry across the Puget Sound to Kingston where we planned to drive the 3 hours to Third Beach in LaPush. The day was cloudy, but we talked and laughed and sang along with Broadway tunes for the whole drive. We hiked a mile down to the beach and I was amazed at it's beauty. A 60-foot waterfall cascaded beautifully from the top of a cliff into the ocean and sun-bleached driftwood covered large areas of the shore. Large rocks in the water were covered with starfish of various colors--so many of them! We walked for an hour or so and waded in the water (even though it was cold). We finally stopped for lunch and after I finished my sandwich, the green-eyed boy sitting beside me declared "I want to do something right now. I want to propose." He got down on one knee and reached into his backpack and pulled out a package wrapped in brown paper which he promptly ripped off. He opened the small navy box in side to reveal the most intricate, beautiful, diamond engagement ring that I have ever seen. The words that followed elude me and all I can remember was sitting there with my mouth open in surprise as he asked me to be his wife. The only answer that could come out of my mouth was "yes" and I meant it with all my heart. (You can read the rest of our engagement story at blanzyandabare.ourwedding.com).
From that moment, my heart has been filled with such joy knowing that Luke and I will be together forever. The feeling that I dreamed of as a little girl--knowing that I couldn't live my life without this person--is here. When I look into his eyes, I know Luke will love me forever and I will him. And I couldn't be happier.
