Christie and Kevin

Posted Monday, September 08, 2008 10:56 AM

A DC Story

In November 2005, I was invited by a friend to a reception at the US Capitol on an unusually cold evening. I had no intentions of going at first, but I changed my mind and decided to bundle up and go at the last minute. I was coming off of a breakup and definitely not looking to meet anyone. When I arrived at the reception, my friend literally pushed me in front of a handsome guy named Kevin and introduced us. He had a warm smile and seemed very nice. For the rest of the night, we talked and laughed, and by the end of the night, I did something that I never do: I gave him my phone number and email address and told him to call me.
 
Bowled Over

After our first meeting, we played phone tag for a few months before we finally got it together and planned our first date. We decided to go bowling at Lucky Strike. When I came in and saw him, everything just seemed right. He was easy to talk to and I felt very comfortable around him. We laughed, flirted, and bowled all night. We both have a bit of a competitive streak, so we had a knockdown, drag-out bowling competition going on. He would do funny things to make me lose my focus, like coughing really loudly or coming up behind me and blowing in my ear. I love to joke around, so at that point I knew he and I would be going out on a second date. When we left, it started to rain really hard and he took his jacket off to cover my head as he walked me back to his car. He drove me to my car and I knew at that moment that he was someone I wanted to get to know better. After that first date, we became inseparable.
 
The Proposal

The weekend of our engagement was planned as a “Meet the Parents” weekend. Our parents were going to meet for the first time. We had dinner and a game night on Saturday and church service followed by an outdoor concert on Sunday. I was so busy preparing for the “Meet the Parents” weekend that I didn’t pick up on any of the signs that something else even bigger was about to happen. On Saturday, our parents met and everything was absolutely perfect. It was exactly the way I hoped it would be. On Sunday afternoon, we left to go to the concert and everything seemed completely normal to me. A few of our friends also planned to come to the concert, so we met up with them once we arrived. After we put our folding chairs out on the lawn, I noticed that Kevin was being very quiet and acting a little strange. As we sat outside listening to the music, a few clouds rolled in. At that moment, Kevin jumped up and walked away really quickly. Two minutes later he returned and said that he was able to get us seats under the pavilion so we wouldn’t get wet. I thought it was strange but I just went along with it. After we were seated, my favorite artist came on the stage to perform. I was singing along with the music, and all of a sudden Kevin turned to me and started to talk about a previous concert we went to. I was trying to listen to the show, so I was wondering why Kevin was interrupting. Then, Kevin told me he loved me and the song that was being performed mentioned a man getting down on one knee. At that very moment, Kevin got down on his knee and told me that he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He pulled out the ring and I was completely shocked. I said yes and gave him the biggest hug and kiss. Our parents and friends cheered and the crowd of people around us all cheered and clapped too. It was the best moment of my life, and now I get to spend the rest of my life with this wonderful man.