4 YEARS AGO

(me, on december 18th, 2008)

4 years ago, my awesome hubs asked me to marry him. i knew he was going to ask me to marry him soon-ish, but i was not expecting it that night. we were headed to new york the next day and for some reason i assumed it would be happening there. which was ridiculous of me to think. that so what was not us. 

we were both tired. we had taken finals that day. david may have even taken two but i can't remember. i wasn't feeling well (shocker, i know). our long day was finally over so we went and picked up some dinner. spaghetti and meat balls to be exact. we went back to my place, sat on the couch and ate in the TV room. i gracefully spilled a meatball down my jeans and went to the laundry room to spot them and put on sweats. i got proposed to in sweats. 

he went and got me something to take for my headache, returning with a handful of ibuprofen. he told me that he had something else that would make feel better and that i could use on the plane tomorrow. (side note - i hate flying. i'm not afraid of flying, i just hate it. and being in airports too). he placed a small box in hand. i can't remember if it was wrapped or not. gosh, i'm getting old. it was a product red ipod shuffle. (i loved anything that had to do with aids or africa after living in ghana for six weeks). i was so excited. it was so cute and red. apparently i was supposed to know to turn it over, but who does that? so david had to tell me to look at the back of it. on the back, the words "will you marry me?" were engraved.

spoiler alert: i said yes. 

(me, in ghana in 2007)

i'm pretty sure the first thing i said was, "are you serious?" david had gotten down on one knee and pulled the ring out of his pocket.  i really don't remember much after that except that i couldn't stop smiling or looking at my hand. it was perfect. he proposed in the same room where i learned that actually had a crush on me too. the same room that he held my hand for the first time. 

it wasn't easy getting there. we had a lot of opposition in our relationship. people didn't want us to be together and so people said some really hurtful things about me to him. they shared secrets i had trusted them with. but for some reason, despite what he heard, he wanted to see who this natalie larson girl was on his own.

and for that, i will forever be grateful. 

(us, one week before we got married)