Back in February I saw lots of posts of #shareyourlove on instagram. I was intrigued and somewhat interested to share ours, but never got around to it.
Then last week it dawned on me that this Sunday marks eleven years since Rex popped the question. Yup, he proposed on Easter Sunday which was also on April 12 that year.
So to celebrate this special anniversary, here is our proposal story. Disclaimer: this is from my perspective and Rex may or may not have different memories of how it went down so you’ll have to take that up with him.
The year was 2009, I was attending St. Martin’s University and working part-time at Starbucks. Rex was working full-time at Bank of America. Our busy schedules only allowed us to see each other once or twice a week. Rex really wanted to celebrate our six month dating anniversary, which was the week prior on April 5 (Palm Sunday). But the only free time I had would have been late Sunday evening after volunteering at youth group, which would not have been conducive for my typical early bedtime. So instead, we made plans to celebrate the following Sunday on Easter. Neither of our families have strong Easter traditions so we were both available.
Although we typically only saw each other once or twice a week, we would text all the time during the day and talk on the phone usually in the evenings or right before bed. That week I got pretty annoyed by Rex because while we were on the phone I could hear in the background incessant typing and him just saying ‘uh huh’ – obviously not really listening to me.
He said I’m working on something special for our 6 months. [cue eye roll]
It was sweet, but I also didn’t think 6 months was that big of a deal. Clearly, I didn’t know he was preparing his proposal. Well played, Rex.
Easter Sunday morning we went to Mass at the parish where we were later married at. As I approached the pew we always sat in, there was a manila envelope with my name on it. Inside was a book with lots of sweetness that Rex had prepared for me.
The book had riddles, which once solved led to a clue/prize for solving the riddle. Throughout the day Rex coached me as I attempted to solve these riddles – all the while still thinking this was all just to celebrate our 6 months. We had talked about marriage before but for whatever reason, I didn’t think this was it. Rex must have done a good job chalking it up to celebrating our 6 months.
A couple noteworthy prizes:
- After Mass, Rex played the piano for me. Don’t worry, he had gotten permission from the music director beforehand. I sat down and he started playing “Never Felt This Way” by Brian McKnight. I had no idea that he had secretly been teaching himself this song – one of my favorites at the time. (Although this was a sweet and grand gesture, we would both agree now that music in the church should be sacred and inspire sanctification,)
- In my book that Rex had prepared there were pages and pages of ALL the text messages we had sent for six months. There were no backup options available at the time so that meant Rex had to type them all. Hence the something special he had been working while we were on the phone that annoyed me.
I bet you can guess what the grand prize was. So I had solved the last riddle and the book said “Congratulations! You did it. I have more to say, but I couldn’t fit it all on the page so I thought of the next best thing: shrink the font.”
I was instructed to read the next part aloud which was like size 4 font. It was so small that the book was in my face and I couldn’t see anything except for the words on the page. Rex was in front me and as I began reading I heard him unzip a pocket in his bag. It was at that moment that I realized he was going to propose. I looked up from the book and asked what he was doing. He just smiled and said just keep reading.
So I did. As I read the words aloud, I was overwhelmed with joy. When I finished reading, I closed the book and in front of me was Rex down on one knee presenting a beautiful ring.
He said: Rachel, remember when I said if I knew you, I wouldn’t be dating you. That’s because if I knew you I would want you to be my wife. Rachel, will you marry me?
After declaring my yes, he placed the ring that I had wanted on my finger. It was a simple custom-made ring with two celtic trinity symbols on either side of the diamond as a reminder to keep God at the center of our relationship.
A little backstory, Rex had made that confusing comment almost six months prior when we first became official. I didn’t think much about it at the time and figured he didn’t mean for it to sound so offensive. The day he said it I had texted him what he said just so he knew I wouldn’t forget how rude that was and for there would be record of it.
So earlier in the day as I looked through the pages and pages of the texts, Rex in his silly ways made sure I would notice it, even though my memory back then was impressive.
I joke that Rex was in love with me since we first met (maybe that story will make an appearance on the blog). One could argue that clearly from his comment, although cryptic to anyone else, makes that statement true. Nonetheless it was very intentional and meaningful for him and makes for a great proposal story.
Fifteen months later we were married.
Praying for you,
Rachel
“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
