How We Met...Cristina decided she wasn’t going to her senior prom but her uncle, Misael "Mikey" Martinez, convinced her otherwise. He took care of everything, dress, jewelry, the works, including her prom date, his mentee, me. Little did he know what this one time encounter would evolve into. From that point forward we shared an honest friendship and though there was no consistency in communication, there was always a remnant of friendship. After over three years of a distant friendship, I felt in my heart to reconnect with Cristina. We made plans to meet at an ice cream shoppe where the spark was ignited. Both of us quietly waited for a confirmation from God, and once we recieved it, we began to build on the foundation of our future through relationship counseling with Rev. Dr. Terika Smith. After a little over 2 years of an amazing relationship, with the support of both of our families and friends, we both felt it was time for the next step....
When It Happened...Thursday, March 28, 2013
How It Happened...A day before my sister's birthday, Cristina was under the impression that we were heading to prepare a surprise party for her. After picking her up from the train station after work, I began to "vent" to Cristina about the chaos of the party planning at my house and asked if we could go take a walk to allow me to clear my mind a bit before heading back to my mother's house for the "party." Cristina, worried about not making it in time to help my mother prepare, asked me to please just call her and let her know we'd be running a bit behind and to make sure that would be ok. Once confirming that it was, I proceeded to drive to The Reservoir in Lawrence, a significant place to us as a couple. We took our "as usual" stroll around The Reservior until I led her to a beautiful display of roses located exactly where we shared our first kiss. Cristina then began to question what was going on and I told her that I wanted to surprise her with flowers. As she leaned in to thank me, she heard the sudden "click" of a camera and then asked me what was really going on, at which point I pulled out a little red box, got down on one knee and asked her if she'd marry me, to which she responded...YES! After the proposal, we then proceeded to Rev. Dr. Terika's house where I had gathered both of our families and some of ourclosest friends to celebrate with dinner and lots of laughs.
