I thought that in honor of Valentine's Day this week I would actually take the time to write down our engagement story. When Dan proposed in 2007 it was before we all did a ton with Facebook and blogs and I want to get this story written down before too much time passes and I forget all the details. Even though so much has happened since then I still remember the excitement waiting for my man to propose.
Dan and I started dated when I was 19 and a sophomore in college. He was a 5th year senior at a different school and we were set up on a blind date. I remember my friend's boyfriend telling me that Dan was a basketball player and I said, "Basketball?? How tall is he??" For those of you that know me, you know I'm not that into sports. Honestly, I could care less but I do enjoy a good Aggie win every once and a while. Whoop! Anyway, when I first met Dan I immediately noticed how freaking tall he was. I'm 5' 3-1/2". (You can't forget that half inch) Dan is 6'8" which makes him a whopping foot and a half taller than me. Besides his height, he also had a witty personality and was quite the gentleman. Our first date was Taco Cabana and Scary Movie 3. Such a romantic that Dan Tumis :) He swept me off my feet with queso and tortillas.
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| Our first picture- November 2003 |
Let's fast forward 3 years with both of us graduated from college with full time jobs. I was sure that Dan would propose any day. We knew that we wanted to be married, we both had jobs, he just had to propose. I was soooo old by then at a whopping age of 23 waiting for the man of my dreams to ask me to marry him. Dan's birthday passed, Christmas passed, my birthday passed, Valentine's Day came and went and no proposal.
One Monday morning my phone rang at 5 am and it was Dan. He said "I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, the bad news is that you are going to have to work for it. I'm leaving today and you are going to meet me in another country on Wednesday."
It would be an understatement to say that I was shocked. I knew that Dan would propose eventually, but I had no idea he was planning something like this. The only person that knew was my boss because Dan had asked him if I could take a few days off 6 months prior.
Dan heads to leave on a plane somewhere and I head to his apartment to see what he has planned. At his apartment he had left me a Power Point presentation where he had gone to all the places that were important to us and taken pictures. The first place we met and the A&M football field were two of the places on the show. He also left a stack of wedding magazines, and a ring box. I opened the box and it said "see you in Venice." I really wish I had pictures of all of that.
I don't remember this, but Dan says that years prior he asked me if I could go anywhere in the world where would it be and my answer was Venice. So when I was sweating it out waiting for a proposal Dan was planning the trip overseas in secret. Truly, the biggest surprise of my life.
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| Engaged! February 2007 |
I met Dan in Venice, Italy and he proposed that first night. That was our first trip to Italy and since then we have been back three more times. Italy has such wonderful memories for us and now you know why.
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| February 2007-Venice |
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| April 2009- Rome, Sienna and Florence |
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| April 2011- Rome and Sorrento |
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| August 2012- Rome and Sorrento with ADP |
My husband has always been so thoughtful and such a romantic. I feel as though we have grown up together. I look at 23 year olds now and they seem so young and I can't believe that we got married so young, but we have been able to do so together much the past 10 years. I would do it all again in a heart beat and hopefully he would say the same!
We don't celebrate Valentine's Day typically because it's kind of a cheesy holiday (in my opinion) but let's face it, this blog post is oozing with cheese right now.
Happy heart day to my Love, and the most wonderful Daddy I know. I want Charlotte to find a partner just like him one day.
