To your union! To the revolution! And the hope that it provides!
This is Hannah, my fiancée. You may know her as a modern-day pirate as seen in the photo, or more likely as the author of this site (seeing how it's named after her and all) and you probably read her post about our engagement. If not, you should read that first, because it's better than mine and actually has a moral and a plot. You can read it here.
Hannah asked me to write this post to give my side of our story since her post was just from her perspective, so here goes:
It all began Saturday, July 19, 2014, in box office at Amstar in Brannon Crossing (yes, I did look up that exact date in our old theater Facebook group). Hannah and I were scheduled for the same shift for the first time that day, and I had been told by our manager that I was to be training a new hire, John Ferguson, as well. Hannah and I spent some time chatting and getting to know each other since we hadn't ever worked together in the two months since she was hired, but after a little bit, I noticed that John wasn't at work yet. Thinking it was strange, I wondered aloud about where he was. This occurred several times over the course of the shift, leading Hannah to joke that he was my best friend because I was so concerned about where he was. The reality was that I was confused why he wasn't there yet, sure, but I had also thought Hannah was cute since I first noticed her at work, and I was nervous to talk to her that day. Well, John never showed up (he ended up coming in at night instead of the opening shift), and I screwed up by thinking Hannah was younger than she was, when she was actually the same age as my sister and we went to the same school. Oops. But overall, that shift was a success and we had a good time, or at least I did.
Soon enough, we found ourselves on the schedule together more and more, and our friendship grew. We developed inside jokes, some of which sprawled into massive, theater-wide "families" that had to be seen to be believed. When the schedule came out each week, we found ourselves scanning it to find the other's shifts almost as quickly as our own, just to see when we would work together again. I can't speak for Hannah, but I know that for me, the high point of the week was any shift I got to work with her, as she quickly became my best theater friend.
As weeks turned to months and our friendship grew, I felt myself beginning to fall for this girl. But, she had a boyfriend, and I couldn't do anything. We continued to be close and have fun at work, to the point that in March of 2015, we went to see LCA's production of "Beauty and the Beast" together. (In fairness, our theater "son" was in the play as Gaston, so it could be dismissed in our minds as nothing more than a joke to see one of our friends.) Hannah took it upon herself the day before this play to send me a message on Facebook that had her phone number in it "in case you need to reach me quick about the tickets tomorrow," and I duly texted her with information the day of the play.
After the play, things slowed down a little bit (not like they were really rocketing ahead before, but whatever) with the exception being our shared grievance at being passed over for promotion at work. We then branded ourselves "Upper Level Blue Shirts," as the uniforms at Amstar were blue polos for the normal workers and the shift leads wore red polos to differentiate themselves. We made t-shirts (red, of course, because we're clever) that had a hand-drawn Batman logo made of things that relate to movies such as popcorn, drinks, tickets, film roll, etc. on the front. (The Batman logo was a result of a quote I made that was basically Commissioner Gordon's monologue from the end of The Dark Knight, but changed to be relevant to us and the theater. We thought it was hilarious.)
So, time passed, and Hannah eventually broke up with her boyfriend, giving me an opportunity. I started texting her more often, talking about anything and everything that popped into my mind, just so I could keep our conversation going. This continued even over a week when I was at Young Life camp and had no service, so I had to "text" via Facebook messenger. Well, wouldn't you know, one day at camp, one of my co-leaders and best friends, Jamisen, saw me typing on my computer and figured out that I was talking to a girl (Hannah) and that was the end of my secrecy. Jamisen and her then-boyfriend (now husband) Cameron, another of my best friends, pestered me day in and day out to ask Hannah out instead of just talking to her. I kept saying I would, and then kept procrastinating on doing it, until finally I found a situation that worked: Hannah and our group of friends from work had played tennis, but I missed it, so I asked if we could play the next day to make up for it. She said yes, and we went to Smashburger, then played (I won, don't let Hannah tell you she wasn't trying) and then went to Orange Leaf for a refreshing end to our unofficial first date.
Since I wanted to keep hanging out with her and the tennis went so well, I decided to try it again the next week. This time, we played later at night after Hannah got off work, and the lights went out on the court, so we laid on the ground and looked at the stars. We even got close enough to kind of hold hands (!!!) and made some jokes about making a CD of digestion noises after Hannah decided to rest her head on my stomach. (I know we're cute, try to contain yourself.)
Finally, after continuing to hang out for a few weeks, including seeing Paper Towns together when Hannah claimed to have missed a scene and watching Tangled at my apartment while Cameron sent pictures of us to my other roommates, it got to the point where I couldn't keep putting things off. I tried, though, waiting until the very last minute to actually ask if she wanted to "make things official" at 4 a.m. the night before I went on vacation. She said yes, and we hugged, and then I went away to New York for a week.
I spent the week in NYC glued to my phone texting Hannah, to the point where my mom asked several times what I was doing and demanded that I put my phone away. But I just couldn't, I wanted to share every second I could with Hannah and talk to her non-stop. Eventually, I came home, and we dated for a few months before she got an opportunity to study abroad in Oxford. I was sad that she was going to be away from me for four months, especially since we had just recently taken the leap of saying "I love you" to each other (and yes, she said it first). But I couldn't keep her back from such an awesome opportunity, especially one that she had wanted to do for so long.
So, Hannah left for Oxford, and I was sad because long-distance so early into a relationship is hard. But we Skyped every day, and soon enough a plan was being formulated for me to visit her over Spring Break. It's crazy to think that we had been dating for barely six months by the time I landed in England, because what sane person would spend $1000+ on a one-week trip to visit someone they've been dating for so short a time? Me, apparently! But it was an unforgettable trip and cemented that we felt so comfortable together and were such a good fit.
The rest of her time in Oxford passed relatively quickly, all things considered, and she got back home and we picked up right where we left off. Our one year anniversary came around, with Hannah intentionally spoiling the surprise gift I was getting her. She was my best friend and made whatever I was doing more fun by being part of it. Around this time, we both started to think about marriage and spending the rest of our lives together. The only problem was, both of us wanted to go to grad school, which made the timing of everything more challenging. We talked for months about everything, trying to figure out our plans and how our relationship would progress. But I was confident everything would work out and knew what I wanted.
Fast forward a few months, to June of this year. Hannah was on a 3 week vacation in Europe, and I had just purchased an engagement ring. I bought it on Etsy, because Hannah was obsessed with it and on several occasions sent me links to the page with helpful hints such as "I love this ring, so you should buy it." So, being that I bought the ring online, I didn't know for sure when it would arrive. I emailed the maker, and she informed me that it wouldn't arrive until a week after I needed it to. I panicked (just a little bit) and texted Hannah's friend Caroline asking what I should do. She suggested asking Hannah if she would want another, temporary, ring until the real one arrived (she didn't) or if she would want to delay the engagement until sometime later (she didn't). I was in a tricky spot, but luckily, the jeweler came through and my ring arrived just in time. Literally.
The day I had planned on proposing, Hannah and I stopped by my apartment after some errands and as I was pulling in, I saw a FedEx truck in the parking lot by the entrance to my apartment. I knew it had to be for me, but couldn't think of how to distract Hannah. In the end, I didn't need any distractions, as the driver was getting back into her truck to drive away. I parked my car and ran over to her, saying, "I think that package might be for me!" Luckily, it was, and I played it off to Hannah like it was a random gift for our upcoming 2-year anniversary. I got inside and opened the box to find another, smaller box. I opened that box to find a smaller package, inside of which was a box that contained the box that held the ring. Confusing, I know. But I hoped that since the outermost box was so much bigger than a ring box, Hannah would be none the wiser.
We left my apartment and drove to a trail in the Red River Gorge where we had hiked the day after I got back from NYC two years prior. It was the site of our first date as an official couple, so I figured it would be a perfect place to propose. Too bad I had forgotten just how long and uphill this trail was. When we got to the top, both of us were covered in sweat and out of breath. But I didn't care, it was the perfect time. While Hannah sat on the edge of a rock, I lingered behind, eventually dropping to one knee, holding out the ring. Hannah turned and saw me. I gave my hastily prepared speech, which was full of my trademark humor and wit. She said yes, and we took some selfies before making the trek back down the trail and to Lexington, where our friends and family were gathered for a small party to celebrate.
I don't really know how to end this, so I'm just going to say that every day with Hannah is a great day and I can't wait to spend the rest of mine with her.