July 3, 2015...
Matt had been testing me over the months; whether I could see myself with him, asking if I could be a part of his family, what kind of ring I would like and a million other random questions. He took me to look at rings to see what style I would like, I had never really considered that question before. I don't wear a lot of jewelry so it wasn't something I thought about. We had gone to a few different stores but never settled on an exact ring.
July 2nd we were packing and getting everything ready for one of Matt's annual trips to South Bethany to celebrate Independence Day with his family. We had decided to make it a long vacation so we had a lot packed. There were a few times I had asked Matt for something he had already packed and at the time he had offered to get them instead of telling me where to look. I should have known then that something was up.
The flight had free entertainment and wifi so I streamed a movie on my phone not considering the fact that we still had a 3 hour car ride. By the time we got in the car my phone was dead. When I was a kid I would take 13 hour car trips across Texas with nothing but a few road games. It’s been 2 decades since I’ve done that and I’ve gotten to where my phone provides a lot of my mindless entertainment. Matt actually read the book that I bought to read on the flight so he had plenty of battery left on his phone.
Have you ever driven through Delaware? I never knew there were so many cornfields. Once you’ve seen one, you’ve pretty much seen them all. As we were driving, there were a few instances I had asked to use his phone but he said no. I didn’t understand what his deal was since I knew he had at least 75% of his battery. He felt bad so he had handed it to me but started mocking how I was using it. He expressed his need for the navigation, which again I didn’t understand since he had been to the beach multiple times. I was annoyed but I was trying to brush it off after all this was my first trip to Delaware, I could at least try to enjoy the scenery.
We made it to Matt’s Grammy and Grampy’s house by 3pm which still left us with enough time to enjoy the beach. We met up with the rest of the family already on the beach. After a while of lounging on the beach Matt had asked if I wanted to go for a walk. Considering it was getting later and a few people had started to pack up and head to the house, I said “nah, maybe we can come out for an evening walk.” It was not long after that we all decided to head back to Matt’s Uncle’s house for the traditional Friday night pizza night.
After dinner as we were sitting around Grammy had mentioned, “Aren’t you and Matt supposed to go for a walk?” As I answered her Matt came up and said “yea lets go for that walk you promised me.” So we walked downstairs and grabbed two bikes out of his uncle’s garage to ride to the beach.
On our way we stopped by Grampy’s house to drop off our sunglasses since the sun was going down, we didn’t need them anymore. As we stopped we ran into some of Matt’s childhood friends. They tried to convince us to come to their house but Matt had to sway them to let us go on our way.
We rode the bikes to the beach and parked them on the bike rack. We left our flip flops in one of the bike baskets so we could enjoy the sand between our toes. We walked up the entry and to the left past the spot where the whole family was lounging earlier in the day. As we were walking Matt began asking me questions like he had done many times before; “could you see yourself here, visiting here, taking family vacations here?” We continued to walk and I didn’t think anything of the questions since he always asks questions like that. After walking for a while he suggested we turn around and head back.
As we started heading back he grabbed my hand, dropped to one knee, told me how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me, pulled out a ring and asked if I would marry him. Or at least that is what I think he said! It was all an emotional blur. This was the first time he ever saw me cry. He slipped the ring on my finger and I immediately jumped in his arms. I didn’t even look at the ring. I hugged him and said “of course!” After the embrace he asked if I had even looked at the ring, which I hadn’t.
It was beautiful I couldn’t have picked anything better! I always told him I knew he would find a beautiful ring for me because he likes nice things and would want me to have something nice. | 
