4.5 years later

2013

I was living in Provo and attending BYU. My roommate Caitlin and her friend decided they wanted to throw an America themed party at our house. Both of them just so happened to know/invited Adam Child (who they had gone to high school with) to come.

At the party Adam noticed that there were wayyyy more guys than girls (something I also noticed and was happy about 😂 ). Adam was not stoked about this, so he only stayed for twenty minutes (still not sorry about this one Adam ha ha). It was enough time for him to see me and make the connection that I was Cait's roommate and was also helping throw the party--which is a good detail to remember later. I vaguely (possibly) remember meeting him? We did go back later and spotted him in one of my old pics.

2014

Flash forward almost two years. Caitlin had just gotten home from her mission and we were back living in the blue house. One day, Cait thought it would be a good idea to message a bunch of guys she knew about me--telling them to take me out (still can't believe you did that Cait ha ha). I'm pretty sure that nothing came of it? I honestly don't remember. A few months later she did the same thing for my roommate. Adam was one of the people she messaged that time around.

When Adam got the message he thought that the roommate she was referring to was me (she didn't mention anyone by name in the message) as I was the one he remembered from the America party. He was interested in someone else at the time but mentioned that if that changed in the future he'd let her know. Then he forgot about the message and so did I.

2015 + 2016

I graduated and moved to DC (work). He graduated and moved to San Antonio (grad school). We both dated different people. Nothing worked out or was right for either of us.

Then I moved to Salt Lake.

June: 2017

I'd gotten out of a relationship earlier in the year. It had been a rough past few months and I had stayed clear of dating (or even thinking about it) for a while. Meanwhile, Adam was down in San Antonio and was thinking about how he was going to be coming back to Salt Lake for the summer. Out of the blue he randomly (AKA not so randomly) remembered the message that Caitlin had sent him three years before. He hadn't thought about that message since the day he'd received it! So when he did think of it he decided to try and find me on facebook.

He didn't know my name, where I lived, or even if I was still single. He did remember (vaguely) what I looked like and that I was Caitlin's old roommate. After some quick fb stalking, he found me and sent me a message. All the while, figuring that I must have been the girl Cait was referring to.

The day he messaged me just so happened to be the day that I had previously planned to get married (June 10). Coincidence? Probably not. As you can imagine, when I saw the message I wasn't in the highest of spirits. I actually remember reading it and thinking "noooooooo" as I realized that I probably needed to start being open to dating again.

Still, I didn't message him back. Whoops.

Two weeks passed and I had a bit of a nudge to get back to him. I ignored it (and the several nudges that came after that) for another week until one day I had gotten home from work and thought about it again so I pulled out my phone and messaged him back.

He responded pretty quick and the timing of it all ended up being perfect. He'd just gotten back to Utah. 

July 2017 

 Adam called to ask if I was available for lunch on Saturday.  I was running a half marathon that day and didn't want to come straight from that so I proposed a dinner date instead. I didn't think too much of the date until Friday when  I called Caitlin to tell her that her long-lost high school friend Adam Child had called to ask me on a date. I was surprised when she told me she hadn't reached out to him again. How did he remember me or even think to ask me out then? I was intrigued and got a little bit more interested in going on the date.

After my race on Saturday I was tired! I babysat my niece and nephew and then went to play pickeball with some friends in 100 degree weather in the middle of the afternoon...which made me even more tired plus really hungry as I hadn't had time to eat lunch.

I still remember how I felt when I opened the door for our date. He was cute. He also immediately seemed super chill and nice. I was enamored and impressed with how sincere and attentive he was. I was also surprised because I had thought the date would go as well as it was going.

The wait at Ruth's Diner was an hour so we decided to go for a drive all the way up the canyon (at this point I was SO HUNGRY but was doing my best to hide it). We drove and chatted and came back to Ruth's for a great dinner. Adam says that about halfway through he could tell my interest level changed and that it seemed like I was more into the date. He thinks it was because I must have all the sudden realized that he was actually pretty cool, but I know it's because I had finally eaten some food and had lost all of my hanger ha ha (but don't get me wrong I also thought he was really cool).

Near the end of the date we were driving back in a summer rainstorm. I remember thinking that I didn't want it to end. I'd never been on a first date that felt quite like it. I was hoping that he'd ask me out again before he dropped me off and he did just that.

I'll cut to the chase and spare you all the ensuing dates and little mushy details by saying that what has happened since that first date is the best thing that has ever happened to either of us. We spent nearly every day together for the next six weeks before he moved back to San Antonio.

We very quickly and easily began to understand why it had never worked out with anyone else.  It has been incredible to experience and be a part of something that has felt so guided (in every sense of the word) from the beginning. It has all been relatively quick, but it is also right. Our timetable has been unique but we wouldn't have it any other way.


The Proposal

Adam moved back to San Antonio five weeks ago to finish grad school. We are in pretty constant communication, so I definitely noticed when he stopped sharing locations with me. I saw the notification pop up on our texting stream and couldn't help but think about what the reason must be for why he stopped... haha.

Flash forward a week and a half. I had called my mom to chat with her about how things were going. I was curious, so I asked her if Adam had reached out to talk to her and dad yet? Here's the thing about my mom. She's sometimes an open book. It's easy to tell when she's hiding something (sorrrry mom). She told me that Adam hadn't called and I fell for it!  She sounded so convincing! I hung up the conversation and felt a leeetttle disappointed.

The next day (Thursday) at work was pretty slow. I'd gotten everything I needed to get done fairly early in the day. Adam texted me around 2:45 pm to check-in with me. I texted him back that my day was slow and not much was going on. I set my phone down for two minutes and looked back at it to see that he'd sent me a picture.

During the summer Adam would come to my work to have lunch with me during the week. We'd eat outside on this bench/where this picture was taken. I recognized it as soon as I saw the picture and also that he was holding my favorite flowers (sunflowers). For a few moments I thought maybeeee it wasn't him and that it was just someone who had a special delivery for me from him? I walked over to my co-workers desk and asked her what she thought. Her reaction was "he's here!" And then I thought "oh my gosh she's right he's here" ha ha. I quickly walked to the elevator and jumped into one that was full of people. I couldn't help myself and told them all what was happening. One of the guys said to me "is something big about to happen" and I said "I think so!"

A few of them told me they were going to stay and watch... but I barely heard them because I was too busy quickly jolting out of that elevator and walking outside haha.

No one was around! The huge lobby was empty and so were all the benches lining the side of my building. Our bench was at the end so it felt like I was walking forevvver versus only a few seconds to get to it. I rounded the pillar and there he was! I was pretty shocked and am pretty sure I had a few "how did this happen" and "how are you here?" questions. We hugged and it was such a sweet moment. As we were hugging I had the thought of "maybe this is going to happen right now and maybe this is just a fun surprise" but then I saw him putting his hand into his pocket.

He got down on one knee and it was the sweetest moment. I'll never forget the way I felt or how he was looking at me. The ring! When Adam had asked me before about what type of ring I'd like I had told him I wanted somethings simple and flat and that I'd wanted him to pick it out. I really would have loved any ring, but this one... it is like he jumped into my brain and picked my ultimate dream ring. I love it, and even more than that I love that he picked it.

After the initial shock had warn off  it was a chorus of congratulations and pictures and disbelief in what just happened. We started telling our family and friends and it was so fun to share our happiness with the people we care about most. After an hour we headed up Emmigration canyon to eat at Ruth's diner (where our first date was). We couldn't stop smiling or talking about how happy and excited we were. It was a perfect night.

I am still in shock and can't really wrap my head around these last few months. I feel so grateful. SO so grateful. Timing is everything. Adam is more than I ever dreamed of or hoped for or imagined for myself. I love him and am so happy that we are each others finish line.

We're getting married on December 16 in the Bountiful, Utah LDS temple. We couldn't be more excited.

Love you all!!!

Rach