I am much more direct--if I want something, I do what I can to achieve it, whereas Darren is very much laid back--kind of lets fate do its thing. This was the case for us after we had been chatting online for a while. I do need to mention... although I sent him the first text, he made the first move to make me think he was actually interested in me....Anyway, our Facebook and text messages quickly became a daily thing-- it was just easy-- it didn't feel normal if we hadn't talked during the day. I asked him if we were going to meet face to face and he said, "I'm sure our paths will cross at some point." That wasn't going to work for me... so I suggested we plan to meet and I now know how big of a deal it was for him to have found time in his work schedule to make this happen.

We planned for me to meet him in Spain for a few days and then would head to Holland for Roy's 40th Birthday Party. New Year's Day 2015 we booked my ticket for February. He asked for permission to bring a guest to Roy's party but was very secretive as far as who he was planning to bring-so he had his friends guessing, but they knew it had to be a girl.

I was so nervous flying to Spain-but it was an excited nervous. I knew that we would get answers: either we had a really great friendship connection and I would be grateful to know that, or it would be more. I was so excited getting off the plane in Alicante--I practically ran to baggage claim and after waiting there a few minutes realized I needed to go to a different baggage claim for International Arrivals. I grabbed my bag and (trying to keep composure) passed through to the waiting area. I spotted him nearly immediately. He seemed to have spotted me, got a huge grin on his face, put his head down and started pacing. I got to him and he gave me a big hug and we had our first kiss there (completely airport appropriate). :)

He seemed SO nervous and somehow I was totally calm. He failed to grab my bag at first, but then realized after a few paces that I probably could use some help and helped me with my bags. We sat and had a coffee (him hot chocolate) while waiting for the bus to Benidorm. It started raining on the drive and we ended up having to walk through the rain at the bus stop to his (his sister's) place.

We spent the week sitting in coffee shops, tapas bars, and walking the beach front just talking about any and everything. As I look back, I don't know how I was so brave to share and ask hard questions right off the bat. I'm grateful that I took a friend's advice and was "just me". We had our first "fancy" date that week and had its ups and downs, but we decided we were going to try to make this long distance thing work... we went to Holland that weekend and started sharing with friends that we were a couple.

As you can tell Amy like to talk more than me (lol)...I remember us chatting on FB and felt comfortable straight away. After some time passed and we felt it was time to meet, Amy decided to come and visit me in Spain. Pretty much all I can remember from of first meeting was 'why am I so nervous'. I'm a very calm person, but meeting Amy for the first time sent my head into a bit of a spin! I should have know at that point that this was no ordinary person. As the days went by and we got to know each other more, I knew she was very special. I have always said that it would take someone very special to be able to spend their life with me as I know my life is very different than 'the norm'. I remember that we got all the awkward questions and situations out of the way straight way which looking back on it really helped. After our first meeting saying goodbye at the airport was very difficult, much more difficult than I had expected. This also told me that, this was something special. So after reading Amy's hour long perspective above I hope that you are not disappointed with my little paragraph...

We were in France and had just finished working the weekend. It was Easter Monday and we had the day to relax. We took a walk to town but everything was closed, so we wandered through neighborhoods and chatted and even had a foot race... Have I mentioned I'm competitive?

I thought MAYBE Darren would propose this trip but I also had thought he would have proposed over New Year's (and THAT didn't happen!) PLUS, this is the guy who had been telling me for months that I was going to have to ask him because he wasn't going to ask me.

Anyway, the lady who hired us (Karolyna) speaks French but also Spanish. Darren and my French isn't great, Karolyna's English is better than our French BUT, between my broken Spanish and her good Spanish we were able to communicate well. So when she was asking me questions about where we wanted to go for dinner--what kind of setting, what part of town, etc, I found it normal since I had been a sort of translator for the weekend ... BUT I was completely unaware that she already had planned with Darren where we would go for dinner--so it didn't matter what I had to say. She just had to make it all seem normal. I found it odd that she just left us to have dinner alone--but she reassured me she needed the rest and thought it would be nice for us to have dinner just us, since we hadn't had much time away from the group all week.

She dropped us off at a cute hotel/restaurant and we found our way to the table, and had an amazing meal. Wine is incredible in France...Darren encouraged me to have a glass...and when I finished that one, another. Anyway, we had our dinner and dessert and were just chatting when he said he had a magic trick for me... not out of the ordinary for him; he's a bit random sometimes :) So he took his napkin, placed it on the table under his hand and then told me to close my eyes.. said abracadabra and nothing happened. I'm pretty sure I shot him a look at this point...so he apologized and said he'd try again... and then there was the ring box. He swears he asked, but I don't remember him asking the question.... and THEN I don't think I even responded... in fact I know I didn't because he asked if I was going to answer...whoops!

I was over the moon. And shocked that he ACTUALLY asked...we returned the next day to take some pictures outside the venue, partly because my phone died as we were trying to take pictures the night he proposed.

Ok so this was a little unorthodox lol...After an event in France we decided to stay a little longer and hove so time to relax together and see some friends. One of these friends Karolyna had a arranged for us to have a meal just Amy and I together at a lovely private restaurant. The food was lovely as was the company ;-) I had planned to ask Amy to marry me at some point during the meal but didn't quite know when. After each course I was getting prepared (inside) to ask the question but it took several more courses before I finally realized that the time was right...I had a lot of things planned in my head of what to say and how to say it, But in the heat of the moment forgot them all! For some reason I proposed with an impromptu magic trick. This was definitely not part of the plan lol. to be honest I can't event remember what I actually said. But I can remember the most important part, She said yes...