When I first met Anthony I thought he was a customer at the Starbucks I was a barista at. He talked to a few other baristas, but never really had a conversation with me. I immediately thought he was stuck up. I didn’t know it at the time, but one of my favorite customers was his mom. I attended one of their family cookouts and got to know Anthony really well. He became one of my close friends, and his moms house became one of the places I spent a chunk of time. Anthony would come home from work and I would just be hanging out on the couch with his siblings. He would play video games (GTA most likely) and I would fall asleep on the couch next to him.

As time went on, the time we spent together decreased. We would still hang out from time to time, but it was a friendship that was easy to pick up. There was always a grace of feelings present, but we both ignored them. Mary (my best friend) always pushed me to date Anthony. It was one of her main goals in our friendship. Aaron (Anthony’s best friend) always said Anthony would develop feelings.

Neither one of us can remember a turning point moment where we feel in love, but I do remember a moment knowing there was no just being friends for me. We had started regularly spending time together again with just us and with family events. My feelings for him were getting stronger and I was pushing them down deeper. I was with them for Christmas and he had gotten a pair of earrings (that I sometimes borrow, thanks Tom for the gift). He came into Starbucks to get coffee and show me that he got his ears pierced. I remember thinking “I’m fucked. I’m past the point of no return”. He invited me over to watch my favorite movie, Lord of the Rings.

We started watching Fellowship of the Ring and our hands eventually found each others. That’s when it all officially started. I immediately knew I was going to marry this man. For some reason it didn’t instantly clicked for Anthony. When it did finally realized he wanted to marry me was when he came home from shoveling snow at work and I had clothes set out, cleaned his room, and had dinner going. He called his mom and told her he was going to marry me.

When Anthony proposed, we went to Oceanaire, which is our favorite restaurant. We then went to a bar to get drinks and spend time together. When we got back to our home, that we bought together, Anthony asked me to marry him.