P: So then, when did you decide to propose?

B: Uh, so proposing was a–was a slightly different story because we’d been together for five years? Or was it just before five?

P: It was before five when you–when you were thinking about–

B: Yeah, it was before five when we started thinking about–yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, because I proposed on our fifth.

P: Yeah.

B: When I started making a little bit more big boy money, I was like, “oh okay, we can start saving up for a ring and this that and the other.” Uhm, of course, my fiancee, she wanted a ring imported–

P: [laughs]

B: –from Canada– [laughs]

P: Something about those Canadian jewelers. [laughs]

B: Yeah, man! They really know what’s going on. No, but, she picked it out, she knew exactly what she wanted. We, we got that sent over, and I remember specifically, I was at market and I was panicking because I was like, “I mean, if I don’t–if I don’t get this ring, I gotta get the ring in time for our anniversary and I gotta talk to her parents and oh my God I’ve got to get everything ready!” And I was–I was really nervous. And so, I was sitting and I was getting everything ready, uh, at market, and had to talk to customs–

P: [laughs]

B: Uh, to get the ring sent over. And it–it was so interesting.

P: Even before that, what was really really memorable for me was–I was helping a coworker, and then when I sat down after helping, I saw your text. And your text was like, “hey, whenever you have the time, please reassure me that your ring size is a five.” [laughs]

B: [laughs] It was a lot of money for me!

P: [laughs] I was like, “yes–yes it is. Yes it’s a five.” And then later on…I think–I can’t remember if you texted me or you called me–

B: Uh huh.

P: –but you were panicking because you were like, “Chase won’t let me buy this ring!”

B: [laughs] Yeah!

P: Uh, “I tried, like, Paypal, but Paypal will only let me transfer a hundred dollars a day and that’ll take me quite a few days to, to save up enough money in Paypal so I can buy the ring and by then, it’ll be too late. Uhm, I guess I could talk to my mom and like, see if she’ll pay for it and then I’ll pay her…” And then I was like, “dude, calm down, you can call Chase. They can increase your daily spending limit–”

B: [laughs]

P: “You can buy the ring, it’s okay.” [laughs]

B: Yeah, and that poor–that poor girl on the other side of Chase. I called in, and I was like, “hey, this is what I’m doing, I really need to get this done soon.”

P: [laughs]

B: She was like, “okay. It’s done. Is there anything else you need?” And I’m like, I’m near tears at this point.

P: [laughs]

B: And I’m like, “...no? Thank you, you’re the best and the kindest person I–” She’s like, “uh, yeah sure whatever dude. Good luck, good bye.”

P: [laughs]

B: But uh, I got everything ready, we got it through customs. It arrived and I was so nervous when it got there because I was like, “okay. Crap. Now I gotta–now I gotta plan a day. Okay. I’ve got to talk–oh God I gotta talk to her parents.”

P: Oh, you talking to my parents was my favorite.

B: Goodness. ‘Cause the…the whole idea–Patti had me hyped up–where it was like, “okay, I’m gonna leave, I’m gonna let you go and talk to my parents, it’ll probably only take fifteen, twenty minutes, uhm. And I’ll come back, whatever, I–I’ll go swing by, do some chores.”

P: Mmhm.

B: Uhm, and I’m like, “okay cool.” So I come in–already more quiet than usual–and you’re like, “okay, goodbye!” And I sit down, I have the ring with me. Your parents sit across from me, and it’s just quiet for a little bit. And I forget who starts the conversation. It was probab–it was definitely your parents, but I forget if it was your mother or your father, but it was like, uh, “so what do you want to talk about?”

P: [laughs]

B: I was like, gah, “well, uh–” and I just kinda, just kinda went over things. I showed them the ring and uhm, before I knew it, that ten, fifteen minutes became like, what, two hours?

P: An hour and a half.

B: Yeah, of just talking. Just, “these are our thoughts on this”, “these are our thoughts on that”, “here’s some advice”, “don’t do this”, “you should probably do that”, “be wary of this”, y’know, like that kinda stuff. Uh, and it–it was just all very kind, uhm, a lot of great insights and just, uh, good parenting.

P: Uhm, what’s really funny–what he didn’t say, is that my parents, at the time, were very…like, they had very conflicting schedules.

B: Oh yeah.

P: And so it was very difficult to get them both at the same time.

B: It was next to impossible. We waited, like, a week and some change.

P: Yeah. And finally, on a random Saturday, they just both happened to…not have the day off, because my dad worked in the afternoon, but they were both at home that morning. And so I texted Bryce when he, like, sent me the good morning text, and I was like, “hey. Both of my parents are here until noon.”

B: “Do it now! Do it now!”

P: “Do you want to just do it now?” [laughs] He was like, “uh. Sure.” And I was like, “okay.” So then he came over at, like, nine-something–

B: Uh huh.

P:--and I was like, “okay, I’ll go–”

B: “Bye!” [laughs]

P: [laughs] “I’ll go ahead and make myself scarce,” thinking it was going to be like a ten, fifteen minute thing. I spent an hour and a half walking around Walmart, thinking to myself, “my God, what is taking so long?” And then at the end of it, I–you called me when you were done–

B: Uh huh.

P: And I was like, uh. I was like, “how did it go?” And you were like, “it felt like a job interview.” [laughs]

B: [laughs] It did! It really did. Uh, for your mother more so than your father, because your father–I think several times over the course, was like, “she’s a grown woman, she makes good decisions, you’re fine! You’ll do great!”

P: [laughs] But anyway. Uhm, so…for people, like, I remember—so, so okay. You had a plan for how you were going to propose.

B: Oh, dude. I mean, not really. So, I am–uh, for those of you who don’t know me–I’m not a planner. I don’t–I don’t plan things. Uhm, I’m very spur of the moment, I’m very uh…let’s do it now. Right. Which was hilarious about the proposal, because it–it almost spun me on my head, I’m like, “oh, this is what it’s like being on the other end of me. Okay. Cool.”

P: [laughs]

B: I think it was…oh God, a week before, if not sooner, that I–that I was at work, and I was like, “I’ve got to come up with something. I’m running out of time. I’ve got the ring, okay, gotta sit down and plan–” and I just sat there and found a sticky note and just wrote out a plan. I was like, “this is what we’re going to do. Okay, we’re gonna–we’re gonna, we’re gonna go to all the places that were important in our relationship. Minus Slim Chickens. Christ Almighty, we’re not going back to Slim Chickens.” And so, when–when the day actually came, uhm, we went to the park, uh, we–we went through and we went to–not Genghis Grill–

P: We went to breakfast first, and then we went to–

B: Oh yes we did! We went to our breakfast place, excuse me.

P: Yeah, and then we went to the park…and take note, this was during the hottest year on record.

B: Yeah.

P: It was a hundred and three degrees when we decided to go to the park.

B: Oh God, yeah. And, and hold on to the information, because this is going to be important later.

P: Yeah.

B: Because, like, the park was the least of our concerns. And we were dressed up. I was in, uhm–

P: A suit.

B: I was in a suit. Not a three-piece suit, but I–I was wearing at least three or four layers.

P: Yeah.

B: Uhm, and so the park wasn’t so bad because I think we were there at like, uhm–

P: Nine.

B: –nine, ten AM.

P: Yeah.

B: And then from there, we went–not to Genghis, but right next door to a much better sushi restaurant, uhm, and had lunch there, and just kinda reminisced and talked and walked around there. Uhm, and then I think we–I think–I don’t remember…was there–

P: We kinda, like, went to Barnes and Noble and we went to, like, the mall to kinda just–

B: Kill time, essentially. Uhm, but we went to–we went to Barnes and Noble, and from Barnes and Noble, we finally went to–akin to what is hell–uhm–

P: The Arboretum!

B: –the Dallas Arboretum. Don’t ask us why we didn’t go to Fort Worth, the Dallas Arboretum is just our preferred spot, I guess.

P: We went there for our second year anniversary. Our friend Makayla offered to take photos of us back then. Uh, she took phenomenal photos.

B: She still does.

P: She still does. Uhm, but she took those photos and I remember thinking to myself–and saying out loud–”uhm, these look like engagement photos.”

B: Oh yeah.

P: And so–

B: That was the whole point of what we were doing there.

P: It was very fitting that eventually, we were like, “you know what, whenever we actually get engaged and then, later on, whenever we actually get engagement photos, let’s go get them done at the Arboretum.”

B: Oh yeah. Which, uh, ladies and gentlemen, don’t ever wear dress clothes to the Arboretum. It’s–it’s like shorts and a t-shirt.

P: Yeah. Like, 2 PM in July…not–not recommended.

B: But we went, we walked around for a little bit. Uhm, I think by that time, we both had, like, a small lake forming on our backs. Uhm, it was–it was very hot.

P: It was very very hot.

B: But we went–and we didn’t pack water, if I remember correctly.

P: Oh yeah.

B: Yeah, we did not have water.

P: Dude.

B: Uhm, so we went through, uh, we found a nice, lovely little semi-secluded spot, we set up and recorded the whole thing…Couldn’t hear anything, because we weren’t mic’d up or anything–

P: I don’t know, I like–I like that you can’t really hear what’s going on. It gives it a sense of privacy.

B: Yeah, it’s ours, kinda thing.

P: Yeah, it’s ours.

B: Yeah, yeah, it’s recorded for the world to see, but it’s giving a sense of privacy. [laughs]

P: [laughs] But the voice!

B: Uh huh.

P: [laughs]

B: The voice is for us!

P: The voice is for us.

B: [laughs] Uhm, but anyway. Uh, I popped the question, I got down on one knee, super cute, and then we both realized, my God we are dehydrated. Uhm, ran by, found a–

P: A vending machine!

B: A vending machine. [laughs] Yeah, got Sunkist of all things–I don’t think they had water. I don’t remember there being water.

P: Oh yeah. I think I had Pepsi.

B: [laughs] Yeah!

P: [laughs] Because they didn’t have water. And then we went to the Dallas World Aquarium.

B: Yeah we did.

P: After that, we–we started driving home, and I texted my parents, I texted your mom, and I was like, “hey, do you guys wanna go get dinner tonight?”

B: Oh yeah, we went to Abuelo’s!

P: And we had dinner at Abuelo’s. And…yeah, that’s how we got engaged.