In the first few days of dating, I spelled Sophia's name wrong. Haha, oops. I spelled it with an "f" instead of "ph"... twice. She said I owed her $20 and I said that was fair enough. When I presented it to her she insisted she was just joking, but I justified that she must accept it and even added that I had lost a different bet to build on to the reasoning.

When he handed me that $20 bill I laughed and tried to reject it, but he was insistent. So, I put it in my wallet and we went on our way. I knew I would never spend that $20 bill, it would either be returned to him, or I would keep using it somehow in our relationship. That opportunity presented itself sooner than I thought, when Joey left for Boston for a work trip. He was only supposed to be gone for a week but had to extend the trip to two weeks - which really bummed us out so early in our relationship. But, I was comforted in the fact that we FaceTimed every night to talk about our days. Before he left, I gave him back that $20 bill "for good luck and safety" on his travels.

She didn't tell you this in the last paragraph, but she DEFACED federal property by drawing a heart on that $20 bill! I made sure to protect it at all costs. By the time my next work trip to instructor school came along (only 6 weeks later), I had drawn a heart of my own on it and gave it back to her before I left. This let her know I had kept it near and dear and that she could hang on to it in my absence so she could hang on to a remembrance of me.

This time, he was gone for a whole MONTH! And over the holidays! He was gone for Thanksgiving and most of December, which was devastating to not be able to enjoy all the holiday excitement together. But I knew he was serious about pursuing me because of the effort he made to talk every day while he was away. We even got an app so that we could watch movies in sync so we could still have movie dates even though he was 1500 miles away.

For Christmas, I got him a framed photo of a star map of the sky from the night we started dating. We saw the Star Link that night (which is amazing if you haven't seen it!), so stars had become almost symbolic for us in our relationship. I wrapped the framed photo and taped that $20 bill to the back, and wrote "I love you" on it, to keep the tradition going.

This tradition of exchanging the $20 back and forth had become a very meaningful language that we spoke to each other. Perched atop a bouquet of roses, I passed the torch again to her for St. Valentines Day saying "Will you be my Valentine -Love Joey". And after that, I didn't see it for a looooong time.

Yes, I admit, I kinda forgot about it. It was safely stowed in the back of my phone case, always with me, but I hadn't remembered to pass it back in a while. After almost a year of being together, we were headed to France and the UK for a vacation and so Joey could stand by his buddy on his wedding day in Bury St. Edmunds. I hadn't been across the pond before, so to say I was excited was an understatement. Joey left a few days before me and I was going to meet him in Paris after the bachelor party. I dropped him off at the airport and as he was getting ready to head inside, he said, "Don't I get the $20 for safe travels?" Oh yeah! I pulled it out of my phone case and handed it over and kissed him goodbye, ecstatic to be meeting him in the city of love in just a few short days.

I told her it was for safe travels, but I really needed it back so I could ask her to marry me with it! I was worried she would catch on as asking for the $20 was not really in our tradition. Anyways, I knew she was the one for me early on, and that our trip to Europe would be the perfect place to pop the question. If you know Soph, you know she is a huge Harry Potter nerd. I knew I wanted it to be special to her so I opted out of doing it in Paris of all places. I think she was under the impression I was not going to ask her to marry me the whole trip if it was not going to do it in Paris.

While in Oxford, I wrote "Will you marry me?" on the $20 in a random cafe's bathroom. I knew the Grand Staircase of Christ Church, Oxford would be the perfect place. In the Harry Potter stories, the Grand Staircase is the start of the journey and adventures the young first year students. For us, walking up that staircase would be the start of our journey as a family together. On our descent, and with a curator working there taking pictures for us, I gave her the $20.

I turned at the top of the stairs ready to head back down, and when Joey handed me that $20, my heart stopped. This was the moment, I knew it. I read the words "Will you marry me?" written on that bill as he lead me down the stairs. I remember him saying something, but in all honesty, I blacked out for the next 60 seconds. I always wanted my proposal to be a surprise - and boy was it! On the Grand Staircase of Hogwarts, no less! I don't remember saying yes, but he assured me that I did say it out loud, and the crowd in the room clapped. We walked down the stairs to get our phone back from the curator who took a video of the whole thing, when I announced, "I need to sit down." We left the grand foyer and found a private alcove all to ourselves and the tears hit immediately. The man of my dreams had asked me to marry him - this is all I had ever dreamed of, everything I had prayed for. I always wondered how people really know they want to spend the REST of their lives with someone, how could anyone possibly know that? But as cliche as it is, when you know, you know. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this man.

Once I finally was able to stand on two solid feet again, we continued our tour. It was especially fun because the curator who had taken our video had walkie-talkied the rest of the workers, so we were congratulated by the rest of the curators as we finished walking through Christ Church.

We had a wonderful last few days as fiancees on the trip as we explored London and now we are counting down the days until we are husband and wife. We are so grateful for each and every one of you and we can't wait to celebrate with you on June 8th as we officially become Mr. and Mrs. Chevalier!

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