{dear friend}

Zan and I have been together for almost 9 years. 9 years is a long long time, but somehow for us, the timing’s been just right. We met in college my senior year, his junior, a few months after I’d broken up with my college boyfriend. I was in that sweet spot in time, where I’d just started to get over the boy, and was really having the time of my life with my friends. That senior-year, out-every-night, singing-and-dancing-all-the-time-with-your-girls kind of fun. The dreamiest senior spring I could ever imagine. The good old days and then some.

Zan liked me straightaway, and I thought he was kind and good looking, but the timing at that point just wasn’t right for me. We went on a date, we hung out a few times on weekends, but I did not want a boyfriend, simple as that — my heart was just not in it.

I graduated, came to Boston, and for awhile that was that.

Two of my closest friends from college were one year younger than I, so the next spring I took a trip back to school to visit them. We danced and sang and clinked our cans like most college seniors and newly graduated people do and then one night while I was there I ran into Zan downtown at the bar. Did I remember him? Oh yes, I remembered him. And suddenly, instantly, just like that, he was someone I was excited to see.

But the real question is, did he remember me?

{Oh, he definitely remembered me.}

The lucky part of this story besides meeting each other again, is that Zan is from Boston, and I was living in Boston. A place I wasn’t originally from, but a place I really wanted to be.

Lucky me, lucky us.

As soon as he graduated and moved back home we started hanging out all the time. Nights and weekends and so much of the in between.

The rest is kind of history. It’s a lot of years, so there are a lot of memories. We’ve traveled together and spent summers together, we know each others families and each others friends. We fit together in the best way we know how and being each others person has just always made sense.

A lot of the time, especially in more recent years, there’s been the never ending question:

“ARE YOU GOING TO GET MARRIED?”

Dear Lord, if I never hear that question again, then getting married is reason enough. {KIDDING!} I was never anxious, but other people got me feeling that way at times. It only ever bugged me because other people were thinking it, saying it, asking it. My close friends were always gracious—God bless them until the end, but last summer there was one week I got that question from different people almost every single day. {I know the intentions are all well and good, but it’s a fairly annoying question to those of you out there wondering.}

I knew Zan was it for me, and worrying was something I just didn’t have in me to do. “You do you” I always say. And I’ll do me and we’ll do us.

Plus, Zan is my person. Always has been. Always will be.

On New Year’s Eve we decided to throw our usual small get-together. For the past few years we’ve ditched the whole “going out” idea and truly embraced the “staying in”. We take a drive into Boston and walk the city for First Night. We make lots of food. We drink lots of drinks. We celebrate another year.

This year’s NYE went down just like always. We went to Wegmans during the day to get all the food and we cleaned the house like mad. Then, as we got ready to go out in the cold I said to Zan, “We can stay in if you want.” to which he replied, “Oh, no, I want to drive in to the city.”

Well, okay sure! I thought. Let’s do it.

I honestly didn’t think twice about anything, not even when we were crossing the bridge in the Public Garden and Zan turned around and said he wanted to go take a walk down by the Swan Pond {“Oh there’s nothing down there,” I said}. So when he got down on one knee and asked me to be his forever my heart stopped for a good minute {and went to heaven I’m pretty sure} before I could take a breath and say YES. {also, I asked “Is this real??” a total of TWO times before I un-blacked out and came to. :) }

We walked the city hand in hand after that. Talking about everything and how it all came to be. We told our families and they cheered, we stopped by my sister’s and she cried, and the party we had at our house that night was filled with the most joyous people on earth. HAPPY 2015, we all cheered! The happiest New Year yet.

And so we’re here starting the next chapter in our adventure — we’re getting married and planning a wedding and it’s really truly the most fun ever.

Just like it always has been, just like I knew it would be. ♥