What a title, am I right? But the title is not just meant to grab your attention. It’s the truth.
Zach and I have been dating consistently since the 8th grade. I purposely use the word “consistently‘ to emphasize the fact that we have never broken up. Not once. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t know another person that has dated their significant other since middle school (lol), but here we are and I am SO here for it. A couple months ago Zach asked me to marry him and ever since then I’ve been on cloud nine (as you can imagine after almost 12 years of dating!!) with no intentions of coming back down to Earth anytime soon.
A few weeks ago I posted a question on Instagram stories asking you all to send questions that you would like to know about my relationship, our proposal, etc. By far the most asked questions were to explain how he proposed & asking to see my ring (of course lol). I will start with the other two and end with a photo of the ring (feel free to skip to that point- I get it haha). I am so excited to share a little bit of us with you!
How did you guys meet- was it love at first sight?
Zach: No it was not love at first sight. It was more of a “she’s a beautiful girl and I want to get to know her.” I didn’t know much about her other than she was a cheerleader and friends with my friends. So I was interested and wanted to get to know her more.
Lauryn: We met in middle school. Zach and I had the same math class and at one point we were moved next to each other. We did a good amount of partner work and so we were kind of forced into talking. I found out a month or two later that he was interested and was looking to ask me out. Now at that age, you just “talk” for a couple days and then bam you become boyfriend & girlfriend… usually not very serious and usually lasts no longer than a few weeks until you find your new beau. Initially I wasn’t super interested, but I knew he was a shy, sweet guy on the football team (because at that age that stuff is important lol) so I went with it. Definitely not love at first sight on my end.
Was it hard dating through college?
Zach: Ya it was hard dating through college. It was tough because she was a 3.5 hour drive away attending school in Waco (which I realize isn’t much for some people, but between school and work it was hard to make time!) I would try and go up for a weekend each month and make the most out of it and we made so many great memories there in good ol Waco, TX. The worst was Sunday mornings… I would have to leave Waco at the crack of dawn to and make my afternoon shift at work…. so that sucked haha. But it was definitely worth it because I got to see her.
Lauryn: Zach and I attended different colleges. I moved away from home and attended Baylor University in Waco, TX and he stayed home and attended Texas A&M San Antonio. These schools are about 3-4 hrs apart and so we didn’t see each other as much as we liked. I think that was our biggest challenge within our relationship and I’d be lying if I said we didn’t fight like crazy those years. That being said, we saw each other about two weekends a month- I’d go home one weekend and he’d come up to Waco another. We made it work and I can’t thank him enough for making that drive for me all those years.
What do you guys fight about now a days?
Zach: We fight about food and where/what to eat. She’s helping me eat a healthier diet (her degree is in Nutrition) 🤪. If we’re not fighting about food, we’re fighting about what new restaurant to go try. I like to find a place that I know has good food and drinks and she wants to try them all!
Lauryn: Honestly we don’t fight a lot at all. We moved in together in August 2018 and it has been SO EASY since then. He’s my best friend, literally, and we are still in that stage where we do most things together because we want to. If we do get in small arguments it’s all due to misunderstandings. I LOVE to share my feelings and tell him when I don’t like something, whereas he’s not as open and so sometimes that’s difficult.
What is your favorite thing about each other?
Zach: My favorite thing about Lauryn is how fun and easy going she can be. She laughs a lot and doesn’t take things too seriously when it’s just the two of us. We laugh at just about everything when we’re together and can make something so boring (like going to the grocery store) 10x more fun just because we are together.
Lauryn: My favorite thing about Zach is his easy-going personality. He’s by far the kindest, most appreciative, fun-loving person I think I’ve ever met. I tend to be more of a realist as well as a perfectionist, which can cause me to have a negative outlook at times/ be too hard on myself, but he’s always right there encouraging me to laugh it off and thats something that I love the most.
Least favorite thing about each other?
Zach: My least favorite thing about her is her hardheadedness at times. When she’s like that she can be tough to work with. I think a lot of it has to do with her being a perfectionist. If she wants to do something it has to be perfect which frustrates her. She (like anyone) can be frustrating at times but I know she just wants what’s best for me and wants to push me to be my best.
Lauryn: This one’s tough. No one’s perfect and we all have our faults, but thankfully Zach’s isn’t too terribly bad in my opinion. I guess my least favorite thing about Zach is that he’s so fun-loving and we have so much fun joking around with each other but sometimes there’s that lack of seriousness that every one craves. I love that he keeps it light and positive but sometimes you just need a good deep conversation and thats tough for Zach to do. I really have to drag it out of him. I will say he is a wonderful listener though, so whenever I need to have a deep convo (even if he isn’t really contributing), he’s a great listener and encourager.
Describe the proposal your own words.
Zach: The proposal was amazing. I think she will remember it forever. We were exploring New Orleans for the first time with some great friends when I popped the question. I wanted to make it perfect so I found this beautiful spot on a platform in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. I was so nervous I opened the ring the wrong way! We went and had a beautiful dinner after and I noticed she couldn’t take her eye off the ring because she was so happy. I’m so happy to finally call her my fiancé and cannot wait to call her my wife. She is my everything and I’d do anything for her.
Lauryn: The proposal… lol. I laugh because I think I might have blacked out for the proposal + the next couple hours because I struggle to remember all of it! I was so shocked that it’s almost like my mind just shut down like “I’ve waited for this for so long… is this happening or is this just another dream?” Sounds cliche but I swear that’s how it felt. He proposed in New Orleans in Jackson Square as our friends “took a photo” of us… aka he got down on one knee and proposed! Everyone around us clapped and it was just such a great feeling. The most memorable part was that Zach opened the ring upside down and so the ring was at the top and so the first thing I said was “OMG THE RING IS UPSIDE DOWN.” I really know how to kill the moment I guess haha. I can’t wait to marry this guy y’all!
As promised, here’s a pic of my ring- aka the most requested DM I think I’ve ever received lol.
