To take you back a
bit when I met my darling husband I had no idea that this would be
the man I was going to jump out of an airplane for (more on that
later), let alone marry. To get the whole picture let’s take it
back to the year 2006. Shawn and I met working at Lowe’s Hardware
Store, I was a cashier and he worked in plumbing. As much as I hate
to admit and Shawn hates hearing it, but when I first made eyes with
Shawn I had no interest, but for him it was a whole different story.
After some time working in the same store we finally
bumped into one another and once we did, let me just say it felt like
it was a scene from a movie. Shawn paused and looked right
into my eyes like no man has ever done before and just stared at me. I—of course—snapped
him out of it by asking, “Hello, can I help you?” and he
responded by asking, “Do you work here?” I then looked at him
like he had a problem and walked away. I thought to myself, My vest clearly states that I work here, what a
weirdo. But I will never
forget that moment and the way he made eyes at me. I know how cheesy
this sounds but he made me feel like the most beautiful thing he had
ever seen. Shawn—to this day—remembers that story and can even
tell you the exact aisle number it was where we officially met.
As time went on, we
quickly became inseparable. We talked every day, watched movies, and
even made a fun trip to Six Flags Halloween Fright Fest. It was
after that night that we couldn’t deny that this was more than a
friendship. It got to the point that when I had an opening shift and
he had a closing shift I would make sure that as I was falling asleep
my phone was on "loud" and right next to my ear so I wouldn’t miss a
phone call from him. We became "official" that following year on
Valentine’s Day. Shawn closed the store and said he would come over
after work. When he called me and said he was outside, I ran to let
him in. As I opened the door standing in front of me was a giant
stuffed Gorilla (which I still have today) and flowers. Who wouldn’t
fall in love after that?
Years went on and
Shawn and I made a plan. We were going to save up, buy a house, get
married, and start a family. Well our life goals were going
accordingly. We were able to save more than enough to purchase our
1st house together in 2013. A proud victory we call it.
Months went on and still no ring, I was getting a little worried and
didn’t want to bring it up because I remembered Shawn
telling me it would happen after we bought our house. So I waited
patiently.
June came around
and Shawn was turning 25 years old so I wanted to buy him
something special, something that would make his 25th
memorable. My girlfriend at work had just gone skydiving for her
birthday so I thought why not suck up the fear and take the plunge.
My adrenaline kicked in, so I went on their website and purchased a
gift card. To make things a little more surprising I planted a little
scavenger hunt around and outside our house for Shawn to find what it was I had gotten him. As he finally came to the last clue, he was instructed
to go to loft of house and go towards the front of the railing that had a
bag on it and to let the bag go. Once he let it go he still wasn’t sure
what it was, but a little insight when he let the bag go from the
loft, the bag inflated like a parachute with a little army man
attached to it. So once he went back down the stairs to retrieve his
gift, I had a little note that I had written, WE'RE GOING SKYDIVING!!! He
looked up at me and was shocked, speechless, and super surprised.
Surprised because when I met him he asked me if I would ever do such
a thing and me being afraid of planes and heights you can imagine
what my answer would be, “HELL NO” but with some contemplation I
decided to go through with it because I knew it would be something I
would regret if I didn’t try, so I booked our flights and we were
set to jump out of an airplane from 13,000ft on July 5th
2013 in Sunnyside Santa Barbara.
The morning came
and after doing some unnecessary research about what can go wrong
while skydiving and watching a video of an 80 year-old lady going
skydiving and holding her harness for dear life, I was
ready to go. We finally arrived and made sure to pay for a video of
our jumps because let’s face it, we knew mine was going to be
hilarious, since I was still a little hesitant about this whole idea.
Minutes later, there we were harnessing up and going over the safety
regulations with our instructors. They interviewed both of us asking
what brought us here today and I of course said, “My lovely
boyfriend". I also made sure I wore a shirt that said I love my
boyfriend. Shawn replied, “This was a birthday gift for my 25th
birthday”. After that we headed towards the plane, but for some odd
reason Shawn was called out of line and back into the airplane hangar
because they forgot something. Right then and then I was having a
panic attack, asking my instructor, "Do we have everything like our
parachute? Is my harness on tight enough?" He laughed but assured me
everything was good. So into the plane I went and in came Shawn seconds
later.
I made him go first because Hey! This was a gift for him! Our
elevation levels rose and we finally reached the 13,000ft mark and got
ready to jump. They opened the gate and all of a sudden I felt and
heard that gust of wind pass through the plane. (at this point I had mixed feelings
rushing through my body, excitement, nervousness, anxious, and second
thoughts, but still kept an open mind) Shawn’s time was up, so he
and his instructor started to scoot up so they could begin their journey. They then started counting down from three and the next
thing Shawn was gone and my turn was up. I will admit when I saw
Shawn jump, I was so worried and just couldn’t wait to see him on
the ground. Here I go, my instructor and I get to the door and
started the count down from 3, 2, 1 and then we're falling. I thought it
was going to feel like a free fall but it was more of a weightless
feeling, kind of like swimming in a pool. It was the best experience
ever and I was having the time of my life. The minute of free-fall
was up and it was the moment I had been waiting for, will my chute
open? It did. The chute opened and I took in in the beautiful view of
Santa Barbara and beyond from all regions. It was so beautiful and
enjoyable. It's definitely something that everyone has to try. Our time in the
air was limited and as we were getting ready to land, I could see
from a distance a banner laid out on the ground right next to our
landing site. I was so focused on the landing that my
instructor was the one who told me, “I hear that banner down
there is for you”. I couldn’t believe my eyes and was so ready to
touch the ground that I couldn't focus. Once I looked at it I was shocked. The banner spelled out
the words “WILL YOU MARRY ME?" Once we touched ground Shawn rushed to me and right then and there he got down on one knee, opened that
red box with this shiny beautiful ring and asked “Brigit, will you marry me?" I couldn’t even answer with a "yes" or "no", but instead I
nodded and leapt into his arms and gave him the biggest kiss I could
give him. I didn’t want let go. I was so surprised! This was so unexpected and well-executed, that right then I felt
like the luckiest girl alive. It was so surprising, I mean I was so
focused on landing safely, it didn’t occur to me that this was the moment that was going to start our wonderful journey together. I am so
thankful for the thought Shawn put into his proposal and we got the whole thing on video. The best part
of this story is that when we first began dating I had asked him, "Do you
have any idea how you would propose to me?" and ever since that day,
he knew this was how he wanted to go about it, the hardest part was
trying to convince me to take the plunge.
It was then after that, that June
14, 2014 was a day we said our vows and promised to love and honor
each other thru thick and thin till death do us part. With our life going as planned, we have now been married for 7 months and now
are expecting our first baby. We will be having a baby girl due this spring, 2015. I truly feel blessed to have such a great
man in my life and couldn’t be happier and excited about our future
together.
Believe in the saying “opposites attract” as it can
start a wonderful journey.
Here are a few photos from their beautiful day:
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