Tuesday, May 24, 2011

phil and me part 4

am i on part 4? i didn't check... but i think so. : ) the summer of '07 started and it. was. terrible. i cried half the way home to georgia (which was about 8 hours) and i felt every single mile that was put between phil and me. i hated it. i was so depressed and wondering when we would be able to see each other again. that summer i finally at the perfect timing got my driver's license. i also did an internship, took summer courses so i could graduate on time, and searched almost all summer for a job. there wasn't much luck on that front. so i was broke, busy with classes i didn't want to be taking and missing my boyfriend terribly. it was also the first summer i spent in georgia. away from michigan. my home for 20 years. it was hard. i was with my family, so that made me happy, but beside that i felt pretty miserable. then phil called with great news!

he said he would be able to come down and visit me!! we thought that would be impossible since he had a jam-packed summer ahead of him, but somehow he worked it out that he would come visit me at the end of june and we would celebrate my birthday and our anniversary early (both at the end of july). it was probably the single happiest moment of that summer when i saw him coming toward me at the airport! we did so many fun things during that short week. we went to downtown atlanta to the georgia aquarium (seriously one of my most favorite places in the world), we cooked dinner together one night, spent days at the pool in my parents' neighborhood, then we did my most favorite thing that week... we went ring shopping!!! we weren't exactly sure if or when we were getting married, but we started talking about it a lot that summer. i wanted to get married the next summer after i graduated. he wasn't sure. however, he was pretty sure he wanted to marry me, so that week we started talking about it. then it got more serious. he asked for permission to marry me! i was pretty much shaking with excitement! we weren't sure exactly when, but we were headed for marriage! eek!! : ) then a few short days passed and i watched him leave me to get on a plane headed for indianapolis, then shortly after that, L.A. : ( i cried the whole way home from the airport. then i took a nap, and woke up and cried some more. thankfully my amazing sister was there to make me something to eat, then she took me to get some ice cream to make me feel better. love her. : )




phil went home to indy to talk to his parents about getting married. he wanted their opinion and blessing of our decision. after talking to them, they showed no opposition to us getting married the following summer. this is what i had been praying for! with his parents' blessing he felt good to go ahead. he called me just before getting on his plane headed for los angeles and said, "i think we should get married next summer."....!!!! i was so happy!! we weren't officially engaged yet, but we set a date. july 25, 2008. then the best part commenced; the wedding planning! i knew i wouldn't be home again until christmas break, then i would be back again in may. that isn't really much time for wedding planning, so i needed to start that summer. i had about a month to get some major wedding plans done before heading back to school. i found a wedding dress and the venue (for ceremony and reception). these were the most important things to me, so i left for school feeling good about the plans. and thank goodness for websites like the knot and wedding wire, they helped me find all my vendors as i was living in ohio! god bless the internet. and mothers who are good at wedding planning and can meet with florists and choose one for you. and then plan all your wedding flowers. and have them look incredible. : )

so back to school i went in august. phil was in st louis starting his job at the elementary school and i was in ohio again. at least closer than georgia, right? plus i was back in classes and working a job. things were much better. we decided to meet in the middle of us, which lucky for us was indianapolis where his parents lived. then one of the best days of my life happened.

september 1, 2007 phil proposed to me. i woke up to him leaving a letter on the floor next to my bed asking me to come meet him in the park for pictures (we were always talking about how we didn't have a ton of good pictures of the 2 of us). his sister julia then drove me over to the park, and instead of taking me to meet phil gave me another note and said, "this is where i drop you off". i had been wondering if this was some sort of proposal, but when she said that i tought in my head, "this is it! i am getting engaged!!!" there was a trail ahead of me that i was supposed to walk down to go meet phil. instead i met 2 little girls who handed me roses with notes attached. each represented a month of our relationship and the note told me about what he had learned about me that month that made him love me. (i know, so romantic right?). next i found his friends ben and michelle who handed me more roses, then our friends amanda and phil, and last my old roomie and her husband tarah and ben. i was so incredibly happy to see all these people, especially since i hadn't seen tarah in forever! it meant so much that he included them in the proposal. he even had our friend phil take pictures. here they are, original proposal! no re-enactment here! : )

me walking down the trail searching for my man ; )

i found him! he had a set up similar to when he asked me to be his girlfriend, except 10 times more special.

<3

i guess i said "yes". : )



beautiful, right? yah. who wouldn't say yes to this?

my wonderful old roomie!! and lovely amanda! people i love to be there to share the day.

at the eagle's nest in indianapolis. awesome. seriously.

newly engaged!!

taken by phil woodbury; edited by rachael "schnepp" brandt : )

"ditto". my favorite picture of the day.



so i was well on my way to becoming mrs. philip buben. but that was a year away and we still had a huge obstacle to overcome; being long distance for a year and both being so busy that we weren't sure we'd be able to see each other very often at all.

1 comment:

  1. I can't even imagine how hard it was to be away from your man for so long. I was away from my Hubby for 3 days and I thought that was a long time. But on another note, How incredibly romantic! That proposal was sooooo sweet! I can't wait to read part 5!

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