I’m so thrilled to share that Ian and I got engaged last night!

Here’s how it happened:

As we were decorating our beautiful Christmas tree, “Joy” (I name a lot of inanimate objects), Ian shared that he forgot to take out one special ornament that he purchased for us this year. I thought nothing of it, and thought it was odd that he purchased an ornament without me. Anyway, I put the last ornament on the tree, stepped back to admire our work, and Ian came in with a festive Christmas box.

“Can you open it, unwrap it and put it on the tree?” He asked. Again, unmoved by his request, I opened the box and unwrapped the contents. Inside the box was a single ornament, and inside the ornament was an engagement ring that hung from a piece of green string.

I lost it.

Crying, I asked, “WHAT IS THIS?!” …I knew what it was. Why did I ask that?

Ian laughed, and took the ornament from me.  He opened up the ornament, and took the ring from inside it. As he got down on one knee, my legs began to shake, and my heart was racing. This was it. We are getting married!

Ian and I met four years ago at CCSU, where we earned our undergraduate degrees. We met in British Literature, and became fast friends, sharing ideas, thoughts, writing, and more. We would meet around campus and talk about our day, and I couldn’t get over how charming and handsome this guy was. He was smart, funny, witty, and interested in all of the same things I was. We just clicked. He knew my reference to Les Miserables. Like, come on! How more perfect can this guy be?

The beginning of the next semester, at our hall council (dorm government, so to speak), Ian, who was elected president of our dorm, nominated me as vice president. I accepted, but I was unsure as to why he wanted me to be his vice president.

“He really just said, ‘I nominate Kassy to be my girlfriend,'” my friend Hope joked. I laughed and shrugged that off, thinking that he must just think I would be a good leader. Well, Hope was right…he liked me. He didn’t think I was a good leader at all….(kidding).

As time moved on and we continued to work together in our residence hall, I noticed one thing about Ian: he was incredibly annoying. Every idea, thought, or sentence that came from his mouth, I attacked. He did the same exact thing. We would constantly bicker over ideas, and I would go back to my room complaining about him to my roommates.

“You hate him because you like him,” my roommates would say. I knew they were right, but I would state, “I hate him because he only thinks his ideas are right.”

It was hilarious. What were we in, middle school? I soon realized that we were more alike than I originally thought.

At the end of the semester, Ian informed me that he was participating in this male pageant, Mr. CCSU. I thought it was cool, and told him that he would do really well. When he asked me to be his date, I was a little surprised. I said, “yes,” and immediately went to my mom’s house to grab a dress.

After Mr. CCSU, Ian and I discussed our feelings for each other, and decided that we wanted to try to date. A few weeks later, on May 24, 2012, Ian asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said, “yes.”

Now, last night, I said “yes” to spend the rest of my life with him.

For the last three and a half years, I have experienced the most fierce, passionate, and unconditional love. Love that I deemed impossible. Ian and I met when I was feeling broken, and unsafe. I was weary at first, but Ian tore down my walls and made me the luckiest woman on the planet. He’s supported me through some of the best times of my life, and embraced and cherished me at some of my worst. He is the most caring, loving, and compassionate man I have ever been blessed to know.

I can’t wait to continue our lives together, and take this incredible step. Throughout my entire life, I would lie awake and think about my future husband: where he was, what he was doing, what he was like. Ian is more than I have ever dreamed of, and I am so excited for our future together.