Let's start from the beginning of our love story. One that began a very long time ago.
We had come to know each other as family friends, back in our teen years. Our moms being close girlfriends and our dad's being long term business partners.
We laugh to think back on those days, when we were so young, naive and innocent (some of the time). We had absolutely no clue how our stars would eventually align, or how our love story would play out.
It only took one summer, just barely over the age of 18, when we took a harmless, and PG family vacation to the Bahamas with four other families. We were "just friends" (so everyone thought), and so we thought at first too. Our friendship always lead to so many fun encounters with endless laughter. It was that laughter that turned to innocent flirtation. That flirtation that turned to late night conversations. And those late night conversations that would lead to our very first kiss on a hot summer night.
What can I say, we were young, we wore our hearts on our sleeve and we had somewhat reckless minds. We acted with pure impulse; living only in the moment. Truth be told, from the very first night of that trip we were up to no good. Those late summer nights, endlessly flirting our way out of that small island bar, tipsy, and drunk on life. We were crushing hard on each other and living up the nights until the early hours of the morning. One of us was too shy to make the first move and the other not so much.. maybe you can guess who was who.
It took a whole 48 hours on Treasure Cay Island before we were swooning over each other and constantly wanting more time together. Everything about being on that secluded island made for the perfect combination to ignite that initial spark. We blame it on the moon, the starry sky, the ocean, the salty Bahama air and the heat that lasted all day and all night. There wasn't much to do at night but to make our own fun.
So there began our moments, sneaking off into the night, tipsy on the golf cart and whispering sweet nothings to each other. What can we say, It was the very first time in our lives that we both had experienced a care free summer fling. Life was good on that trip and we had pulled off our secret little affair like pros.
Needless to say, what began as an "innocent" family vacay, quickly became anything but innocent. Each night, no matter how hard we tried, we just couldn't stay away from each other. Like a moth to a flame we had a crazy connection we just couldn't shut off. I mean how could we? Staying on that beautiful Bahama beach, in the same condo complex, always in close proximity to each other; it really set the stage. It was way too easy to make our scenario work in our favour. How we managed to be sneaky and hide it from our parents and friends as well as we did, still leaves us mind blown to this day.
During the daytime we would act all coy and distant. I'm surprised no one noticed we were avoiding one another like the plague. Each one of our family outings on the boat, going island to island, we stayed as distant as possible. We some how managed to play it cool so no one caught on.
At night, we were lipped locked every moment we were able to sneak off to be alone. We were just a couple of kids, lost in the moment and enjoying every minute without a care in the world.
Just as quickly as the trip started, it came to an end and we parted ways. It was the end of us and our summer fling as we knew it. We were both under the assumption that we would move on to live different chapters. We thought what we had was done for good and would one day become a distant memory.
Reality check : we were so wrong!
If only we would have known then that our short lived connection would not be the end of us. When in fact, the Universe had something different in store. It was forging a path and planting the seeds for a far bigger picture and future together, then we ever could foresee.
That sweet summer fling was the start of our love story, that came with a long journey spent apart. We never could have guessed that fate would eventually lead us back into each others lives so many years later.
For over a decade, as time passed by, our lives went in two entirely different directions. There were mistakes to be made and some tough life lessons to learn. Looking to our past now, we know that we never would have worked out back then. We both had some serious growing up to do!!!!
Living in separate cities, we would randomly run into each other and catch up, or keep up with each others lives over social media. We've both admitted there was always an underlying crush that remained and at times we felt nostalgic over that one amazing and secret summer together in the Bahamas.
Here is where the plot twist happens. Following some challenging life events, we were back living in the same city. How coincidental that we both wanted to catch up one night as old friends. This quickly turned into a first date and round two of our first kiss. We were left in awe and elated that this instant connection was taking place once again, over a decade later.
All it took was one initial, euphoric kiss when we both felt the sparks fly. It was that very instance that was the beginning of a major moment of impact. A moment that would begin a new and life changing chapter in both of our lives. You could say It boggled our minds nearly as much as it did our parents. Were they shocked to find out of our news???HECK YA THEY WERE!
Within 72 hours we made our relationship official and in only a few short weeks we were spilling our hearts out and saying "I love you". It didn't take long for us to both know, without a doubt, that we were it for one another. Our fate had brought us together, to heal each others wounds, to better one another, and to feel a powerful and authentic connection neither one of us had experienced before. Just like that, we knew we never wanted to spend our lives apart and have been inseparable ever since.
We still remain lip locked, just as we were back in the day when we were young and impulsive teenagers. Some may say we show a tad too much PDA but we're both too in love to care.
The cherry on top to all this wild string of events, is our parents and friends finally know about our story and we get to share our love with everyone we care about.
Ironically enough, Matt proposed to me during our first trip back to the Bahamas together this past New Years. There we were, 15 years later, on a beautiful secluded beach, under the the moon and the stars, with the salty sea air, on a warm island night. Exactly how our love story initially began all those years ago.
The last piece we will add is this : Our all time favourite thing in the world to do is to watch those insanely beautiful California sunsets. With that being said, we are beyond excited to get married, celebrating our endless love, doing the thing we love most. Whats even better, is we get to share it with all of our family and friends.
We truly cannot wait for all of you to share our special moment together as we say " I do" and make our love official. We are so grateful you will witness us as we embark on the next chapter in our love story. One where we will spend the rest of our days watching our favourite sunsets together as husband and wife.