A few years ago, Martin and I carpooled to Tahitian practice. Knowing each other for a long time beforehand, we didn’t think anything of it. As we began to hang out more, we went from being good friends to great friends. We started liking each other and on November 13, we made a commitment to really get to know each other. That’s when everything began. Young, innocent, and naive, we began our relationship. We didn’t have that much experience. We have learned a lot from each other since then. We learned how to be a girlfriend, how to be a boyfriend, how to hang out, meet the parents, how to travel, eat fancy dinners, kiss, hold hands, sacrifice, and compromise. We were each other’s firsts for a lot of stuff. It’s a simple, organic, and beautiful thing.

In Tahiti, we loved walking out by the beach. It was t-shirt and shorts weather, even in the morning. On Friday the 13th (we’re not exactly superstitious), Martin woke me up saying that he wanted to take a walk. Without thinking, I agreed, asking him to get a head start because I was so sleepy. When I finally got out there, He and Kalisi (another musician from the group) were out there playing the guitar and singing. I remember thinking how cool it was that the members from our group would always walk around the hotel and that maybe they were practicing for the show later that day. I didn’t think anything of it other than, “I wish I didn’t look like I just woke up.” We sat there by Kalisi just listening to his voice and closing my eyes. The sky, blueish-purple began getting brighter and becoming more pink in hue. I kept thinking how perfect it was to be there. Martin got up, pulled me up and we started walking.

We walked closer to the water, hugged, and didn’t say much of anything. I remember the water being cool and clean. It’s freshness felt really good on my skin. Martin asked if I could hear his heart beating. I could, and it was beating really loudly. He said he had to give me something, and he pulls out a tiny black box. My heart skipped a little. He gets down on his knee and goes on about his plans for our future. He talked for a good 2 minutes while I couldn’t believe my ears. Utterly shocked, we were in the water, his knee on the rocks below and I’m desperately trying to remember everything he’s saying and savor each word. He talked way too fast for me to remember everything but my mind was running like a machine. I remember thinking, “Is this really happening right now?”

He opened up that tiny black box and looked up at me with the most scared, humble, open, and kindest eyes I’ve ever seen.

He asked me to marry him, and I took a deep breath and replied, “Yes!”