Ashton proposed on January 31, 2014. He is a police officer in Mobridge, SD while I am attending pharmacy school at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD (only 3 years left, yay!). We had first met while working at Indian Creek Recreation Area a few summers prior. Ashton had hurt his shoulder towards the end of the summer (right after he had accepted his position at the Mobridge Police Department, of course), so I was assigned to paint with him for the remainder of the summer. Of course I didn’t really mind. Who cares if he had a hurt shoulder, I was just supposed to “supervise” anyway, right? After a few weeks of me “supervising” Ashton doing all of the work, making sure he didn’t further hurt himself of course, Ashton was off to have shoulder surgery. That was the last time we had seen each other for several months. It wasn’t until one winter morning when I had went off on a rant on Facebook about my school’s parking lots not being bladed, that we were reconnected. “Brea, 1st of all, calm yourself about blading parking lots. And 2nd of all, I got a new phone and I don’t have my sidekick painter’s number. I think this should change so I’ll be waiting for a text message whenever you have the necessary time. Thank you.” After making him lift that power wash in and out of the pickup one-handed multiple times while I just “supervised,” he still thought of me as his sidekick painter? SWEET! That night we talked on the phone for four hours. I went home that same weekend, and we hung out for the first time (thank goodness I couldn't think of a good enough excuse to get out of hanging out with him, but I sure tried!). After that, a weekend didn’t go by where one of us wasn’t traveling back and forth between Glenham and Brookings to see each other. After what felt like an INFINITY, Ashton finally gained the courage to ask me to be his girlfriend. What took him so long?! On the evening of January 31, Ashton had called to tell me that his pickup battery had died and that he needed me to come pick him up. I had told Ashton several times before this “incident” that he needed to buy a new battery for his pickup, but he never listened (even after we spent FOUR hours stranded at the Bismarck airport because it was shot!). Angrily, I finally decided that I would take him my dad’s battery charger. On my way to his house, flashing red lights appeared behind me. This caused me to become even angrier at Ashton because now I was getting pulled over while trying to get him this stupid battery charger (and by the way, I am TERRIFIED of getting pulled over and getting a ticket). Once pulled over, the police officer turned his spot light on me, completely blinding me. I had no idea what he was doing! Low and behold, the officer walks up to my car and it was my dearest UNCLE LACEY! Of course my uncle would be the one to pull me over. Now I would NEVER hear the end of it. He had told me that my tail light was shattered and that I needed to go look at it. Reluctantly, I proceeded to the back of my car to check out this “broken” tail light. Not noticing anything wrong, I became rather confused as to why he pulled me over, thinking it was some kind of sick joke. Moments later, Ashton appeared from behind the police car and took me by the hand. All I could say was “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” over and over again. That’s when Ashton got down on one knee, pulled out a ring, and asked for my hand in marriage! It took a few more “WHAT ARE YOU DOINGs” before I realized what the heck was going on… and of course I said YES! So now we're here, planning this wonderful wedding… and couldn’t be any more excited! |
