I first met David when I was 16 and got a part-time job at Sainsbury’s
whilst studying for my A Levels. I liked him straight away (and so did all
the other female staff!), but he was quite reserved whilst all the girls use
to chase him. I thought I’d play him at his own game and let him do all the
chasing, so I began to pretend he didn’t exist. My plan worked, and he
suddenly took an interest in me.
Soon after, however, I left Sainsbury’s, and we lost contact. Then two years
later, out of the blue I got back from holiday to find out that he had
called. We arranged to meet up and we got on brilliantly. That was 8 years
ago and we’ve been together ever since. When it was my 21st birthday I
thought that David might propose, as we had been going out for a few years.
He didn’t, and at the time I felt a little disappointed. After that, I put
all thoughts of marriage out of my mind. We had always talked about marriage
as if it was always "years down the line," so I was shocked when David
proposed on my 25th birthday.
We both left work to go travelling for 15 months, and it really was a test
of the strength of our relationship being together 24 hours a day for that
length of time. But we supported each other and became even closer. When we
arrived in Sydney, Australia we settled there for 6 months to work and earn
some money to fund the rest of our trip. Money was really tight, but on my
birthday David surprised me with a helicopter flight around Sydney. I had
always wanted to go in a helicopter and it was magical. As we were heading
back to land, we approached the Sydney Opera House. I was busy taking
pictures out of the window and enjoying the magnificent view. David tapped
my shoulder and reached over to take off my headphones, then he started
fumbling around in his pocket.
I thought that he was going to surprise me with the extra photo film I had
managed to leave back at our flat. I was gobsmacked when he held a little
black box in front of me, and opened it to reveal a beautiful ring. He
shouted (above the noise of the aircraft) "Will you marry me?" I was
speechless, and even thought it might be a joke. But the look in his eyes
said otherwise and I couldn’t help but shed some tears. Eventually I managed
to say "Of course I will" and he hugged me. What touched me the most was
that he had worked as many hours overtime as he could at work – to afford
the helicopter flight, and my ring, even though we were desperate for money
to travel some more.
We’ve waited a couple of years to get married (date set is August 17th 2002)
because we wanted to buy a house together first. Now that we’ve done that,
the wedding preparations are being set. I always knew that I would spend my
life with David only after a couple of years of us dating. We’re like best
friends and get on so well. I couldn’t ask for a more considerate and caring
man. And if you read this David, I can’t wait until next year when I’ll be
your wife. You’ll always be my soul mate. It’s kismet.
