The Proposal

It's every girl's dream -- wondering who, when, how, and what their engagement will look like. I remember being younger thinking of all the possibilities and thinking that my fiancé could literally be anywhere in the world.

My fiancé, Roberto, happened to be in South Africa. The fact that he ended up in America, let alone Pittsburgh and that our paths crossed is still crazy to me.

A little background on us and our relationship -- we met at college almost six years ago! (Crazy how fast time flies.) Since then our relationship has grown and led us to where we are today. One of our favorite things to do is travel. I am lucky enough to have gotten to travel and meet Roberto's family in Portugal as well as South Africa -- the place where I was also lucky enough to get engaged.

 

This past January was when I endured the long 17 hour flight to see where Roberto grew up. We spent lots of time with family and friends, however we also had our own mini trip to a safari.

The lodge we were staying at for the safari was so cute! There were only five couples that stayed there at one time and meals were usually served family style in which we would all sit together at one large table.

As we were getting ready for our first safari ride, I noticed Roberto was looking nice -- for someone who was just about to go on a Safari. He said he just wanted to be ready for dinner when we got back so I thought nothing of it. He even tried to tell me to wear a nice outfit to which I replied "It's just a safari, so I'm just going to wear this." (This as in shorts, converse, and my hoodie.)

If only I knew! Roberto and I had talked about getting engaged in the past, but I thought for sure it wouldn't happen until the end of the year. It's not like we had even gone to look at any rings. Looking back now, however, I realized Roberto did drop little hints and I was just oblivious. I was so sure that it wasn't happening that I did not have my hair, nails, or any of the stuff done that every girl wants to have done for her perfect engagement.

Just when I thought getting super close to a bunch of lions was going to be the highlight of my day, we got back to the lodge that evening in which the staff escorted us back to our room and told us everyone was doing a private dinner that night. I looked at the set up in awe of how beautiful it was and decided to take a video and post it on Snapchat.

As I was posting the snap I jokingly said to Roberto, I shouldn't post this because I know people are going to get the wrong idea. Well joke was on me because I'm the one who had no clue.

I went to the bathroom to wash up before dinner and when I came back out Roberto was outside and wouldn't let me sit down to start eating, he kept saying all of the cute things and concluded with "South Africa has been such a huge part of my life and I want it to be a big part of yours." Right after, he got down on one knee and I can't even remember my response. I'm pretty sure it was the words "Oh my gosh are you serious?! Oh my gosh! Yes!"

I remember just wanting to take in everything about that moment and save it forever. From the location and atmosphere, to the guy, the ring, and the love -- it felt like my life was straight out of a movie. It's our goal for a future anniversary that we make it back to that lodge to celebrate.

Out of all of the possible scenarios my younger self could of come up with for my dream proposal, my real life proposal far surpassed it all. I couldn't be luckier.