Dating Diaries 16

So I left you all hanging a few months back and I never finished this series. Raimo and I took a trip to Seattle over Thanksgiving break and stayed with his brother and sister-in-law. We had an amazing time. It's always exciting to me to go on a trip, and even more exciting to go with a boyfriend! We had an amazing time seeing the sites and enjoying the rainy fall weather. One night we were snuggling on the blow-up air mattress in the spare bedroom. Raimo was supposed to be sleeping on the couch downstairs, but we pretty much stayed up almost all night together for most of the trip. It was dark in the room except for the light of the street lamp that was coming through the window, and the rain was making a beautiful sound on the roof. Raimo pulled out a little surprise for me- a locket with our pictures inside. That night was the first night we talked about the possibility of us getting married. Because of that, it became a very special trip that we will always remember. And Seattle is a city with many happy memories. From Seattle we flew to Riverside for my best friend's wedding. Raimo had his first Thanksgiving with my family and met a lot of important people in my life.
Re-cap: at this point we had known each other a little over a year and had been dating exclusively since the previous Valentine's (with one break-up over the summer when I went to Europe). I felt very different about Raimo than past boyfriends. I was unwilling to give this one up. He made me feel very loved. He was a romantic, and I liked that. He really went above and beyond to make me happy, giving me little gifts, writing love letters, taking me on dates, and we spent all of our time together. Over the next few months I had a few very frustrating times because Raimo took a very long time to propose, yet we were planning on getting married. His being slow to action in life has been particularly frustrating to me in many aspects of our time together! I usually do a lot of pushing. And Im sure that has frustrated him! However, he usually made it up with his genuine kindness and selflessness. In fact one day he knelt and proposed to me on campus, I think out of desperation, because we were having an argument about it. And I said no. We were in our sweats for goodness sake! And we were arguing! He did eventually do it though.
The day before Valentine's day he romanced me with roses and love notes throughout my school day, from my car to the desks at school to my chair in choir to dance class, delivered by his friends and my friends, until I had a whole bouquet at the end of the day. It was a throwback to the year before- our first Valentine's when he had done something similar. It was such a fun day for me! That night I had a choir concert. Afterward he gave me a final rose and a last letter telling me how much he loved me. We were driving in the car and it began to snow. He pulled over and got me out of the car onto a snowy bank and knelt down and asked me with snow in his hair. I said yes! And we were over the moon. I remember wanting to revel in that feeling. I liked that only the two of us knew it. We went out to dinner at Ottavio's, our Italian place, and had a quiet dinner and just enjoyed our new engagement. Afterward we started making phone calls and taking pictures and telling friends. It was exciting-something I had been looking forward to since I was little. I was so in love and happy and full of dreams.
To be continued..