Year 10-Phase 2

Call me crazy, but when I was in college, I suffered from severe panic attacks. For whatever reason, I had a sensation of feeling completely scared and sometimes the only thing that Jared could do was just hold me and I felt protected. About ten months into our dating relationship one of my panic attacks happened, but this time, I had a panicked feeling that I was truly and deeply falling in love with Jared and this made me feel vulnerable to being hurt if things didn't work out between us. I remember Jared and I having an argument (that I am sure most of the neighborhood heard as well) and at that time, Jared told me that he wanted to marry me and intended to do so soon. In our tenth month, he had already been working out the details of going down to Oregon to ask my dad if he could marry me. Our eleventh month of dating and the month that we got engaged will sound familiar, it was 9/2001 (also known as 9-11). The 9-11 events didn't have any impact on why we decided to get married, but of the times in my life that I remember vividly, it was that time. Jared worked out all the details of asking me to marry him. He planned on taking me in a limo and having a romantic dinner at the space needle. Without me knowing, he contacted my manager (at the time I was an Optic Technician) and asked for me to be able to take the day off. My manager, being the Nazi she was, said, "NO!” Wonderful, right? So, Jared had to improvise and I am glad that it worked out the way that it did. When I got off work, Jared picked me up in his 85' Jeep with bumper stickers that plastered the entire vehicle. We took a long, beautiful September drive up to Lake Cle Elum. This area was really special for us, because in our dating relationship, we had gone there and we dreamed of living there someday together. We went up a long dirt road, up into the mountains that overlooked the lake and distant hills and forest and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. At the time, not everyone was happy with our decision to get married and we found some criticism that we were getting married too soon for various reasons, but we didn't care. We set the date to get married five months later and our engagement flew by at lightening fast speed. To be continued....