The story of us

If you want just the engagement story it starts after the big bold letters (and for those of you who might recognize the ring yes we're using my grandmother's ring set, her and my grandfather were married for over 50 years, a legacy we want to continue)

March of 2011 I was riding the bus home from training like I did every Friday, wondering what the weekend would bring me. It was late and I was tired and just ready to get home! When we got near my stop I asked the bus driver to go up the hill, however he did not hear me and kept going. The guy who was sitting right next to me got the bus drivers attention and had him go up the hill to my stop. He then turned to me and said, “You live up here?” I replied that yes I was living up the hill with Ms. Cleo. He told me he was staying with his aunt that weekend right next to where I was living, so he might see me. On my way home from church on Sunday I saw this same guy. He offered to take me to the beach (which I had not been to in my community and didn’t know where it was). I said yes and we set up a time. I told my host mom I was going to go to the beach and she wanted to know who with, I didn’t remember the guys name but said that he was staying next door. She told me to go get him. I brought him over and as soon as my host mom saw it was Luthur, she was ok with me going to the beach, but she still questioned him about when he was bringing me back and told him to keep me safe!

We went to the beach and had a lot of fun! I saw him a couple of other times in passing while I was staying with my host family. When I moved into my house in the village he continued to check up on me. We would talk, go for walks, he would teach me Kweyol and how to play pool, I taught him where the big dipper was and Orian’s belt. We just had fun! Around the beginning of June, I began to realize that this wasn’t just a friendship. He officially asked me to be his girlfriend on July 1^st! When my host mom found out we were dating, she sat Luthur down and gave him a lecture about how he needed to take care of me and not hurt me! We continued hanging out getting to know each other better. I started including him in Peace Corps activities (such as pot lucks). The more I got to know him and see him in different situations, the more I grew to love him and the man that he is.

The unique thing about PC is that it’s a time limited thing. We knew I only had two years here, so we started talking about the future and what we wanted. It became clear that we were both heading in a similar direction and wanted to be a part of each other’s lives.

Engagement story starts here On February 22 (Independence Day in St. Lucia—which is kind of ironic because I’ve always been really independent) we had decided to go to the beach since we both had the day off of work. We packed up a bag with towels, a Frisbee, water, and sunscreen we headed off to the beach. Our timing was perfect and we got a ride up the hill. We walked down to the beach and talked about how perfect of a day it was. We got to the main beach and then climbed over a bunch of rocks to a smaller beach that we like better. We were standing underneath the almond tree, he puts his arms around me and tells me that he loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me. He then asked me to marry him, “for real this time” because he asks me all time just for fun (I always say yes), but tells me one day he’ll ask me for real. That was the day! I said of course yes! We hung out at the beach for a while and had a blast! When we got back to the house we got out the ring and he got down on one knee and asked if I Sara Jean Faison, would marry him. I, of course, said yes again, and he put the ring on my finger and made me the happiest girl alive  J