// Click here if you missed Part 1 + Part 2 + Part 3 of this series.
Five years ago, I woke up to my morning phone call from Josh. His voice was growing sweeter and more loving each day. But especially this morning on Valentine's day. He asked, "if I would be his Valentine" and then went on to say he had great plans for us later that afternoon. We talked about the rest of our day and he told me he would plan to pick me up after work around 5pm.
I remember wondering what I would wear. And feeling a little anxious for our first Valentine's day in Jacksonville. Our very first Valentine's day was in Graceville and we had only really been "dating" for a month or so. So we kept it pretty low key. And then we were long-distance for our second Valentine's day. So this was an exciting time to finally be together. I was living with four other girls at the time. Yes, four. So there was plenty of options for clothing.
When the time came for him to pick me up, I felt an anxious/excitement come over me. I had a feeling this was going to be a special date.
It was actually a pretty cold February this year, but we went out to the beach anyway. Josh had a red blanket that he laid down and then spread out rose petals all over it. Yes, quite the romantic. He picked up the guitar that we brought along and started singing "You are so beautiful..." it was very sweet. And funny, because he doesn't play the guitar.
After he serenaded me for awhile. He then had the great idea to build a sandcastle. I really laughed at this, but then humored him by joining in. I started getting suspicious when he began motioning for me to dig in a certain area where "the sand was really soft" (ok, I was suspicious when he laid the rose petals down, but this threw it over the top!) While digging I came to a shiny, glass bottle poking through the ground. I was nervous to pick it up at first, not knowing what was in it. But Josh was giving me that knowing smile and jokingly saying, "What is with these people and their litter??" I picked it up and saw the sweetest thing - a glass bottle with paper rolled up... a message in a bottle!!!
On the message was a sweet letter with the following,
Dear Cassidy,
Ye come seekin' treasure, aye? I have traveled many miles looking for my greatest treasure. It has taken many years waiting upon you my love. We have been through some rough seas, but our anchor has always been Jesus Christ. You are the greatest source of joy in my life besides the Lord. I love you and cherish our memories and look forward to the future! Today, tomorrow, forever I will love and cherish you. I have one last question to ask you...
When I looked up, he was on his knee (and so was I actually, from digging in the sand! haha) holding up a ring and asking me to marry him! I immediately said YES and hugged him (and maybe a little kiss or two, in there! ;) )
What a rush of emotions that day was. And they still come flooding back as I type this. Knowing you have finally found the person you will spend your life with is a great blessing. And I am still so so so grateful that he chose Valentine's Day as the day to do it. We get to celebrate our engagement day every year for the rest of our lives!
After he proposed, I flooded him with questions! Like...did you ask my dad?!?! And WHEN?! haha. He told me he drove down to see my family (two hours away) earlier that week. I could NOT believe that he found some way to sneak down there to ask them! I saw him and talked to him on the phone every single day. That was one of the most impressive things to me. We called our families and celebrated with them over the phone before heading to Carrabba's to eat dinner.
When we made it back to my house (full of girls!) it was a fun time announcing our engagement and showing off the ring! And lucky us, one of the girls had also gotten engaged recently and had these cute props for us to take a picture with!
This was a day I will never forget. And though it will probably be hard to ever top this Valentine's Day, we still enjoy celebrating the love we share for each other.
Four months (to the date) later on June 14, 2008... we became "Mr. and Mrs. Robinson."
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This concludes the "Meet the Robinson" series (for now, at least). I realized after starting this, that it was going to be hard to capture our entire relationship in a blog post. I left out a lot of great stories that I wanted to share. But hopefully I can continue to share our lives with you in this little space - one post at a time. ;) Thanks for reading along!
