Since that fateful day Sara and Joe have been growing closer together and starting their lives all over. Joe lost his job about the same time they started dating only to find new direction in a more prosperous and self motivating career field. And Sara decided that she wanted to do more with her life and went back to school. Their bond has moved forward, while not as quickly as either of them would have liked, they started coming up with plans and realizing that the want to be with each other for the rest of their lives was strong and only getting stronger as every kiss passed between them, as every good joke lightened their souls, and as every conversation made them feel even closer at heart.

And eventually the long wait to get married was punctuated Christmas eve in 2009. It was a rough day for the both of them as moods were at a low and they were about to head out to a night of socializing with the family. Joe brought up that maybe it would brighten the mood if the two of them opened up a gift before they went to the family dinner. Sara doubted it would. “Then I’ll go first, which one should I open?” Joe asked. He picked up his gift and opened it.

He finished opening it and remarked, “I know which one I want you to open.” He handed Sara a big red box. It was light, and the outside of it professionally made and very decorative. In big black marker “To: Sara, my love; From: Joe” was written on the top of it. “Why did you write on this box, Joe? We could have reused it next year.”

“I suppose we could have, I wasn’t thinking about that.”

Sara easily pulled the top of the box to see that the inside of the box had been lined with pictures of the two. There were pictures of them on their vacation to Texas, pictures of them in their apartment in Elgin, pictures of them snuggling the night before their first new years together, and pictures of just the everyday enjoyment they had together. “Oh, thanks Joe.”

Inside that box was another, smaller red box. Sara pulled it out setting the larger one on the floor. The lid came off to reveal a box filled to the brim with tiny slips of paper. Sara read one, “I love your smile.” The next slip of paper and the next filled with a single reason why Joe loved Sara, explaining why he thought the world of her. They both started to cry as she read over them. Her makeup began to run, and she asked, “Do I have to read all of them?”

“Yeah, I think you should.”

Her concern for her makeup disappeared and she read on further, wanting to enjoy each of the little love notes. She soon reached the bottom of the box only to see that there was a tinier, black box at the bottom. A box velvety in texture as she picked it up and held it in front of her. Her breathing stopped and her mind was in awe. “What’s this?” she asked. Joe looked silently back at her and motioned for her to open it. She thought for a second and blinked the tears of joy from her eyes. The box popped open and it was empty. She looked confused and bent the empty box towards Joe who was down on his knee. “Where’s the- ?” she began and Joe produced the ring cutting her off.

“It’s right here.” Joe began to swell with pressure as the right words, the practiced words, struggled to come out of his mouth. “Sara, you are the person I’ve been dreaming about for all these years, only better. And I want you to be with me, at my side forever. Will you spend the rest of your life with me?”

Sara’s response was not a yes or no, but a burst of joyous laughter. Like the idea was too grand to fully comprehend what had just happened, but it made her happy. The two burst into snotty crying, laughing, and kissing completely shameless towards each other in this moment of utter joy. And then Joe had to push back for a second after a few minutes. “So, what’s your answer?”

“What do you mean?”

“You never really answered me.”

“Of course, Joe, of course, the answer is yes.”

The usage of half a roll of tissue paper soon followed.