How I Met Serach Part VIII: Thank You & Awareness

This is Part VIII of a series about how I proposed to Serach. Part I is here, Part II is here, Part III is here, and Part IV is here, Part V is here, Part VI is here, Part VII is here. Or, you could simply use the dropdown menu on the left side of the blog titled "How I Met Serach". I'm currently giving the background of the story... starting from the first date. I started writing this one year ago today... because we got engaged three years ago today! (And I'm still on the first date!) I hope everyone is enjoying our story... Part VII left off with Serach doing something truly memorable, something which meant a lot to me:

Thank you!

...she called out, as we walked out of the 7-11 where we'd spent the last few hours. She realized that while we'd both thanked the cashier, near the door, the other man who was working hard to clean the floors hadn't heard us, so she turned back towards him to thank him as well. After all, he was working the late-night shift too, was he not?

I was really impressed with this girl I'd met just hours before. Sure, she didn't need to thank him; he wouldn't have noticed or been insulted whatsoever. But it did make him happy to see that people appreciated him, and that means a lot as well. It may not be practical to constantly do this, but when we are able to, those little gestures in life can truly make someone's day - even if by only putting them in a slightly better mood, so the next thing to happen to them is looked at in a more positive light. It's like when someone cuts you off - the next thing that happens will upset you as well, because you're already annoyed. But if a person lets you in ahead of them in traffic, you're far more inclined to do the same for the next person... and not be upset at the person in front of you who is letting someone else in.

While those aren't the thoughts that went through my head at the time, I do recall thinking something along the lines of 'Wow, that was really nice! This Serach girl is really, really nice - truly nice, no show.' For some reason, I commented on what she'd done, saying how impressed I was - she was happy to hear that, because one guy had once chastised her for 'wasting her time' thanking a worker 'for doing nothing'. This then led to a wonderful discussion about what's important in life, and how we need to act, and included a lot of "Exactly!"s, "Yep!"s, and the like - all the keys to a good first date, right? Most importantly, I'd already seen so much that I really liked about Serach - she was lively, she was incredibly talkative [contrary to popular belief of those who've met me, I'm actually shy, deep down], she was fun, and best of all, she was truly sweet. She was aware, even as that's not something that comes naturally to her. She went out of her way to make other people happy. She was upbeat. She was smart. She was thoughtful. She was conscientious, caring enough to remember something I'd mentioned that I liked, and bringing it across the country for me - even though she'd never met me before, and had never planned on dating me. She was - simply - amazing, and I was fortunate enough to see so much of this on the very first date, which wasn't even supposed to be a date.

Of course, Serach isn't the type to hide much. She's quite the outgoing one, and it was she who finally summed up what has become one of my mantras in life, while we talked on the phone about a week later. But that's a story for a later post. :)

Happy Engagement Anniversary, Serach! I love you!!

Ezzie: I'm writing the story as I remember it, and unfortunately that sometimes results in skipping some details. When I remember them, I'll try to fill them in; possibly in the comments, possibly in the posts if it won't make it too disjointed. If anything is unclear or you have any questions, feel free to ask! Serach won't admit it, but she's been reading the story [and lately, other posts, too!] - maybe she'll fill in some of the details and her perspective at some point. I'm still hoping. :)