On Sunday March 20th I got engaged to the love of my life, Sarah Ungar. At around 7:20pm Eastern Daylight Time in Edisto Beach, South Carolina as the sun set in the background, I asked Sarah if she would make me the happiest man in the world. Fortunately, she said yes.
Honestly, it was a little less romantic than that. I had a whole thing ready to say, but I got too nervous and blacked out and forgot everything I was going to say so I just asked her if she would marry me. Thankfully that was enough. Fortunately, that was as about as wrong as things went. And there was a lot that could have gone wrong. For one, the jeans I was wearing were too tight to keep the ring in without it being noticeable, so I had to hand off the box to Sarah’s friend (hey Zoe!) while we drove to Sunset Bay. But enough of the problems. Everything else was perfect. A bit of wind kept the bugs away, there weren’t massive crowds of people, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight after two days of rain. No dolphins decided to come out and applaud for us, but that’s okay, not everything goes according to plan.
I’ll post some pictures of it eventually. You’ll just have to wait.
This isn’t a gloating newsletter, however. Though I did kill it with the ring. And I was lucky enough that Sarah, the most wonderful, perfect human being, said yes to my dorky ass. The gloating stops here though. I have to be humble. To be otherwise would be declassé.
There is a whole backstory to this that I should tell, at least in part. Sarah and I have been dating for almost three years. That may seem long to my parents who were only together for nine months before getting married, but nine months is insane by any standard, so I will not judge our timeline against theirs. We met on April 1st, 2019 at a mezcal bar and have been together since. We moved in together during the pandemic, which worked out despite being an insane choice. We got a crazy nuts dog named Mars and the rest is history. Backstory over. Sorry it’s not more exciting. No last-minute flights to Peru, or underwater cave diving in Croatia or other types of, probably fake, stories that some couples have. Nothing but the truth. And two soulmates finding each other. Which is lucky in and of itself.
We had talked about marriage before, so this proposal did not come as a surprise. Or at least the fact that I would propose. Sarah herself did not think that it was going to happen that day. Had no idea at all. Which is wild, because I was a nervous wreck in the days leading up to it, and especially the day of. She says that she had an inkling, but I’m not so sure. There were clues though. Many many clues.
I didn’t want this to sound like the “Our Story” pages on various wedding websites, but really, it’s unavoidable. I was, and continue to be the luckiest person in the world solely because of Sarah’s presence in my life. To even think about the fact that someone of her intelligence, warmth, humor, beauty, and caring heart should decide to spend the rest of her life with me, just some guy, boggles the mind. I have never been happier than when I am with her and to think that I get to experience that for the rest of my life is truly exciting.
Of course, now we have a wedding to plan. Which isn’t a walk in the park, as any good romantic comedy will let you know. But it is an exciting new step in our lives. One that I can’t wait to take. Sorry, this is a short newsletter, but I wanted to get out before I got too sappy. Dang Dude is many things but it’s never sappy.
Love you Sarah!
In other less life-changing news I have a new website. Check it out! If you ever need book suggestions or help getting books or whatever, just drop me a line!
Okay, so I'm tearing up reading this. Love your humility and dedication to Sarah! Blessings to you both, what a beautiful thing!