The beginning of the New Year brings with it the hope of new possibilities and changes, particularly if you just got engaged over the holidays. Since your man or woman probably spent hours, days, or even months plotting the perfect way to propose, it’s time to recognize all their hard work. We want to hear your engagement stories–from the romantic and soulful to the hilarious and jaw-dropping, share with us all the great details!
Post your proposal story in the comments section by 11:59 p.m. January 31st. The two couples with the most touching, creative, funny or just plain interesting proposal story will win free engagement portrait sessions, valued at $350.00, courtesy of Square Root of Red Photography.
Tell us all about your engagement stories- we can’t wait to hear them! AND you have the chance to win a fantastic portrait session to hang on your walls and give to your friends right after your engagement – What could be better???
We look forward to hearing from you!
Cute idea, I like it!
My now-fiance arranged for us to miss our connecting flight home from a Mexican vacation, getting stuck in Phoenix, where I had previously lived and made great friends, whom he had never met. He had one of our friends from our current home flown to Phoenix and he was at the gate with the ring and a fancy camera, and my fiance proposed right at the airport! I was then surprised by my two best friends in Phoenix picking us up and going out for drinks. When we checked in with our dinner reservations, then my parents from California showed up! We partied the night away and left Phoenix in the morning with overwhelming joy in our hearts. It was the best surprise ever (he’d been planning for months!) and celebrating with such important people in my life made it even more touching.
My fiance and I lived in Tennessee (right by the Smoky Mountains)for about a year. After a year we moved back to our hometown but the Smoky Mountains were always a very special place in our hearts. That was the first place where we lived together and truly realized how much we loved each other. Every weekend we would go hiking in the park or just drive through it to see the beauty of the mountains. There was one spot, the 2nd highest point on the east coast, that had an observatory. My fiance is uncomfortable of man made heights and was never able to make it up the man made structure.
Two years later, my fiance and I went on vacation to visit my family in Savannah, GA. We decided we would spend a couple days on the way back to go see the Smoky Mountains again. Our trip in Georgia was extended a little bit and we actually ended up only having a day in Tennessee. On the way their my fiance was complaining that we should just go home because we weren’t going to have any time to enjoy ourselves, but I persisted that we go.
When we got to Smoky Mountain National Park, I had a horrible migraine. My fiance wanted to go try to climb up the structure he never could. I suggested that we try it in the morning but he was very persistent, so I sucked it up and hiked up to Clingman’s Dome (where the structure is). He was able to make it up! The entire time he was holding my hand. When we made it to the top, I took a bunch of pictures and he was acting really weird. I just thought he was nervous about being up there so I suggested we go back down. There was a lot of people up there so he said OK.
On the way down he was professing his love for me. He told me how he was bale to make it up the structure because of m and how supportive and kind I am and on and on. I was thinking in my head “What is up with him? He is being weird”. I stopped to take a picture of a really pretty view. When I put my camera away he looked into my eyes and said “I have a present for you” and gave me a sweet kiss. He then pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him!!! He gave me his mothers engagement ring which makes it so much more special to me.
He had been planning to propose to me for 8 months. He had the ring the whole time but he wanted to propose there because of the significance the Smoky Mountains have in our relationship.
I think I gave your my wrong email address! This thread has the correct one!
awww, I love reading the engagement posts! Here’s our story for you guys…
My soon-to-be-husband and I have been dating for somewhere around 5 years. We met originally as teammates on our college’s track team. Since then, he has become an officer in the Marine Corps and we have been doing the long-distance thing for at least three years!! I have lived in Fredericksburg, VA, Golden, CO, and Arlington, VA while he has been stationed in North Carolina, and has done extensive deployment training in Arizona, various bases in California, Germany, and The Republic of Georgia. He [*we*] completed his first deployment to Iraq this October.
For the holidays this year, I was only able to take a few days off of work. Since it was so short, I didn’t expect him to come home to NY with me, but he insisted that he wanted to be there with me and my family. So after he celebrated Christmas morning with his family in Middleburg, he flew from Dulles to JFK. I picked him up at the airport and he was especially happy to see me. When we got home to my parents’ house, we began exchanging Christmas presents. After he opened his gift from me, he handed me a Christmas stocking shaped like an ice skate. I am a part-time figure skating coach and totally obsessed with the sport, so that in itself was a sweet little gesture. The stocking was filled with cute little presents and at the very bottom was a jewelry box!! When I opened it and saw a diamond ring sitting there, I stared at it for about 5 minutes straight. When I looked up at him, he was down on one knee and right there in front of my family he said, “will you marry me?”!!!! I knew the diamond was so special to him because it was left to him from his aunt who passed away when he was younger. I cried for a long while before I could finally say “yes”. And he was down there on the floor the whole time – Poor guy!
My parents immediately got up and poured champagne for everyone. They served our in the glasses they had used during their own wedding reception.
My future hubby knows how much my family means to me and it was so special to have such a quiet moment at home like that!! I couldn’t ask for anything more “me”. We couldn’t be more excited to finally start our life together. It’ll be the first time in a long time that we live less than 6 hours from each other!
Thanks for sharing all your wonderful inspiration on your blog!!
<3 Carly
My fiance decided to propose in Ireland in the tiny 200 person town in County Kerry where my dad’s family is from. Before showing up, he coordinated with my dad’s cousin who still lives on the farm where my great grandfather grew up, so that when we went to visit her (only the third time I had ever met them), she helped facilitate. She insisted that we walk to the edge of the Island to get the full view of the area. As we walked to the edge of these gorgeous cliffs in the Irish countryside surrounded by sheep, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, and the sun broke through the clouds, my fiance proposed. Despite that we had been dating for many years, I just wasn’t expecting him to propose right then and I was caught completely off guard. After asking “are you kidding?” I absolutely said yes! It turned out that everyone in the town we were in knew that the proposal was taking place, so on the way back to my dad’s cousin’s house, many people were congratulating us. It was amazing.
Our story is a little different as we each tell it, so I’ll give you a taste of both:
Josh:
I wanted to pick a date with some meaning. December 23 was the 4th anniversary of the day we met. I know it’s not a date we celebrate (I even had to check with a friend to be sure I had it right), but that doesn’t make it less important. Annie and I met on a bus, on the way to the airport to go to Israel on a trip in college, sponsored by the Avi Chai Foundation. She sat in the seat behind me, and I remember thinking “this is a pretty awesome girl.” The rest, as they say, is history.
Annie:
When I walked in to the apartment on December 23 and Josh said “happy anniversary,” I was more than a little confused.” Remembering dates has never been Josh’s strong point, but we started dating in April, so this would be pretty far off, even for him. The “courtship” time between when we met on the way to Israel and when we started dating was an interesting few months. Josh claims that he was certain from that first day that we were going to be together. I took a little more convincing. But he was patient, and I came around, due mostly to his gambling skills. You see, that was the year the Broncos (his team) played the Steelers (my team) in the playoffs. Josh bet me that if Denver won, I’d have to take him out to dinner. And if Pittsburgh emerged victorious (which we all knew was going to happen), he’d have to take me out. I think we both agree that this was the best gamble we ever made. Usually, love is not such a safe bet.
Josh:
Annie thought I was working on the 23rd, but I had arranged with my office to have the day off. I spent the whole day shopping and cooking. I happen to believe that it was my cooking skills that eventually won Annie over. Four years ago, as she was starting to come around to my idea that we should date, I had her over for to watch the Superbowl (it should be noted that the emerging football theme implies that we follow the sport much more closely than either of us actually do. Perhaps it’s evidence of the lengths we were willing to go to play this flirtatious game). She has often remarked that my famous “stuffed sloppy-goppy burgers” were a selling point. But for dinner 4 years later, I went a little classier: Roasted garlic encrusted lamb, sesame green beans, twice baked potatoes, and a spinach and strawberry salad.
Annie:
I’d gone out to coffee after work with a friend, who we will call KL. Josh had said to call home when I was leaving so that he could “heat up leftovers.” When she had to leave right at 6:00, I called and headed home.
Josh:
Slyly, I had arranged with KL to take Annie out after work so that I could have a little more control over what time she got home to the apartment we share (major shout out is due to KL for all the assistance in the whole process). One of the most amusing parts of the evening came later when Annie apologized for having gone out with KL and messing up my plans. I don’t think she realized how much conspiring and plotting went into that evening.
Annie:
The whole thing hit me in waves. I entered the apartment to see a surprising number of candles on the shelves in our living room. My first thought was, “he went to a lot of effort to heat up leftovers.” Then I rounded the corner and saw even more candles on every ledge in our dining nook. The next wave of thought was “did I do something that he’s saying ‘thank you’ for?” I didn’t think making him a salad that morning was so special. When I saw the rose petals on the floor and table, I started to have a better idea of what was going on.
Josh:
I was sitting on the couch, waiting for it all to sink in. I figured that once she saw the apartment, there would be no reason to hold off with the question much longer, so I was ready with the ring box hidden behind me on the couch. Besides, if I had decided to wait until desert, I probably would have passed out before we’d even made it though the main course.
Annie:
The problem is that they teach the boys what they are supposed to do in this situation. Josh had his whole speech prepared, but since I wasn’t expecting the proposal for a few more months (I was convinced that he still needed to get the family diamond from his mom), I hadn’t given any thought to what I would do or say.
Josh:
Annie would have been a riot to watch if I wasn’t so nervous. She stood up, showing me the mail and telling me about her day until I finally asked her to sit down next to me. Then, as I was trying to get though the little speech I had rehearsed, which was hard enough to remember without her kissing me every third word, I finally had to ask her to stop until I was done (the only time that has ever happened).
Annie:
When Josh finished his speech (which I can’t remember, but he assures me was about how “every day for the past four years has been an adventure” and how he “couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life on this journey” with me), he got down on one knee – like the gentleman that he is – and produced a ring more gorgeous that I could have possibly imagined.
Josh:
The first thing she said was, “really?”
Annie:
Yes, the first thing I said was “really?” – but “really?” as in “really today?”, not “really, you want to do this?” The look on his face told me he was waiting for me to say yes, and I was more than happy to oblige.
Josh:
The best part of all of it, the way that I know that the she is my b’sheret (a Hebrew word meaning “meant to be”) is this: the diamond at the center of Annie’s ring was given in a necklace by my great-grandfather Jules (after whom I was named) to his wife on the day of their daughter’s wedding. My grandmother gave it to my mom on her 21st birthday, and my mom has worn it around her neck ever since. She has always said that it would be mine when I was ready (with surprisingly little pressure for a Jewish mother) but it was only when I went to ask her for it the we realized the most amazing fact. The diamond’s first owner, my great-grandmother, who died when I was quite young, was also named Annie. When I gave it to my Annie, I told her that it “has always been, and will always be Annie’s Diamond.”
How we got engaged
Sarah: For months, I thought we were going to the outer banks for the weekend with some friends. Two days before we were leaving, Joe said ‘Guess what? We’re not actually going to the Outer Banks. We’re going to New York City for the weekend.’ He’d bought tickets for us to fly to NYC and had some other surprises up his sleeve, he said. He wanted to do something nice for me since I’d been so busy between work, buying our condo, and getting furniture. So, I packed for a cosmopolitan weekend in the Big Apple.
Well, little did I know… we get to the airport, the curbside checkin staff scan our tickets and say ‘DC to New York to Venice.’ Needless to say, I was thinking What?!?!?! Joe says ‘there’s something else I didn’t tell you. We’re not actually going to New York, we’re going to VENICE!’ My head was spinning.
We’d been to Italy together about four years ago when Joe was studying in Padova and we loved Venice. So, Joe had saved up for months and booked the trip.
We barely caught our flight to Venice because our plane in DC was delayed, but we made it and slept through the night on the flight. We got to Venice around 9am and Joe made lunch plans at the Hotel Cipriani on one of Venice’s islands. We walked to St. Mark’s Square and caught the boat to the hotel.
I’ve never seen a more beautiful hotel. In the back are gardens where rumors say Casanova would take girls to romance them. Today, they grow wine grapes there. We took a walk through and when we got to the end of one row, Joe grabbed my hand and spun me around.
He was down on one knee with a beautiful ring. I said Yes.
We drank Prosecco on the patio. And as they say… the rest is history.
Joe: While we’d been together for years, the decision to ask Sarah to spend the rest of our lives together came suddenly, not over time. The plan for how and where came together just as quickly – Venice. There was simply nowhere else that would do. So, I started planning around Christmas time. Now, we’d just bought a house, so I knew I’d need some time to save and plan for the ring and the trip without her noticing.
I spent tons of time researching the best places in Venice to pop the question. In the middle of St. Marks seemed to be everyone’s #1. OK, not bad -except for the 10,000 tourists shoulder-to-shoulder around you (and the 10,000 or so pigeons). I wanted something intimate and romantic, so San Marco was out.
Everyone’s #2 was… on a gondola! No way. For starters, I was terrified that I’d drop the ring into a canal! And then there’s the gondoliere – it might start out as romantic with him steering the boat and singing, but you know, after the novelty wears off, it would be my new fiance and I… and some stranger in a funny hat. Next.
During all of my research, I got well acquainted with Venice’s wonderful folklore – the characters that made the city their home were just fascinating. Probably one of the best known was Casanova. Reading about his (mis)adventures around Venice, I was struck by his descriptions of the gardens on the island of Giudecca. As fate would have it, they still stand today, on the property of the Hotel Cipriani. Once I saw that they were still as beautiful today, I knew I’d found the most perfect, romantic, intimate spot in all of Venice – and, I think, probably the world – to ask the question.
Booking the hotel, making lunch and dinner reservations (mostly in Italian – looks like that degree came in handy after all!) and booking the flight – all without her finding out! – was torturous. I was a nervous wreck by the time May rolled around! Two days before we were supposed to leave for “off-roading in North Carolina,” I couldn’t sleep at night, I was so nervous. Finally, when the Red Cap blew my cover at DCA, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Sarah looked like she’d been hit in the stomach with a sledgehammer, while someone else handed her the keys to a new Lamborghini. She was speechless.
We touched down in Venice, took the water taxi around the island, past Murano, later St. Marks, and got off on the other side of the Grand Canal and walked to the hotel. We checked in, but I hurried her along for our lunch reservations. We changed, walked to San Marco, and found the private boat launch I’d arranged. We rode in style across the Basin to the Hotel Cipriani, where I had made arrangements for lunch. First, I told her, I wanted to see the gardens. I told her the stories about Casanova, and we strolled through the lobby to the garden entrance.
We walked along a crushed-stone path among the grapes and olives, under an arbor covered in pink hanging flowers. The path and arbor came to a “T” at an old stone wall, with a marble statue tucked into an alcove. To the left, across the water, was Venice. I took her hand, and dropped to one knee.
When our eyes met, she said “Yes”.
My fiancé always told me that when he saw me, he always knew we would be together. His persistence made the relationship all worthwhile! He had been eyeing me while in high school, but passed up the opportunity to come and talk to me. When he ran into me at a local shopping mall a few years later, he seized the opportunity to grasp his ideal girl. After dating for four years, my fiancé knew the best way to propose was to catch me completely off guard. When my fiancé proposed it was supposed to be a normal Friday night, little did I know I would get the surprise of my life. The week of the proposal he told my immediate family, that he was going to propose to me on that Friday. Everyone was excited including my brother, who was going to write that I was going to get proposed to on his Facebook status! (Yes, we are Facebook friends). I knew something was going on behind my back, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on it. I had plans with a girlfriend and all of a sudden my boyfriend asked me to cancel them for a special family dinner that we had been invited to. Also, my fiancé and mom were becoming a little more talkative and she began asking me strange questions like, “How do you know your correct ring size?” It was driving me crazy that I didn’t know what was going on. After a whole week of trying to figure it out I had no luck, so Friday came and I was getting dressed for dinner. My fiancé arrived pretty early to my house. As I finished getting ready my fiancé was waiting and I noticed he began to sweat profusely. When I asked what was wrong he said nothing and asked if I needed more time; which was strange. I went to grab my coat eagerly wanting to leave because I was very hungry. My fiancé asked why I was in such a rush and asked if I want to sit down a talk. Thinking it was something important I sat down. He asked, “Do you love me?” I answered, “Yes?” Then he got down on one knee and asked “Did I really love him?” He reached in his pocket and pulled out the ring box and asked me to marry him. I was so ecstatic I just asked him to get off his knee and kissed him hysterically. I was so excited I never answered the question. After I calmed down a little my fiancé reminded me that I hadn’t answered the question, “Of course,” I said. It was a complete surprise and one of the happiest days I have experienced!
Like other Washingtonians, John and I were drawn to the city after college because of our career interests. We met here in 2006, while at the time we were both working at an international development organization. When we started dating, we were immediately inseparable and like many DC couples, we both have strong notions of what we want to accomplish as individuals. One of things I’ve always wanted was to live and work in India, and in 2008, I was accepted into a yearlong fellowship program for service in Delhi.
I left DC with a heavy heart, torn between my excitement for new challenges and adventures, but sad to leave John in the States and start a long distance relationship. It was a long fall, marked by daily emails, text messages and Skype dates. Finally, in the summer of 2009, near the end of my time in India, John was able to visit for three whole weeks! We spent the first two trying to survive a real Indian summer (without air conditioning at 100+ degree temperatures!) and in the last week we traveled to the south of India, where friends from DC were celebrating their nuptials in a series of three ceremonies (civil, Hindu, and Christian) that spanned the length of the peninsula.
Our tour of south India began at the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula, in a town called Kanyakumari, where the waters of the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, and the Arabian Sea meet and where a portion of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes were immersed. Little did I know that John had intended to propose in Kanyakumari with the sunrise the next morning; the symbolism-laden time and place would surely have made a beautiful setting for his proposal, but the clouds and my unwillingness to wake up negated that option.
We next traveled to the famous backwaters of Kerala, which is aptly known as “God’s own country.” The backwaters should definitely be on everyone’s “bucket list” to see…. I cannot imagine a more relaxing, scenic and serene environment: canals flanked by coconut trees and rice paddies with “school boats” dropping children off as the sun set. We sailed calmly down the canals all day and that evening we ate more scrumptious food.
After dinner on our private house boat, I turned away from John to put something in my camera bag, and when I turned around he was staring at me. Odd, I thought. I remember hearing the words “perfect for each other” and then he continued talking for a minute, ending with “will you marry me?”. Somewhere between those two phrases I think I realized what was happening, and I said something like “are you serious?” Turns out he was.
The details of the proposal from John’s side are quite endearing – the fake search for coffee early that morning so he could call my parents from India, buying the ring in India, writing drafts of the proposal on his desktop in a folder labeled as a work document so I wouldn’t open it. I still can’t believe he traveled with a diamond ring in his pocket waiting for the right moment while backpacking through India!
I guess all the signs were there. On this trip, I was re-reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera in an attempt to find a quote to read at the marriage of a close friend later that year. The end of the book finds the protagonists traveling along the waterways, content in their newfound rekindled love, meandering down the river at an unhurried pace, savoring each other’s company.
“The Captain looked at Fermina Daza and saw on her eyelashes the first glimmer of wintry frost. Then he looked at Florentino Ariza, his invincible power, his intrepid love, and he was overwhelmed by the belated suspicion that it is life, more than death, that has no limits.
‘And how long do you think we can keep up this…coming and going?’ he asked.
Florentino Ariza had kept his answer ready for fifty-three years, seven months, and eleven days and nights.
‘Forever,’ he said.”
John’s proposal is now written in the front of the book. Although I have had my answer ready for far less time than the fifty-three years of Florentino’s wait, it was always, unquestionably, without a doubt, a “yes.”
Here’s our story:
Chris: Dorothy and I met at the end of 2006 at a party at American University here in DC and we start dating shortly thereafter. A year and a half later I was working in my first job, she was starting her senior year of college, and our relationship had become quite serious. As we became serious, Dorothy started to playfully ask when I was going to propose to her. This eventually turned into a daily ritual where she would ask me if today was the day, I would always respond with “no it isn’t”. On Friday, December 5th 2008 I decided to make Dorothy a 4 course Italian meal. The meal was complete with bruschetta and manicotti made from scratch, with warm pizzelles a la mode.
Dorothy: I knew Chris was the one from the beginning knew that when he did propose my answer would immediately be yes. Even though we had talked about waiting till after graduation to get engaged, when Chris said that he wanted to cook me dinner I convinced myself that he was about to propose. Although the dinner was very romantic his roommates were there the whole time and there was no proposal. The next day I told Chris that I wasn’t going to ask him about the proposal anymore and I was content to just wait till graduation for him to pop the question.
Chris: Two days after the big Italian dinner my office was having their Christmas party in Georgetown. I had rented a Mini Cooper (Dorothy’s favorite car) to drive us to the party and we were dressed to the nines. After dinner, speeches and awards we left the party to drive to the National Mall. I had mentioned to Dorothy that on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial there is an engraving denoting where Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream Speech”. We set out in the Mini Cooper and drove to the memorial.
Dorothy: I was so excited to be going with Chris to his company’s Christmas party as I love any opportunity to get all dressed up and celebrate. All through the party Chris was acting strange and nervous but I just assumed he was nervous about making a good impression on his bosses since he was new to the company. After the party we headed out to see the Memorial, which is my favorite and I still had no clue about Chris’s plans…
Chris: Now with this being December 7th, around 9:00 in the evening, it was quite cold. It was so cold that Dorothy was apprehensive to even go to the memorial, but I insisted. After an illegal right turn to find a parking spot (a very smart move on my part around a national landmark!), we were out of the car and were walking up the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial. The sky was clear, the lights were radiating off all the memorials and we had a perfect view all the way to the Capitol. We took a look at the engraving on the steps of the memorial and then Dorothy started to walk up the remaining stairs. I pulled her back and began to recite the speech I had been formulating ever since I had talked to her father over Thanksgiving. I then bent down on one knee and asked her to marry me.
Dorothy: So there we are standing on the steps of the memorial when Chris starts talking about our future together and how great our lives are going to be. This was not an unusual thing as he’s a pretty romantic guy but then he said that he had a question to ask me before any of these things could happen. And in that moment it finally hit me that we was asking me to marry him. I was completely surprised given the events of the past few days but immediately said yes!
Chris: As Dorothy was agreeing to marry me there was a tour group at the bottom of steps of the memorial. As they saw me on my knee, holding Dorothy’s hand they all began to cheer.
Dorothy: As my mind is racing in disbelief about what is happening and smiling at the tourists who hopefully had a memorable trip to the memorial, Chris mentions that he has one more surprise for me. Chris had gotten one of our friends (and now Chris’s Best Man) to covertly take pictures of the whole thing. Our friend took pictures of us from afar at the exact moment that Chris asked me, so that we would have pictures of that moment forever. So after taking a few more snapshots with our friend we all leave the memorial and head back to celebrate some more.
Chris: Eventually we got back in the car and drove to Dorothy’s apartment. We were greeted by her roommates who had put up a congratulatory banner and were gushing over the ring. We then went to my house, were my roommates and other friends greeted us with cake, signs and champagne.
Dorothy: It was so great getting to celebrate with all of our friends. Chris had been busy in the weeks prior to our engagement; besides waking up early the day after Thanksgiving talk to my parents about asking me to marry him he had told all of our friends of his plans. I’m honestly surprised they were able to keep the secret but I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. Getting to share the happiest day of my life so far with my friends and family only made it that much better.
Chris: So that’s how it went. December 7th is now no longer just Pearl Harbor Day, but now the day when Dorothy and I committed our lives together. I like to tell my friends in jest that I picked that so I could say that the day I got engaged was “The Day That Will Live In Infamy”, but I am without a doubt that it is the happiest day of my life.
Our Engagement…
I was feeling good. Fresh off the heels of a surprise weekend trip to
a romantic bed and breakfast replete with flower petals on the bed and
a celebratory toast by a roaring fire, I had no way of knowing what
was in store for me that morning. Now I’m not a morning person, and
by no stretch of the imagination would I consider myself a runner. So
maybe I was just a little surprised to hear myself say “yes” to Mike’s
suggestion that we go on a morning run. Before coffee. Before
breakfast. And it was cold, threatening rain. Yet I found myself
reluctantly putting on extra layers against the cold dampness that
typifies January in the District, and I stepped out the door. Mike
picked the route, and as we slowly wove our way Downtown, we wondered
at the absence of the usual throng of camera-toting tourists in front
of the White House. He casually called out the places that had marked
the beginning of our relationship two years ago: “There, Old Ebbitt’s
Grill — that was our third date . . . and over there’s the Willard –
our first date, that’s where it all began.”
We slowed down as we approached the National Mall, and followed the
curve of the walk up toward the Washington Monument. Despite our
leisurely pace, it was still early, and the Monument was almost
completely empty. As we neared the top and the expanse of the area
began to spread out before us, Mike and I walked over to a spot at the
highest point of the Mall. As we overlooked the reflecting pools, we
were taken by the stillness of the early morning air and a light fog
lifting from the pools.
My heart was still pounding from the run, however, and with a 10k
coming up, I knew I needed Mike’s help to get me motivated to train.
I asked him to help me prepare for it, but I got the distinct impression
he wasn’t listening. So I grabbed his hands and got down on my knees,
laughing and begging him to run with me before the race. He looked at
me and laughed, and I made the most of it: “please train me, please!”
He looked down at me, laughing harder now. Realizing I had him where
I wanted him, I beseeched him: “Say yes! Say yes! Say yes!” Of
course, I was completely kidding around, but I was getting a kick out
of his expression. I had never seen the Mall so empty, and there
wasn’t a person around us, so I was really playing it up. But he was
about to turn the tables on me and really get my heart pounding! With
a huge smile on his face, he said, “Before I answer that, I have a
question for you.” Pulling me up off of my knees, he
slid down onto his own knee. Holding my hands, he looked up into my eyes
and told me how much he loved me and that the last two years had been
the best in his life. My jaw — he told me later — was pretty much
hanging wide open as he reached into his pocket, took out my dream ring, and
asked me to marry him. My knees buckled as I collapsed into his arms,
saying “Yes!” not realizing his outstretched right hand still held the ring.
After a few spinning seconds, I heard him ask, “But don’t you even
want to see the ring?!” In my excitement I had completely forgotten,
and I was absolutely thrilled when he slid the ring onto my finger.
When we recovered, we stood together, overlooking the empty Mall — it
was if the entire space had been reserved for our special moment. In
one of the nation’s most majestic overlooks, together, we were
completely alone. It was brilliant.
We first met sophmore year of high school in 2003. We had a math class together and began hanging out and talking outside of school not long after meeting. We became close friends even though I liked him more than that. I was scared to find out whether he wanted to be my boyfriend or just stay friends, so I kept quiet about my feelings and we became best friends. In 2005 I moved to Florida to finish out high school and then I went to college in Florida as well. Throughout the years Ryan and I kept in contact with eachother. Finally, he came to visit me in Tampa January 2010. We were just hanging out and catching up on lost time. I thought we would go to MacDill Airforce Base because I wanted to show him how nice the beach and the peir were. When we got to MacDill we walked around and talked for hours. It was a perfect day where I felt time stopped for us to learn more about each other. It was one of the best days of my life.
Side note from Ryan: I was into Jess the day we met, and definitely wanted more. Of course, with her being so pretty, so did every other guy in school. We had a ton of fun and got really close fishing and playing basketball. After she left we continued to talk, never quite losing touch. We pursued lives away from each other and made plenty of mistakes but whenever one of us encountered a tough time or rough situation we always found time to talk and confide in the other. I am amazed at how funny life can be bringing people back together. I think we both had valuable experiences and it was good that we lived individual lives to define what we want and need. I’ve never been so happy.
Ryan and I had finally found some time to go back to that stand still place. When I woke up on the morning of April 27th, I was thinking I would take the ring with me just incase a perfect moment had come up to ask him. I was so nervous that I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. I thought I might stumble on my words or just not be able to say what I wanted to say. So when we got to MacDill we went to the park where we first were on the swings. A little boy and his mom interupted the moment I first thought about asking him to marry me, so we went to sit under the playground near by. This was where we had started our talks that lasted for hours at a time months earlier.
We were sitting there talking about I don’t know what and just looking at each other. I was thinking about the last time that we had sat there and how different it was. In just a few months everything was different. I knew I didn’t want to wait any longer to share with him how serious I was about spending the rest of my life with him. As I was finishing that thought, Ryan started pulling something out of his pocket. It was a box! I wasn’t even thinking that he would propose to me yet, but then he opened a big box and at first I didn’t know what he was doing. Then I noticed it was empty. So he started to explain how the ring box could be just as important as the ring itself. You make it out to be whatever you want it to be. Also how the box took time, sweat, and hardwork to be made. He said I deserve the best. He went on about how he could not give me everything he thought I deserved and said he would work hard to fill the box with something great. As he was talking I was thinking ‘wow this is incredibly sweet’, but very surprised because the whole time I had the ring that I was going to give him in my hand. When he finished talking I laughed and said “wow your funny, (as I reached into my back pocket) I was going to ask you, will you marry me?” I couldn’t get out everything else I wanted to say about how much I loved him, how perfect we fit together, how I want to spend the rest of my life with him, and much more. He replied, “yes!” as I suspected he would, but he seemed shocked of course.
So then we walked to the peir after hugging and laughing at my decision to ask him to marry me, and him giving me an empty ring box! As we got to the peir I jumped up on the railing and was just sitting there while Ryan stood close to me and laughed at everything that had just happened. He suddenly screamed my name, “JESSICA” he scared me a bit and then I just laughed at him and didn’t think about what he was doing. He fell to his knee. I thought he had hurt himself so I leaned forward asking if he was ok. Ryan replies, “I don’t deserve to be your husband, will you marry me?” At first I didn’t hear him because I was still thinking he hurt himself, but then it processed. I screamed “yes, wait what!?” as I realized he had pulled a ring out of his pocket. It was the perfect day, meant to be!
Ryan: Well…I was already feeling a little tense that day because it seemed that we had been subtly badgering each other to go back to the beach where we had our first perfect day together. Revisiting this super romantic beach (Macdill Air Force Base) had me a little wound up because my memories from the first time were so amazing that I did not want to have any less fun, or have an experience that did not live up to our recollections of the last time. Being the sprightly beachgoers we are, we decided to play on the kid’s swingset and jungle gym across the street before we went over.
Apparently I was way out of shape because after a few minutes of running around we decided to take a seat and rest under the playset. As we sat there, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the empty ring box. I explained to Jess that I wanted to give her a sign of complete commitment and that I believed the ring box symbolized just as much as the ring to me. A box can be whatever you make it; it can hold any object any size. Glamorous or plain, the box still holds a symbol of something that lasts forever, something that cannot be expressed with words. The effort to fill this box is a close paradigm to our relationship. Hours of time, money, thoughts, prayers, weeks and months of work, and searching all go into filling that box with the one thing in this life that can remotely explain how I feel. It can be flashy or understated, expensive or economical. The last thing I told Jessica was that I will never feel like what I DID get her was enough, and she deserves so much bigger, better, and nicer than I could ever afford.
Not really sure what to expect (I was pretty sure she’d be bummed about just a little box) she just looked at me and smiled, reached into her back pocket pulled out a ring and said, “You’re funny, because I got this for you…will you marry me?” Needless to say I blushed for the first time in years and nearly slammed my head on the wood overhead when I jumped up. Being a man of perfect verbal timing I swiftly replied “DUH! I mean, of course, yes!”
With the both of us floating a little higher than normal we decided to take a walk up and down the water, ending up on a pier in the distance. It was a perfect day, mid 70s sunny and only a few clouds. We walked and talked about the future, big stuff small stuff, parents and friends, slowly finishing up on the end of the pier. As Jess sat on the end of the pier, she went on and on happily…and I tuned her out completely. I started thinking about the next step, still a little shocked she beat me to it, still shocked we were thinking exactly alike, and started to get incredibly nervous. My head went in a million different places thinking of her possible reactions to what I was about to ask. Ignoring her this whole time (she was still talking) I was so far into my own world I shouted “JESSICA.” Being about a foot away, this obviously startled her and she jumped, almost falling into the water. Still not really being able to control myself I tripped to a knee and pulled out the ring I had taken from the box earlier stuttering “I don’t deserve to be your husband but will you marry me?” This was definitely not as smooth as I had hoped and I guess it looked like I had fallen so she jumped forward anxiously and started asking if I was ok. Not seeing the ring at all, but saying “Yes…..wait what?” she stared me down. Finally, she hugged me and reaffirmed her yes. Right or wrong we kept this to ourselves for a few days, preserving the moment for ourselves and in no way disappointing the memories of our first date.