The Proposal

Way back in once upon a time time, there was this lovely princess who was going on adventures and wowing the eye of all the handsome men in her kingdom.  The princess wasn't wowed by the handsome men in her kingdom because they were boastful and full of pride.  They weren't too smart either.

So this lovely princess chose to just enjoy the friends she had made in her royal court.  They went on outings to other kingdoms to check out the knights and princes of far away lands.  On one such outing a prince from a far away land (the princess later learned the land was 93 miles away) caught her eye.

She wasn't sure if it was the spirits she had been sipping with her royal court or if this prince really had what it takes to love such a wonderful princess.  Their eyes met and they danced and they left their nocturnal drinks behind to return to their respective kingdoms; but not before exchanging royal telephone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Over the course of several months, even years the prince wowed the princess and of course the princess wowed the prince.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Okay this is getting 'ignoring'*.  I'm going to type for realz now~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I'm in college and finishing up some of my interning, getting ready for finals and then student teaching.  I was in the elementary education program at college.

Kevin said that he could tell that I was getting stressed out and that since I've been working so hard for so long and doing so well in college (GPA 3.8) he wanted to treat me to a vacation of my choice (but not crazy and drive-able).  He told me that all I needed to do was tell him where I wanted him to take me and to book the hotel.

I knew immediately that I wanted to go to Pensacola Beach, Florida.  I'm pretty sure that is kinda one of the closest beaches so it is considered drive-able.  Although we were foot loose and child free, we were still kinda skimpy on our accommodations and we lodged at Days Inn.

Anyway, Kevin and I planned to visit Pensacola beach a few weeks before finals.  We drove down there and made stops for gas and food along the way.  One such stop was at the far northwest edge of Mississippi.  We stopped at a Jack in the Box for some grub.  When we returned to the car, it didn't start.  It didn't make a single sound.  Didn't even try to start.

I think to myself, 'oh great this is the end of my stress reducing vacation.'  In my head we were going to have to rent a truck to drive the car back home to get it fixed.  Kevin actually kept his cool and went inside and asked the guy for a jump.  The car started and he gave us directions to a PepBoys or was it Firestone?  Anyway, he gave us directions to someplace to fix the car battery.

This set us a couple of hours back.  We were on a tight schedule.  The way we figured it, we would head out on our journey at 7am and then arrive at our destination at 7pm.  That stop alone took us two whole hours.  Two hours behind schedule we headed out on our way once again.

The rest of the drive to Pensacola Beach was uneventful.  We arrived at the hotel at around 9pm and while all I wanted to do was collapse into bed and snooze, Kevin was hungry so after unloading our luggage we walked to this little restaurant that was very nearby.  I ordered some fish sandwich with sweet potato fries.  You guys, that was over 10 years ago and sweet potato fries were so exotic to me and let me tell you that my mouth was very happy for that sweet deep fried treat.

So we eat and then walk back to the hotel and crash into bed.  I was soooo tired that I was amazed that when I woke up sometime after 6am and saw the first glint of sunshine I rushed to the window.  I peeked out and was amazed to see the beach.  I knew we'd be CLOSE to the beach but didn't realize that we'd be practically floating in the beach.  I looked to my left and saw all this sand and water and waves and it was just sublime.  And Then!  I looked to my right and what to my wandering eyes should appear but the beach!  An Island! We were really, truly surrounded by sand and water and were on a real life island.

I was absolutely certain that I had died and gone to heaven.  As I was gawking out at the beauty that lay before me, Kevin woke up and asked what I was doing.  I bounced over to him like a child on Christmas morning and real fast clapped my hands, 'The beach! Kevin! We are really very close to the beach! We are on a real, true island!! We are surrounded by waves and water and sand. It's everywhere out there! Come see! Come See!!! You have to see the beach and the sun is rising and it's absolutely beautiful!! Come see!'

I was pulling on his arms and dragging him out of bed and he's got this big ole smile on his face and we look out the window and he wraps his warm arms around me and we just gaze out the window and he says, "Lets get dressed and take a walk on the beach."

Yeah, I was dressed in like four seconds and I brushed my hair and put on make up in about eight seconds and then Kevin sends me on this strange errand.  For some reason he was concerned about something out in the car.  He said he had to go potty or else he'd get whatever it was that was in the car.

No biggie, I'll grab it and be back in like three seconds because I have this sunrise beach walk to look forward to, I'm stoked.

So I make it back and Kevin is ready and we walk across the street to the fluffy dry sand.  It was the middle of November and Pensacola was having this frigid blast of unseasonably cold air.  I just didn't care because we were on The Beach!

We walk around on the packed wet sand and the sounds of the waves rushing in and out was so relaxing and and tranquil that I was really walking on Cloud 9.  Bliss, you guys.  I was so happy and in love.  That was probably one of my top 5 most blissful experiences ever.

So we are walking along nearby the pier and Kevin sees this beautiful pavilion ahead and he says, "Hey lets go check that place out."  It's still roughly 6am and pushing closer to 7am and it's basically sunrise and we stroll our way over to the pavilion and walk up the steps and right there.  Kevin drops down to one knee and pulls this beautifully wrapped small box out of his pocket.  I don't remember what he said to me.  He just said stuff like 'you are wonderful and inspire me and I love you' and then he said, "Will you marry me?" and I had tears in my eyes and I ripped open the present and took out the ring, Oh My Word, the ring was so beautiful and so much bigger than I would ever dream my engagement ring would be.

I said yes, of course.


*ignoring - for some reason my children say ignoring instead of annoying.  I've tried to correct this but they insist they are correct.  So I've given up on the 'ignoring' habit and I will let them continue using the word incorrectly.