So, yesterday was our anniversary, and I ended up proposing. Not only that, but she said yes
Alright, overall it was pretty difficult to set anything up because as it turns out, not only could I not get her off of work, her parents went on vacation - so she had to stay at their house and watch the dog. As a result, all my plans for a weekend getaway to Mexico or something, or even something more simple - like a hotel room, were thrown out the window. I wanted to do my best to make it memorable, though, and so here is how it went...
First off, before we get into the actual proposal, I asked her father for permission to marry her. That actually turned into quite an event...
I knew early last week that her parents were leaving for vacation on Sunday - but found out on Wednesday they were actually leaving early - on Friday morning. I hadn't brought up going out to dinner yet, as I wanted to wait for the last second to make sure that my gir... Fiance (
) didn't find out via mother. So, when I discovered that they were leaving early, I called them and asked if we could meet out the next night (Thursday) for dinner. Her mother basically started to tell me that they were really busy with packing and what not, so I had to level with her and let her know why I wanted to meet them. Unfortunately, she told her husband why I wanted to meet them out, so it wasn't to much of a surprise. The dinner went fairly well - both of them seemed quite touched by me asking permission, but nearly ended in disaster, although I didn't know it yet. While at the resteraunt, we ran into the mother of a mutual aquintaince of my fiance (man, that's weird) and myself. We talk to her son probably once a year or so, and it just so happens that yesterday he called her. Fortunately, his mother apparently didn't mention to him that I was out with my fiance's parents - had my fiance found out about it, she would have quickly guessed why.
Anyway, moving on....
While my girlfriend was at work yesterday, I had a dozen roses delivered to her. I believe she thought that was her present, and immediately called me and gushed about how pretty they are. Then, she threw a wrench into my plan, by saying that the earliest we could meet up was around 6:00 pm. Unfortunately, I already had the limo scheduled to show up at my house at 4:00. I said that it would be fine, and that I'd just pick her up from her parents house around 6:00.
After I hung up with her, I called the limo company and tried to reschedule. Not surprisingly, they were booked up the rest of the night. I tried every company listed in the phone book, but all of them were booked. I called back the original people that I had scheduled it with, and said the magic words - "I'll pay double" - which piqued their interest. (On a side note, I feel a little bad for that, as they ended up telling the people who were supposed to get the limo that it broke down... I think they ended up getting a bus instead) Anyway, they said that I could have it from 5:30 - 7:00. It wasn't as long as I had hoped, but I figured I probably wouldn't be able to convince them to piss off any more of their customers, and it was better than nothing, so I agreed.
I then went and bought some parcley - I wanted it to be fresh, and then went to a florist and picked up another five dozen roses (I figured five would be good, as it was our 5th year anniversary) I got home, showered, changed, and then the limo arrived, so I hoped in and explained to the driver that I wanted him to pull past her house and drop me off a little bit down the street, so she hopefully wouldn't see the limo until after I had proposed. We finally got there, and he hit me with the bill - $600.00 for the limo, and they had conveniently added an additional 25% tip for gratuity, and taxes. I'm not trying to complain, but around $792.00 for an hour and a half limo ride seems a bit excessive - even paying double. I told him to pull into her driveway in about 20 minutes, and we should be out shortly after that. Anyway, he dropped me off waaaaay down the street, probably around 1/2 mile or so. I was getting pretty strange looks walking down the street armed with 5 dozen roses, a ringbox, and a sprig of parcley.
When I got to her house, I let myself in through the garage. Unsurprisingly, she wasn't ready yet, so I hung out downstairs while finished getting ready. She took so long that the limo actually came and parked in the driveway before she came downstairs. It's difficult to describe how her house is set up, but although the front door is directly in front of the staircase, there is only a small window in the door - you'd actually have to look out it, and not just glance at it, to notice the limo parked in her driveway. To prevent that, as she walked down the stairs, I called out to her and told her that I lied to her about her present (Oddly enough, she had said that she wanted a dustbuster - which I had told her I got for her). I was kinda standing near the corner of the hallway with all 5 dozen roses in my hands behind my back around the corner. Fortunately, she didn't take too close of a look out the window, and started walking down the hall towards me. When she got closer, I whipped out the roses and gave them to her. She just about melted. I helped her get some vases from the cupboards, and just as she was putting them in, I told her that I had another present for her. She turned around, and I held out my sprig of parcley. She giggled a bit, and then I stuck it behind her ear, same as we did all those years ago. She gave me a hug and a kiss, and then I told her that I had one MORE present for her. At that point, I dropped down to one knee and gave a little speech and asked her to marry me. As soon as I dropped down onto my knee holding the ring, she first looked shocked, then immediately started crying - one of the very few times in our relationship when I didn't mind seeing her cry. She said yes, there was more kissing and hugging and lots more crying on her part. When I put the ring on her finger, I inadvertanly put it on her right hand - for you folks out there that are planning on proposing some day, your left isn't her left
Funnily enough, the whole time all this was going on, her dog had decided that my pant leg was a new toy and wanted to play tug of war with it. Anyway, I suggested that we head out to dinner, and she started to walk towards the front door... where I was standing, waiting to open it for her and reveal the 16 passenger stretch deluxe limo or whatever the hell it was to her. Then she remembered she didn't have shoes on... and went into the garage (which has a clear view of the driveway) to get them... and saw the limo. More tears, more kissing, more make-up fixing, and we our on our way to dinner.
We ate out at the same restauraunt we have eaten at every anniversary, and came back to our house to spend the night together. Unfortunately, her car was still at her parents house, and she had to be to work by 5:30. So, I had to be up at 2:30am (which wasn't all that fun, as we didn't get to sleep until around 1:00 or 1:30) and drive her back out there to take care of the dog/grab her car. Additionally, that explains why I am up this early typing this out.
Thanks for all the ideas everyone, it was quite a pleasure to hear her say that it was the best day of her life. I figured I'd just share the story so anyone that was following would have a conclusion to our tale.
Cheers!