The Proposal

Friday, December 19, 2008.

After a long day of class, my sister Kelly, picked me up from school so that we could finish up some last minute Christmas shopping...so I thought. We drove all over town, and finally, she dropped me back off at my car at school so that I could run home to change clothes before meeting two of my girlfriends for a quick, casual dinner...so I thought. Mind you, I'm still in my scrubs, hair in a pony-tail, hardly any make-up left from 6:30 that morning - not looking my best, I guess you could say.

I walk up to my back door, and there is a note from Andrew on the door. I open the door to read it and was surprised to find my entire apartment covered in rose petals and lit up with candles. There was a huge bouquet of red roses on my table, and I knew this was "it" right then. I grabbed the note off of the door and started reading. There was a safety pin taped to the bottom, and I was supposed to pop each of the balloons hanging from the ceiling. I popped each one and read the note that each one had inside - each note was a different reason why he loves me and values me! After I popped the last balloon, there was a letter on my table for me to read. After reading this 2-3 page, beautifully written, sweet letter, I was of course "messy" crying at this point.

As a side note, the first gift Andrew had ever given me was a Build-A-Bear with scrubs, and it had a little message inside that said how much he loves me and encourages me for school. On the table this night was a new Build-a-Bear with a tuxedo on and a bouquet of roses! After reading my letter I was instructed to press the bear's hand to hear his message and to give Andrew a call. I pressed the bear's hand, and the message is Andrew telling me he loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me. As I'm listening, I'm also calling Andrew. I didn't know he was in my apartment the entire time, and I turned around to find him on one knee. He asked me to marry him, and I said YES!! of course!!

We popped open some champagne he had waiting for us, and he told me that we had dinner reservations at Bon Ami, a quiet little restaurant where we love to celebrate special occasions. He said it would just be the two of us so that we could spend some time together before everything got crazy. I changed clothes and we headed out to the restaurant. I thought my surprises were over, but little did I know, my family and his family were there waiting on us to celebrate with us!!

It was such a special night, and everything went perfectly! I was completely surprised, but beyond thrilled at the same time!