The Proposal
HIS STORY…
Once Ashley and I had figured out how we could get married and support ourselves, I began to try and remember all of the ideas that I ever had about how I wanted to propose. Hot air balloon? Way too expensive (I had the ring to pay for). Take her on a hike and surprise her? One of our friends had just done the same thing a few months before and I couldn’t copy him. Hide the ring in food? Too messy. Get down on one knee in an expensive restaurant? Too cliché. After much critical thinking (I knew I was only going to do this once, so it had to count), I eventually pieced together an entire master plan of how I would do it. This master plan made the Allied invasion of Normandy look like a child’s treasure map, I’m telling you, it was complex! My proposal had to take place on a certain day because it was the last weekend before we went back down to OSU for fall term. One problem; I had scheduled my entire grand scheme on the same day that my dad was planning on surprising my mother for her birthday! Neither my dad nor I knew that the other was intending on surprising our respective females on the same day and I was so set on not letting my secret get out that I didn’t tell him that I was going to propose on that day. By the way, I was planning on proposing on Sunday, and I found out about my dad’s plans for Sunday night when I got up on Saturday morning; talk about an all out scramble. I had to call 50 million places and cancel reservations, while trying to figure out when I was going to propose. I really didn’t want to ask her to marry me in Corvallis because I knew that she hated that city and it wouldn’t be very sentimental for her. It was either ask her on that Saturday or wait several weeks until we came home on a weekend, all the while, keeping the ring hidden in my house (which I shared with 60 other college guys). All of that aside, I was busting to ask her. The tension and anticipation was so great that I knew that I couldn’t wait. Ashley and I had been waiting for years to get engaged and get married and another few days of waiting just might have killed me. Okay, Saturday it would have to be. I had less than 10 hours to pull together an idea. First things first, I had to get dessert no matter what we did. I drove all the way from my parent’s house in Beaverton to NW 23rd in Portland to get a piece of cake from a place that I knew she liked. That project alone burned up about an hour and a half. Long story short, I went to her house that night to see her and convinced her to go somewhere with me. The sun was already setting, but I was determined, so we drove to the beach. As we got nearer to the coast, the weather was getting worse and worse (Oregon coast, no surprise) and I was really starting to go into overdrive as far as planning is concerned. I couldn’t just drive her all the way out to the beach and not ask her because of the rain! When we got to the beach, it wasn’t raining so we walked down on the sand a little ways and built a little fire and set up a blanket to sit on. By this point, the ring was in my pocket and I was as nervous as you-know-what! We walked on the beach and I told her how much I cared about her and wanted to spend my life with her. Eventually, I got down on one knee and asked her if she would marry me. And what does she say? “Are you serious?” Yes, my girlfriend of four years at the time, the girl who picked out her own ring asks “Are you serious?” As ambiguous as her answer was, her tears let me know the answer that I wanted to hear. And then, I gave her the cake! The end!
HER STORY…
Ben proposed on Saturday, August 25, 2007. It was his last weekend home before going back to Corvallis for school, and after spending the day running errands with my mom and getting a massage, he didn’t end up coming over to my house until 6:30 for dinner, so I assumed it wasn’t going to happen that weekend. I was a little bummed, just because I really wanted him to ask me before we went back to school. After dinner I thought we were going to watch a movie, but then he asked me if I wanted to go somewhere. We got in his car and started driving. It took me a while to figure out that we were going to the beach… at 7:30. I was getting my hopes up (how could I not?!) that he might ask that night, but then kept thinking that maybe he was just trying to throw me way off by doing something sweet and romantic but not actually asking. When we got to Cannon Beach it was dark, but the weather was amazing, it was actually warm! After Ben built a bonfire, we snuggled and talked, and walked up and down the beach in the dark. My hopes were still high, and I was getting anxious as he kept asking me, “Do you know how much I love you?” When we came back to our spot on the beach, he took my hands in his, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him!! I cried, and cried… and then squealed for a while. All I could say was, “I can’t believe it” a zillion times. Then we sat by the fire and talked all about how he asked my parents for their permission, and looked at my beautiful ring. Ben had brought my favorite dessert from Papa Hayden’s in a cooler… I could not have asked for a more perfect proposal.
We are both still gleaming and find ourselves squealing with glee about every five seconds. I don’t think we can actually believe that we are finally engaged and going to be married! We also can’t stop staring at the ROCK on my finger!!
