Thanks for sticking around this week for the last installment in my week long saga of how the circus began.
It was spring break of our junior year. The plan (or so I thought) was to spend the first part of break at my parents house and the last part in MD at his parents house.
Wednesday we drove to MD and Thursday we had plans for a fun date in DC. We were going to see what was left over from the Cherry Blossoms and have a picnic lunch in the city. The sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.
As we walked around our nation’s capital, hand in hand, Scott kept remarking how neat it was that everyone had a story. He say things like “Look at that lady, I wonder what her story is.” He even said something at some point about how it would be great to meet up in DC years from now and share our stories. Yea, I just loved that comment. “Meet up?” I thought to myself. I let it go though, no use starting a fight.
Other than those annoying life story comments, it was a perfect day. We had gone into DC to see the Cherry Blossoms when we were newly dating in high school. It was a nostalgic, “remember when” kind of day. Several times throughout the day I thought to myself, “Today would be the perfect day for him to propose. I wonder if he realizes what a good day this would be to propose.” But I told myself I couldn’t ruin every good date day hoping he would propose. I needed to just enjoy the day for what it was and not ruin it hoping for more.
After a full day of walking around, we went to take the Metro out of the city and were going to go out to dinner. I believe we even discussed trying to catch the sunset afterwards in Annapolis. When we got to the metro things got held up. There was a fire on one of the trains and there was a huge delay. We waited it out. I had no idea how much it was killing Scott though, since he had further plans for our day of fun.
Since the trip home took longer than we had expected, I suggested we go to the sunset first and then dinner. He was quite happy with my suggestion.
We went to what is now deemed “our park” to watch the sunset. This is the park we frequented many times during our dating days. From one side can see the Naval Academy across the River and from the other, you can see the sunset over the river. As we sat down beside each other in the sand, I remarked to him how this park is “kind of our park, don’t ya think?” He told me later he was thinking, “You have no idea.”
We sat together, his arm around me watching the sunset when he sat up a little and looked over at me.
“Crystal,” he said “I love you, with that forever kind of love…”
I instantly jumped up and gave him the biggest hug ever squealing, “You do?! That is great!”
Funny thing is, I didn’t realize I was interrupting his proposal with my joy and exuberance. He had the ring in his hand ready to give to me, not quite expecting me to be so excited just to hear he loved me.
He then went on to get down on one knee and ask me if I would marry him.
I couldn’t believe it. This was really happening. I really was getting my dream come true. I of course said yes right away.
We went out to dinner afterwards but I couldn’t eat a thing. I was so excited (much like those days after I returned from Harvey Cedars) and love sick that honestly, I barely ate for days. Those butterflies of excitement were so strong. We went back to his parents house and sat up and talked for hours. We talked about things like budgets and kids and dreams for the future. It was one of the best nights of my life.
You might be wondering why he waited to propose when he did. What was so special about April 20, 2000? He wanted to propose in Annapolis at “our park.” He picked the Thursday of spring break because he knew that all of my friends from HS would be in town that weekend and I could tell them all at the Good Friday service at church. He wanted me to have that time with my girls. And we ended up going back to my parents house on that Saturday so that I could spend some time with my parents, filling them in on the excitement. If you were wondering, he did ask my father first at the beginning of the week before leaving for MD. Even though he had the ring for months, he didn’t ask permission until the last minute, because if he had the ring and my Dad’s blessing, it would have been really hard to wait for his perfectly planned day.
On our way to my parents house he stopped and bought me my first Bride’s magazine. I was free to dream and plan as much as I wanted at this point. And he wasn’t one of those guys who just left the planning up to me and showed up on the wedding day. He was a part of everything, helping to pick out invitations, flowers, and the DJ. He picked out his tux and the grooms man tux’s and said that if I got to keep my dress a secret then he got to keep his tux a secret, and so it was.
And so almost 3 and half years after he came to watch Toy Story after school, he told me he loved me.
With that forever kind of love
And a little over a year later, we became man and wife. We each made little count downs for the other out of post it notes. It started at 401 I think and each day you ripped off one as it counted down the days till June 2, 2001. We’d have little notes written to each other on certain milestones (like under a year, or less than 100 days, or single digits).
Our wedding day was another dream come true day, but I’ll save that post for a later time.
