He may not have sweaty palms in front of a courtroom or against the best of defense attorneys. He didn’t have butterflies when asked to officiate his cousin’s wedding. I never thought I’d see him nervous, but that all changed when he got down on one knee to ask me if I’d like to spend the rest of my life with him.
I said yes. Then I asked him to pinch me...
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We had planned a weekend getaway to Galveston, a place where I spent much of my childhood and teen years. While the beaches might not be very beautiful, that place holds a lot of special memories for me. We stayed at the Hotel Galvez, a gorgeous historic resort-like hotel. Even more beautiful and more special now that it will forever be the place that David proposed to me.
I arrived on Thursday night. After five and a half hours of driving, I am usually not a happy camper. David knows this all too well, and he knew I might be grumpy once I arrived, but he played all that out in his head and decided it needed to happen Thursday night so we could spend the rest of our weekend celebrating.
Once I got into the parking garage, I texted him that I had arrived. AKA - please come help me drag my 14 bags up to our room. He replied with an unusual, “Can’t come down right now, Mandy at the front desk has your key.” Once I hauled my luggage into the hotel lobby, I asked for Mandy who gave me my room key and a rose with a tiny card attached. The card said “THIS ROSE REPRESENTS THE PAST. I know you hate driving, so I got you this rose to cheer you up. I LOVE YOU.”
I grinned like an idiot riding the elevator up to our room.
Once I got into the room, David was nowhere to be found, yet there was a gift bag, another tiny card, and another red rose waiting for me in the room. This is when I started to figure out something was up. This card said, “THIS ROSE REPRESENTS THE PRESENT. Come down to the bar by the front desk. A drink will be waiting for you. In the meantime, enjoy a chocolate.” He also left a note on the gift bag that told me to change into something comfy. Considering I’m an overachiever and had already changed in my car, I was good to go.
I grinned like an idiot riding the elevator down to the bar.
Once again, I didn’t see David anywhere in the lobby. I went up to the bar and the bartender, Tess, gave me my favorite drink and the third and final tiny card. “Do I have to drink this alone?” Tess nodded. By now I have butterflies BIG time, people are staring at me and my drink of choice was settling in. This card read, “Enjoy your drink! They will bring you to me.” I stood there like a goober for about five minutes until Mandy rescued me. She said to follow her and we walked a distance that felt like three miles (but was actually about 40 yards) until we were in the hotel ballroom. She politely chit chatted with me during our three mile walk, but I could hardly concentrate. I think I came up with some coherent answers to her questions, but mostly...I was grinning like an idiot.
Once I could see into the dimly lit ballroom, there was David, standing up awaiting my arrival. He was set up at a small round table with candles glowing, chocolate covered strawberries, champagne in a bucket of ice and...lo and behold...our song playing softly in the background!
I sooooo know what’s going on. HOL-EEE MOLEY! Is this really happening tonight??!!
He hands me my third and final rose and says “This rose represents OUR future together...” then he says a few sweet things (that I will keep to myself) and gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him.
I was in so much shock that I never took my purse off my shoulder (yes, it’s in almost every picture....sigh...)
My answer was a shocked, “Yeah...I mean YES.” I didn’t cry at first but I did cry five minutes later. I’m a delayed reactor I suppose.
I asked him to pinch me because it felt so surreal. Since that didn’t work, I asked him to pinch me again. I couldn’t be more impressed, happy, excited, in love, and blessed. I couldn’t have asked for a better man or a better proposal.
We grinned like idiots the whole weekend.
The ring? It’s classic, timeless, simple, elegant, and absolutely beautiful. We never discussed rings. He never asked my ring size. All part of his “master plan” of surprising me. He asked my dad for permission two weeks beforehand. That’s what made me cry. There was a rainbow over the ocean about an hour before I arrived. I think it was a sign - perhaps it was our guardian angel, my late grandparents, or God saying “Go David, Go!”
