~* Ash *~
It was the Wednesday after my last final. Val and I originally planned to take that day and do absolutely nothing. We were both exhausted from a stressful semester and just wanted to relax. The only planned activity we had was take her dog, Maggie, to the park for a walk. Which park? Why Gallup Park, of course...the spot of one of our best dates.
Sidebar: A few years ago, we were supposed to have a romantic, moonlit picnic at the park.... But it turned out to be unseasonably cold, so we ended up sitting on a bench -- the bench -- under a blanket, wearing peacoats, and eating burritos. Not what we had in mind, but we laughed it off and made the best of it.
That morning, I surprised her when I told her that "today is Ashley Appreciation Day." I reasoned to her that since she had been so supportive of me throughout the semester and during my grueling finals and qualifying exams, she deserved a day solely dedicated to showing her my appreciation. I told her that the first activity involved breakfast at Angelos, the spot of another great date we had. I also gave her a gift box that had a gift card to the Douglas J Aveda Institute for a manicure.
Excited, she happily agreed to partake in Ashley Appreciation Day, and we left for breakfast. Since Angelos doesn't have much space for parking, I let Val out of the car, while I looked for a park. While waiting for a spot to open, Val called me on the phone and told me that the waitress seated her in the same booth we sat in on the date we had there. I hadn't planned that at all, so I knew that God truly was shining on the day. That helped a lot, and made me more at ease in regards to everything working out.
After eating breakfast, I dropped her off for her manicure and went to campus to handle some "business." This business involved taking care of some things in my department, as well as giving my camera to my -- now groomsman -- Mr. K. In addition, we talked strategy and logistics as to how everything was going to go down. Mr. K and his wife, Mrs. K, would go ahead of Val and I to the park, find an inconspicuous place to park, and occupy our bench (which I showed him on Google maps) until we got there.
Then their job was to secretly take as many pictures as possible. After getting that straight, I left campus and headed back to pick Val up. Unfortunately, she wasn't ready, so I went to a coffee shop nearby and started compiling some pictures on my computer that I planned on using later on that afternoon.
When she was finally ready, we got in the car and headed back to her place to get Maggie. On the way, Val suggested that we wait until early afternoon to take Maggie to the park. Knowing that my camera man/groomsman was already on site, I convinced her that we should just go ahead with our current plans. So we picked up Maggie, and headed to Gallup Park.
While in the car, she received an email on her Blackberry informing her that she had received a huge grant to assist her in her academic progress... another sign that God was smiling on that day. At this point in her mind, the day couldn't get any better. Little did she know, the best (in my opinion) was still yet to come.
When we got to the park, I got out and scoped out the scene to make sure Mr. and Mrs. K weren't in obvious view. When I finally spotted them, they were sitting on the bench that Val I sat on on during the date we had at the park... our spot so to speak.
As we started moving towards this bench Mr. and Mrs. K went and hid. As we rounded the corner and came up upon the bench, I suggested to Val that since it just happened to be available, we should sit down. She agreed and we proceeded to sit on the bench. While sitting there reminiscing about all the good times we'd had, I took Maggie and began to tell her the story of the memorable date at the park. Although Maggie was the least bit concerned, Val thought it was cute.
Once I finished telling the story to Maggie, I added that "now the story continues." I reached into my pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper containing a copy of letter I had written to Val's parents asking for their permission.
Sidebar: I'm old fashioned and really wanted to ask in person, but when my research trip to Maryland was postponed, I decided that the next best thing to do was write a letter. After sending the letter to her parents, I talked to them on two separate occasions in regards to whether or not I had their permission. The first time her dad told me to wait until we talked in person (wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I respected that). Her mom then immediately called me back and told me to go ahead with any plans that I had and that when I was ready to give Val the ring to just call her father back.
I unfolded the letter and began to read it. When I got to the end, Val expectedly asked whether or not her parents responded. I told her about the first time I talked to them and how her dad told me to wait, yet her mom told me to go ahead. I then began to explain that I called her dad back the previous day and told him that I couldn't wait any longer, and that I needed his permission because I wanted to do it tomorrow.
When it finally hit her that tomorrow meant today, I got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. To make the moment even more special, I didn't have the ring in a box. When I used to go on trips, Val would give me little, red bags filled with Hershey's Kisses, so I had the ring inside of one of the satchels that I'd saved.
Before I could even get the words out, Val began to cry. So caught up in the moment, I actually put the ring on her finger before I asked her to marry me. Either way, she said "YES!!!"
After hugging and kissing, my camera man/groomsmen and his wife came out of hiding. They took a few more pictures of us, congratulated us, and then headed on their way.
As for Val and I, we continued with our original plan, walking Maggie. As we walked through the park we ran into various strangers who were willing to take pictures of us with my camera. One guy was actually a professional photographer and snapped a few great shots of us on a swing.
As we were leaving the park, we decided that even though we had just gotten engaged, we should spend a little time getting some work done in a coffee shop (such nerds). I convinced Val that the only appropriate coffee shop to go to was Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea where we had our first date.
When we got there, Val was shocked to find that I had our table reserved with a SweetStory card on the table. After grabbing some drinks and dessert, we sat down and went through the pictures that Mr. and Mrs. K took. We compiled the pictures into a slide show and started working on music.
We then left the coffee shop and headed to our first Fox Trot/Swing dance lesson... already preparing for that first dance as man and wife.
After class, we finished the picture slideshow and began sending it out to family and friends.
