The good stuff.... for those of you just joining us, I had just suggested that we walk down a private beach that we "randomly" happened upon...
You can see John feeling for the ring here
We walked down the beach (not before I had to take off my heels, which apparently threw off the timing). John told me about how he was thinking of our first date and how he remembered I said I wanted to be a dolphin trainer... and how cute he thought I was but couldn't tell me because we had just started dating. We talked about how far we've come- both professionally AND as a couple. Now, I am lucky to say that John tells me this stuff all the time, so I didn't think twice about it. Everything seemed casual and normal, I even pointed to an ugly orange catamaran floating in the marina in the middle of WHAT TURNED OUT TO BE MY PROPOSAL SPEECH.
BUT THEN. His voice got shaky. **ALERT ALERT** That never happens. This is the most confident guy I know. He said something like "I don't know exactly when I fell so completely in love with you but..."
I SWEAR I BLACKED OUT. Everything got hot, I went from completely fine to sobbing and screaming "OHMIGAWD OHMIGAWDDD" between sobs. I can't remember exactly what was said (a phenomenon I remember reading about and swearing that that would NEVER EVERRR happen to me- and that I would remember every precious moment of my proposal if/when that ever happened). But he was on a knee. And I was freaking out. And I just. Couldn't even. Stand.
According to everyone (and my own memory), the time between John getting down on one knee and me collapsing to mine was abouttttttt .02 seconds
He said amazing things. I cried. He said all the things a girl dreams her whole life to hear. I cried more. And then he said the words that I've been wanting to hear for the past 6.75 years...
"Jaquielyn Midori Tango, will you marry me?"
ALL. THE. TEARS. I said "Yes! Of course!"... but naturally, between the tears, he couldn't hear my answer. He said "Is that a yes?!?" A MILLION TIMES, YES, JOHN.
I finally took a look at the most beautiful ring ever created in the history of the world. And he put it on MY finger. I think I even said something like "You have to put it on me because I just can't function right now"
Then we stood up, I put my head against his chest and could hear how freaking loud and fast his heart was beating. I don't know if I've ever seen this guy nervous
And then there was screaming behind us. I turned around to see some strangers on their balcony cheering and clapping.... And then a familiar face! Amber!! With a camera!! Taking pictures!!!!!! Just like I always wanted
The next couple pics are my genuine reaction...
[Please note that ALL of the pictures in this post were taken by ninja- Level:Expert Photographer extraordinaire, Amber freaking Arnold. I even scoured the bushes for a flash of a camera/photographer for any clue that a proposal was happening. I saw nothing. She was one with the bushes. Not only is she an INCREDIBLE photographer, but she is also my lead at work, responsible for getting me the day off, and a world-class trainer. I'm proud to also be able to call her my friend]
Amber snapped a few more photos, before running off
As she left the scene, I asked John if she had a dinner reservation or why she had to leave so quickly. John said "Oh, we just talked about it and she wanted to give us some time together to talk about stuff... and I told her about our dinner reservation"
Little did I know, that was not the last surprise of the day... Here's a sneak peek at the next blog installment...
John and I have had crazy schedules.But for one, brief period, our schedules synced up (for the first time in foreverrr.... cue Frozen) and we had weekends TOGETHER!!!!! To maximize time together, we started having a "dinner schedule" for who makes dinner what nights. Stop laughing, it works for us. However, I ended up picking up most of the dinner duties that week due to impromptu work meetings (lies have been highlighted in yellow for effect), John picking up extra shifts, and other... hrm, shall we say cover-ups? When he came home an hour and a half after his supposed scheduled "end of shift", to a cold dinner, I was a wee bit upset. He promised to make me breakfast the following morning to make up for it. It seemed fair.
"What time do you leave for work"
"6 am"
"What time do you want breakfast ready?"
"5:45"
"Ok. It'll be on the table"
Breakfast was MY FAVORITE! French toast, with MANGO!! I got ready for work, dressed in a swimsuit since my lead (who would later moonlight as a kick-ass photographer) had said "Yeah, you're probably going to dive tomorrow. Be ready" Since John had work that day as well, he was ALSO in his work clothes. Randomly, John said "Hey. Since we're both up and dressed for work, let's take a picture of us in our work clothes!". Great idea, more for him so we can get some in his spiffy uniform. He had been wanting more "uniform pics" and HE suggested it! Perfect!!
First pic of the day
And then this happened (don't mind my ridiculous jumping)...
The day then continued on with ALL of my favorite things!!!! Rock climbing at my favorite gym...
Then onto SeaWorld to see the Killer Whale show I've been wanting to see pretty much alllll summer...
Lunch at Mama Stella's- my fave
Annnnnddddd then since John got me the day off work from feeding sea lions, naturally we paid $5 so that I could feed sea lions. This is not a joke
How do you say no to that face?!?
I know this is ridiculous but...
I just love sea lions
And then I was le tired. Apparently I threw a wrench in the plan by suggesting a midday nap. But ya know, it was my birthday day so NAP IT IS! John then told me that we were going out to dinner! To a place called "Vessel". It seemedreally nice, was highly rated on Yelp! and we also had a reservation! The "Yelpers" had suggested that it was a "nice place to walk around" so John thought maybe we could head over early and check it out?Also, the guy who took his reservation was apparently a big 'ole jerk and stearnly warned John NOT TO BE LATE and that the place was hard to find so DON'T BE LATE. So we really had to get there early (do you see where this is going)?
We got there early, I debated whether or not to bring my purse. John said "Nah, don't bring it. Here, I'll put it in the trunk for you....." As he placed my purse in the trunk, I peeked back and saw that he was texting (**he was actually sending a "5 minute warning" text to everyone waiting). He had mentioned that Robert had been texting him earlier, asking him to play some beloved Hearthstone. I thought nothing of it. As I asked why he thought I shouldn't bring my purse, he shrugged and said "I know you're going to try and pay for dinner so this way, you can't!" Smartest guy I know.
We headed out of the car and wandered around the marina, which was gorgeous (just as the "Yelpers" had recommended) and even had a small private beach beneath Vessel. I got super excited about the beach, turned to John and said "Let's walk along the beach!!"
It's so crazy and exciting, I wanted to write down every detail (mainly for my own goldfish memory) so I never ever forget how much time, effort, thought, and love went into this incredible proposal.
So we'll go in chronological order, shall we?
John and I had been dating for 6.75 years (very scientific, I know). I hadn't really been feeling the wedding/marriage fever since none of my bestest friends had gotten married, and I haven't been attending weddings like crazy. It was all something in a far off land... UNTIL. Until I spent a month in Washington, with incredible, talented, but extremely YOUNG married people. They were allllll younger than me, with their partners for less time than John and I, and all wayyy more married than I. Jealousy, more than anything took hold. I love John, he loves me... What's left? For a while, we had used the whole "we need careers, we need a place of our own, we need...... other essentials" reason to postpone marriage. But we had just moved into our own studio apartment, we had both started to get our careers on the road. Everything seemed to fall into place except for one essential thing. The guy being on board.
I tried to prepare him for the marriage talk that was about to come raining down on him.... During phone conversations, I would not-so-subtly drop hints that I was thinking more and more of marriage. More of the "what are we waiting for?!" thoughts were a daily occurrence, especially during late night shifts that last until sunrise. Marriage fever was hitting. Hard.
Little did I know, Mr. Awesome was already on board and had begun planning, scheming, and working very hard to concoct the perfect proposal. He'd brush off my comments with things like "well..... we JUST got our own place" , "you've spent less than a week at our new apartment" "I still have to think about PA school" (All valid and true points). This would satisfy me forrrr about 48 hours until I was back to bringing it back up again.
Finally, I returned home to San Diego. We sat down to have the marriage talk. Deep breaths, pounding chest. It boiled down to this:
"I need more time... I'm just so in debt, and I'd like to get my head above water before we start to think about that stuff. Can we re-visit this two months? Is that fair?"
Two months it is. We both jotted "September 13th" into calendars to remind us (pfft, as if I needed reminding) of the "big marriage talk". Well, alrighty then.
The next MONTH is not something I'm proud of. I made multiple tactless jabs at him, finding a way to insert "I'm-never-getting-married, WOE IS MEEEEEE" comments into everyday conversation. Most of them were to his face and outright, but others were to friends, and pretty much anyone who would listen. I NOW KNOW that most of these friends were already IN on the plan.... and I'm pretty much the biggest jerk on the planet.
John did an excellent EXCELLENT job at throwing me off the trail. There was a fleeting moment were I thought maybe MAYBE he would propose on my birthday. He asked "what do you think you're getting for your birthday?" I giddily and shyly told him "I think..... maybe you're going to propose??". His reaction should have gotten him an Emmy
"Woah woah woahhh. Ok, we need to seriously sit down and talk about this because if that's what you think you are getting, you are going to be reallllllly disappointed"
(Like any good actor, he took my hands, looked me in the eyes and fed me one of many many lies to get through the next month)
"Look, you know that I don't want to propose around a birthday or holiday. I've just never wanted to do that"
