Chris and I had been talking about getting married for some time when one day he promised me that he was going to propose by the end of the year – but I would have no idea when. He teased that he was going to wait until New Year’s Eve or until after the holidays so I couldn’t show my family the ring! He even asked me how I felt about flying given the September 11th events and wouldn’t give me any other details.
I was so excited and bursting with anticipation that I didn’t pick up on what was going on behind the scenes. Chris had been planning this black tie Halloween party for his work and suggested that we stay overnight at a nearby hotel to make the night like a “date."
On the night of the party, I was running late from work and when I got home, Chris was so handsomely dressed in his tux and had my dress out and ready to go. He quickly helped me get dressed and when we got in the car, he reached into the back seat and handed me a dozen roses! I was so excited and thought to myself, “we should do this date thing more often!”
He also handed me a big present but told me that I was not allowed to open it until later. We left the house to take our dogs to his mom’s for the night when Chris suddenly “remembered” that he forgot something at home in the shed that his mom needed. When we got home, he told me to wait in the truck so I wouldn’t get dirty and then said that if I wanted I could go ahead and open the gift while he went to the shed.
It was a photo album that he had put together. Combined with color and black/white photos, the pages read: “Will you go for walks with me? Will you admire nature with me? Will you sit and talk with me? Will you enjoy life with me? Will you take care of us? Will you have children with me? Will you get old with me? Will you love me forever? Will you …” My heart was pounding, tears were streaming down my face, and my mind was racing. Could this be it? No – we are flying somewhere. He couldn’t have had better timing when he came from around the corner of the house and asked if I could come hold the flashlight because he was having trouble.
He held out his arm for me to hold onto and as we rounded the corner of the house I saw it. Fifteen pumpkins all lit up, one letter per pumpkin: Will you marry me? I didn’t even notice but he was already down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I, of course, said yes through the tears and we hugged for several minutes until I could stop crying. I took a ton of pictures and we got back into the car.
Now I’m still thinking that we have this Halloween party to go to until Chris makes the wrong turn on the highway. He’s not very good with directions, but you would think that he’d know how to get to his own place of work! We were going the completely opposite direction and he kept “missing” places to turn around. He insisted that we were going to a Halloween party but I didn’t realize until we got there that we were the only attendees. He had rented a cabin with a fireplace and hot tub and that night he cooked me the best meal I’ve ever had. He also presented me with one last gift: A bottle of my favorite wine in which he had a customized label made with the date he proposed and a special message just for me. To this day, I don’t really know if there was a Halloween party at his work or not!
Tami Warnock,
Blacklick, OH
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