We’re Engaged!

That’s right, after all these years I finally asked Melissa if she would marry me, and she said yes! Needless to say she was very surprised. Here’s what happened… We drove out to Chicago today to spend the weekend out here to celebrate Melissa’s birthday. When we got to Chicago we were actually to early to check into our hotel, so we decided to go to Navy Pier first. Navy Pier is the one place in Chicago that we always visit when we come to the city, and was the place that, unbeknownst to Melissa, I planned on proposing to her at. Thankfully she choose to go there and not someplace else first when I ask her where she wanted to go to pass the time until we can check in to our room. So we go to Navy Pier and begin to gradually walk around like we normally do, slowly making our way down the pier towards Lake Michigan. The entire time I am trying not to rush her down to the end of the pier so it doesn’t seem odd.

Additionally the sky was slowly turning grey and the clouds were rolling in, clearly indicating that it is planning on raining. Thankfully that eventually came up, and knowing how much we both like looking out over the lake I was able to nonchalantly suggest that, perhaps, we ought to head down to the tip of the pier before that rain came. She thought that was a good idea seeing as we could roam the inside of the pier any time. So we get down to the end of the pier and we are looking out over the lake, her back against my chest as she’s leaning back with my arms around her. Then she gave me the perfect lead into the proposal; she said “I love you.” Why is that the perfect lead in? Because her and I have this little banter sometimes where one of us says “I love you” and the other asks how much, but this time it went a little different… When she said she loved me, I asked her how much, and she responded with the usual “all my heart.”  However, this time, I did not respond with the usual “me too,” instead I said “Prove it.” This took her off guard and she said “What?” with a slight giggle. So I again said, with all seriousness “Prove it” but this time as I said it I lightly pushed her forward and away from me by her hips. As she began to turn around she started to say something that sounded like “What?!” with an annoyed tone but then she saw me down on one knee with a ring out. As her hand went to her mouth I said “Prove it, spend the rest of your life with me. Will you marry me?” She had a few tears in her eyes and she said nodded and eventually got the word “Yes” out, allowed me to slide the ring on her finger and then stand up and embrace her. The picture to the left was taken moments after she said yes and this is the first picture of my beautiful fiance! Shortly after this picture, the rain we mentioned earlier began to fall in fat heavy drops by the bucketful, chasing us indoors. So far the only people we have told that we are engaged is the hotel staff, who very thoughtfully sent us complimentary room service with champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. We will tell the family on Sunday, but for now, this is our time…

Here are a few more photos of shortly after the big moment:

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