The Proposal

Eric proposed to me in April of 2010, at Huntington Beach, where we'd had our first "official" date then almost 5 years before. In fact, he took me to just about the same spot (between life guard towers 15 and 17). And let me just tell you - I had no clue!

We were planning on going to the beach that day, but he'd cancelled plans the night before saying he wasn't feeling well (unbeknownst to me it, was pre-proposal jitters) and so when he called the next morning and I saw the cloudy sky outside, I told him it was definitely okay if he didn't want to drive the nearly 50 miles to my house to pick me up and then back toward Huntington since he still wasn't feeling well (did I mention he has the chivalry of a knight in shining armor?). I told him it was  cloudy and probably would be cold, so it was really OKAY. But, sweet as he was, he drove over and picked me up - still with an upset stomach and after much debate he said, "well I already packed up the picnic (::swoon::) so we might as well go, we don't have to stay too long."  And so on we went.

We laid out on the sand, munched on a sandwich and cracked open some lovely sparkling pink lemonade he'd packed and toasted with our new glasses from Medieval Times. He started taking pictures of me and the (amazing) sailboats off in the distance, and then he said, "let's unpack lunch."

Naturally, I thought he was nuts because we'd just eaten, but he said we'd unpack, not eat. That's when he handed me Tupperware labeled "pasta" and told me to "open it." That's odd, right? Like, why can't he open it? Why did he pack pasta? and wait, why does it look like there's dry pasta in this Tupperware?  That's what I was thinking.

So as I opened it I saw raffia, not dry pasta, (what is this!? I thought, very very confused) and then, in the middle of it all, a small blue velvet box. WHAT IS THIS!?  I still thought. Aww, he's surprising me! Maybe it's EARRINGS!  I kept thinking. It's times like this I wish I could go back and say "Shut up brain!"

I pulled it out and when I opened it up there was the most amazing eternity band I had ever seen. And I STILL didn't get it. I was in shock (I'm guessing??) It wasn't until I registered (slowly) in my brain that there was a box and a ring and sparkling lemonade, and there was Eric getting down on one knee, that I thought, OHMYGOD THIS IS IT!!!!!!

After some beautiful words from him, and a lot of "Really? Are you serious?" from me, and shaking out the nerves for him and crying out the tears for me, and a lot of hugging, we finally tried to take a picture, and randomly, a surfer was passing by, had witnessed the whole glorious scene and took our picture.

And there you have it... not the beginning of our story, but the start to an incredible journey. We worked off the adrenaline and joy of it all by calling family and visiting family, and taking cognac shots and then finally heading back to my house where my mom had picked up our favorite wonton soup to enjoy and unwind (along with a lovely bottle of wine)... and then the phone calls to more family and friends commenced.

Oh! I forgot where the "tradition" bit ties in. It may seem kind of small, but to us, it's HUGE. One month before he proposed, Eric called up and met with my mom and dad to formally ask their permission, discuss his plans with them and  make sure they knew what was coming. He could have proposed without doing this, and my parents would have still loved him, but the fact that he respected them enough as my parents made them respect him on a whole different level as well. So first he asks permission, then he proposes, and then his family has to come ask for my hand in marriage....

Stay tuned to hear about the "khosgab" (which literally means "to tie with words").

Until then -Share your "she said yes" moment - What did your man do to woo you on that special day?

<3 Ani