the proposal story.

i should start out by saying that i hate surprises. not only do i hate them, i’m also a huge planner and usually ask too many questions about things for anyone to be able to surprise me. so, the fact that michael was able to surprise me was a miracle.

michael and i have been talking about getting married for a while, so i knew that there was a proposal coming at some point. i also knew that there were only a couple times i was going to see michael before christmas. when michael asked me to go on an all-day date last monday, i was convinced that was going to be it. i was talking to rachel about my suspicions and she told me “sarah, if it isn’t on monday, just don’t be disappointed and know that michael has a plan.“ that night, michael also made a comment about not proposing on monday. usually, i would have thought he was just trying to throw me off, but something about the way he said it made me believe him. from that point on, i was convinced that it would be the following trip and focused on enjoying what he had planned instead of waiting the whole time and missing out.

monday morning, i had class super early. between my two classes, michael met me with a wafels and dinges waffle covered in nutella and strawberries (my favorite). when my next class was over, michael took me to my first surprise—santa!! we have tried to visit santa every year, but, for various reasons, we have never made it. before we saw him, we went to an awesome puppet show version of miracle on 34th street (narrated by brian stokes mitchell, swoon). then we wrote our secret letters to santa, before heading to see him in person. i asked for: a bunny, knitting classes, and a ring. it turns out michael asked santa for a yes from me. i’m pretty sure we made santa’s day. 

after picking up and playing with the little one, we headed back to my apartment to get ready for our date. michael had picked out a restaurant called the house for us to eat at. it was so intimate and romantic, just lovely. 

after dinner, we snuggled and looked through old letters we had sent to each other. michael had even found a christmas card i gave him in 6^th grade, along with this lovely photo:

(sorry, this is a picture of the picture! my scanner isn't working.)

i know, we’ve always been cool. we were on our way to our first homecoming game in sixth grade! it was getting late, but i was lost down memory lane and did not want to go to sleep. michael, on the other hand, kept talking about how tired he was and wondering when we had to get up the next morning, and how long it was going to take me to get ready for my internship. i insisted we look at more photos and stay up later until he told me that he actually wanted to go to sleep because he wanted us to go to the brooklyn bridge and watch the sunrise (at 5:30am.) this was something special we had done on our first trip to new york together, so it didn’t phase me.  a couple hours later, we headed to the bridge, hoping to avoid the rain. 

here i am, totally unsuspecting, and michael, with his had in his pocket covering the ring box. i was so convinced that he wasn’t going to propose that i told him a proposal horror story that i had witnessed on the bridge. a couple years ago, i saw someone drop the ring. he climbed over the side of the bridge and up underneath it, but the ring was lost in the east river. michael thought that was a rare coincidence, so i made him get down and look through the slats at the water below. 

when we got to the center of the bridge, i took this instagram photo of us and then wanted to take some self-timer pics. michael told me that we should wait. so, we stood there for a minute with our arms around each other, enjoying the moment, and then michael started saying some really sweet things. i didn’t know it was happening until he said, “i had a speech prepared but i can’t remember it now.” at that point i started crying and he said some more sweet things before he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

i pulled him up immediately and said yes about a million times. he laid out his jacket on a bench and put the ring on my finger over the jacket to make sure it didn't fall into the east river. i’m so glad we didn’t drop it because i am in love with it and feel so much joy sliding it onto my finger every morning and thinking about what it symbolizes. 

i cannot tell you how amazing it felt. we went to a quiet breakfast at mud before i had to head off to my internship. the past several days have been filled with phone calls to family and friends. we have been overwhelmed with all of the love and support we have received, and we can’t wait to celebrate with everyone over break. oh, and the getting married part. we are pretty excited about that too(:

it is ridiculously hard to focus on finals with thoughts of flowers and bridesmaids and registries shining so brightly on the horizon. i can’t wait to share my wedding planning experience with all of you guys! i’m hoping for some advice as well!