The Long Awaited Story

December 18, 2010
Oaks Park in Portland

Jeff had made arrangements for us to hang out with a couple of our friends, Jeff and Jamee Shermer. We hadn't spent any time with them since the evening in October when we were invited over to play games and talk and stuff. Jeff and Jamee's wedding was the first one Jeff and I attended together as a couple, so we have a particular fondness for hanging out with them.

The guys decided it would be fun for us to all go roller skating together. So Saturday morning, Jeff and I headed off to the location of our first "official" date.

We got there a little later than anticipated because Jeff kept fighting with my GPS. He didn't like the way the Aussie Lee or the Brit Daniel told him where to go (guys! Why did he want me to bring it in the first place???). After many incidences of "recalculating", we finally arrived at the skating rink.

Jeff and Jamee were already there and skating. Jeff and I put on our skates and started finding our balance on the wheels. I told Jeff after the highly entertaining drive out there, I needed to use the restroom, so I gave him a quick kiss and told  him I'd see him in a sec.

When I came out, my Jeff was no where to be seen, so I found Jamee and her Jeff and started out on the rink. I figured Jeff was either fussing with his skates or using the restroom himself. The music was different this time. There was a birthday party going on that day, so instead of the 80's hits we reminisced to last time, newer pop music blasted us around the rink. At one point I looked at Jamee and said "is it sad that I know this is the Jonas Brothers playing?" Thankfully, she didn't think so. She's a very nice person.

Eventually I located Jeff. He still had not come out on the rink. Instead he was over next to the deejay booth talking to the person running the music. Requesting "Love Shack" just to irritate me, no doubt. I headed over. When he saw me, he paused in his conversation and came to me to see what was up. "Are you coming out?" I asked. He said he'd be out in a sec and went back. He doesn't usually shoo me off like that, so I figured maybe he's being sweet and requesting a song that we could skate to together to surprise me. That's the kind of thing he would do. He's just sweet like that.

Finally he did come out and skate with me. He held my hand and pulled me around a little quicker than I was comfortable with, but I held on and enjoyed the ride. He was a little distracted, but I know guys have a hard time doing two things at once and figured staying balanced was taking up his focus.

He started complaining that his feet were hurting. My poor guy; I suggested he sit down and give his feet a rest. He agreed and started heading through the middle of the rink toward the exit. Having spent many years in the roller skating world, I knew it was not proper etiquette to go through the middle, but rather to go around, so I pulled his hand to get him to go around the edge to a different exit. He started complaining more, saying he REALLY needed to sit down. I said I know and that the exit is right over there. No, he wanted to go this way. That's when I noticed there was a chair in the middle of the rink. I briefly wracked my brain to remember a skating game that requires a chair in the middle of the rink and couldn't think of anything, but it didn't matter; there had to be a reason the chair was there and it was probably NOT for a resting place for a guy who didn't want to go out the exit like everyone else. I kept pulling him toward the exit.

Jeff was persistent and I finally gave up. For whatever reason, he was determined to sit in the middle of the rink. I let him pull me over, rolling my eyes affectionately at the quirkiness of my boyfriend. We got to the chair and he leaned on it while I stood next to him. "It would have been just as easy to go that way and sit there," I told him. "Yes, I would have," he responded. Then he looked at me straight in the face.

The mood suddenly changed. The beginnings of my favorite, my most romantic-feeling song started flowing around me. My eyes widened in surprise. No one in their right mind would play Moon River during a pre-teens birthday, unless it was for a specific reason. "I know this song!" I said. What I meant was "I know what's going on." Jeff smiled and told me to have a seat.

I moved in what felt like slow motion. I was vaguely aware of Jeff and Jamee standing in the distance, one holding Jeff's camera, the other holding a video camera, both sporting wide, happy smiles.

Jeff moved in front of me and knelt down on one knee. He told me that the past seven months with me has been amazing and that he loved the adventures we have shared so far. He said he wants to spend his life with me. Then he pulled a ring box out of his pocket and asked if I would let him be my husband.

I said yes, of course.

It was amazing. In all my dreams, I couldn't have imagined a more perfect proposal. He was clever enough that it was a surprise; he was thoughtful enough that, even though it was in front of people, we weren't necessarily center of attention, so I didn't feel pressured (I'm not sure it would have mattered, though, because as soon as he knelt in front of me, the world around us literally disappeared to me); he was wise enough to plan ahead and write out the words that he said to me and have Jamee take pictures, so that I can include this most special moment in my scrapbooks; and he was creative enough to figure out how to give me my romantic soundtrack. Is it any wonder why I love him?