On Wednesday, May 12th, 2010, I was up in Duluth, MN to take my Step 1 United States Medical Licensing Exam (which went really well by the way!) Mike and I had not seen each other for a month because I had been cooped up at my parents' house studying for my test, and I was not expecting to see Mike until the following weekend (but I was very anxious to see him!) Little did I know that Mike had decided to drive up to Duluth to surprise me after my 8 HOUR exam....and it was the best surprise EVER because it ended with a proposal!! :)
Mike was very secretive about the fact that he was planning on proposing. Apparently he had bought my ring a couple of months earlier in St. Maarten (how cool is that!) and I didn't suspect a thing. Until the day he proposed, he didn't tell anyone about his plans except his friend Norman from St. Maarten, who helped him find a jeweler and pick out the ring. What a sneaky guy! :)
So as of the morning of May 12th, Mike had not told anyone about his plans to propose, not even our parents!! But before he left his parents' place in LaCrescent, he told them his big plan. And since it was early in the morning and he was dropping some BIG news on them, I know that it probably took a few minutes to absorb everything! But they were very excited of course! :)
During his drive up to Duluth, Mike got ahold of my dad and told him that he was coming up to surprise me after my test and asked if my parents would be free for lunch. Unfortunately, my mom was having a very busy day at work and couldn't get away on short notice. But after lunch Mike had the chance to speak with my dad about his plan to propose that night...and of course my dad was very happy and even told Mike that he could not have picked a better guy! :) And since my mom was not able to get away during the day, Mike told her his plans over the phone (even though he really wanted to tell her in person) but was later able to see her in person before he actually proposed.
Late in the afternoon, I finished my long exam and headed back out to my parents' house. And much to my surprise, as I pulled up, there was Mike sitting out front having a beer with my dad! I was SO excited to see him and I thought just him showing up was the best surprise ever...little did I know!
After a couple of much needed beers and some relaxation to wind down after the long exam, I went to get ready for the night (we were planning on going out to dinner with my family to celebrate my mom's birthday and my test). While I was getting ready, Mike had a chance to see my mom in person and talk more with her about his plans; and from his account, it was a good thing I was in the shower at one point and couldn't hear them because she was so excited and kept asking questions about the proposal when I was right downstairs! Although I will say that I am very impressed that she could keep the secret for the hour she saw me because usually she isn't very good at keeping her poker face around me! Way to go, Mom! :) When I finished getting ready Mike came downstairs to inform me that we weren't going to dinner with the family...he told me to pack a bag because he had made some plans for just the two of us that night! I felt really bad ditching my family but of course since they all knew Mike's plan by now, they told me not to worry about it. :)
Mike's surprise for the night was a GORGEOUS hotel suite situated on the upper corner of a Canal Park hotel looking over Lake Superior and the beautiful Ariel Lift Bridge. We made some drinks and relaxed in front of the suite's fireplace while looking out at the great views. When dinner time came, Mike revealed that he had called ahead and found out that my favorite restaurant in the area would deliver to our suite! He had thought of everything! :)
Awesome view of Lake Superior from our hotel suite!
View from our hotel suite of a ship coming in under the Ariel Lift Bridge
At this point I still did not suspect a proposal because I thought Mike was just being really sweet about celebrating the completion of my big test and celebrating our 4 year dating anniversary (which would have been just 5 days later). Minutes after we called to place our food order, there was a knock on the door...too soon for it to be the food. I answered the door and it was a delivery of champagne and strawberries with a card from my parents that simply read "Congratulations!". I was really confused because I thought it was a little extravagant to send champagne to congratulate me on the completion of my test...haha! Little did I know that my parents had arranged with Mike to send the champagne over and had purposely put a vague message on the note just in case he hadn't proposed yet.
While I was distracted reading the note, Mike seized the opportunity and came up behind me with a ring! He hugged me from behind and put the ring in front of me and simply asked, "YES???" I was so surprised! I took the ring, which was GORGEOUS, and set it down right away and just turned around to hug Mike and tell him "YES!!" It was such an exciting moment! :)
So the rest of the night Mike and I enjoyed the hotel suite, drank champagne, ate dinner from one of my favorite restaurants, and just enjoyed being newly engaged! At first I thought we should call our families and tell them the good news, but Mike filled me in that they already knew his plans and he had told them that we would call in the morning...tonight was just about us celebrating our engagement together!
Newly engaged! :)
So that is the long story of our engagement! And because I am writing this months later, I can tell all of you that we have set a wedding date! We will be getting married on June 2, 2012 at Diamond Lake Church and our reception will be at McNamara Alumni Center. We are so excited to get married! We are waiting until 2012 because until then I will be doing my clinical rotations for med school and I will be so jam packed with those that we decided we don't want to cram a wedding in between. So by June 2, 2012 I will be graduated from medical school and we can really enjoy the whole wedding time! :)
Picture taken by my dad at my parents' house a couple of days after we got engaged!
No comments:
Post a Comment