She said yes! Not that I was worried....
I had been trying to propose for a while now, but several time my plans fell apart. Initially, I found a problem in my credit report, which luckily was nothing serious, but ultimately made it impossible to buy the ring I wanted. To make it worse, the credit reporting agency said it would require "opening an investigation" and take 30-45 days to correct a minor error! Somehow a credit fairy swooped in a cleared it all up in a couple weeks.
My first ideas were pretty big. First I wanted to have a barbershop quartet sing For the Longest Time by Billy Joel. But it turned out to be really hard to hire an a cappella group in Miami. Another time I had made reservations at a place that sits on a 16th floor terrace It was going to be at sunset in a big gesture written out on a elegant dessert. However, the day before some friends invited to happy hour at the same place!!! I couldn't get ahold of them, and I couldn't just casually mention that we go back to the same place the next day, so I cancelled the reservation.
I was getting somewhat discouraged. There never seemed to be a good time, and I couldn't find a place that felt right. Then on Oct. 11, I decided to try again at the Redfish Grill, which is in a state park and right next to the water. I was gonna "show up early" and suggest that we take a walk since our reservation wasn't for another 30 min. Then I would ask her on the beach and have a table waiting for us afterward. But as I called that morning to arrange the reservation I found out that the place was closed for a private event! I was pretty bummed, but I resolved that I would just wait another week and try to find a good day to try again. Later that day we went to a restaurant called "Swine" that is in Coral Gables, and has excellent food. The host ended up seating us upstairs and where we were all alone! In a flash on spontaneity I said "I forgot my wallet in the car" and went to get the ring. I gave my monologue, told her how I felt, got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.
Although, it wasn't a very flashy proposal, Andrea's cousin, Mark, got me thinking that she wouldn't really like a public proposal. It was much more special for it to be a low key thing just between us. And it was even better that it was a total surprise!
And here's the obligatory ring picture:
We've talked a bit about getting married, but we haven't really talked about specifics of wedding planning and neither us really know what we want to do. So there will be lots more to report in the coming months!
