The Proposal

So apparently Candice had been planning this for awhile. I just had a BIG birthday in wine country- Sonoma, CA which she organized and pulled off with the expertise of a giddy gay event planner throwing a Madonna tribute party. It was absolutely fabulous. So never would I have imagined that at the same time she was wrapping up a destination birthday party complete with friends and my parents, that she was also planning the next chapter of our lives together.

The week of Valentines Day I was in Chicago teaching and she was in Dallas working her new gig at AA. We were having our usual nightly chat via phone where we were discussing the fact that SHE was planning Valentines Day this year AND she wasn't going to tell me what we were doing. Past years consisted of a romantic plantation excursion on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, fancy dinner plans, and even a concert or two. So what did she have up her sleeve now? The last thing I thought it would be was a proposal. So how to explain? Well let me start by saying that we've always had this thing with the Rocky movies. When we first started dating we had those getting to know you conversations as most newly forming couples do- some of which go pretty deep- like tell me about your deepest fears, and others that just touch the surface- like what are your favorite movies? It was during one of these surface discussions that she found out I had never seen any of the Rocky films which was baffling to her. Not to mention that when we first met online 3 years ago (which will be further examined in another blog entry) she thought my real name was Adrienne. An alias I go by when I don't want anyone to know who I really am-actually it's just my middle name so not that mysterious at all. Anyways, she proceeded to show me the first three Rocky's in one weekend and I loved them. We then joked that she was Rocky and I was Adrienne based on our various personality traits and it became a cute couply thing-a running inside joke that no one else was in on. I tell this story, which seems off topic for a reason. It directly relates back to the original proposal story that she had been secretly planning for some time leading up to Valentines Day.

In short, the plan was this: she was going to fly us to Philly, run us up those famous steps from the Rocky movie, and using a script that she had written herself, she was going to purpose. Romantic right?  I certainly thought so when she told me the idea AFTER she had actually proposed in Grand Rapids Michigan on Valentines Day instead. How did we end up there? This is when the uncontrollable randomness of the universe began to take over.

Candice received a text that her step grandma had passed that Friday before Valentines Day and the funeral was going to be on a day we were to be in Philly. Now anyone who knows Candice knows these three things about her: she is extremely caring and loyal to those she holds dear, she is a romantic at heart, and she is incredibly stubborn. That being said, because she had had the ring for two weeks and was losing sleep over the excitement and nerves of doing the purposing, she came to two conclusions: one, out of loyalty and love for her step grandma-she was cancelling her Philly trip and going to the funeral service in Grand Rapids Michigan, and two-she was still doing the proposal come hell or high water.  So I get a phone call that plans have changed and I am to meet Candice in Grand Rapids on Valentines Day to accompany her to her step grandmother's memorial service on the day after. Now, also in Candice's head was the question of where in Grand Rapids would there be a place as romantic as the top of the famous Rocky steps on Valentines Day for a proposal?

That place ended up being the 1929 Spillman Carousel at The Grand Rapids Museum. You see, when we were in Paris two Christmas' prior with my parents, we went to a little town called Rouen, where in the center of the town, there was a gorgeous gigantic historic carousel.  We had all just come from a small coffee shop where we had the best espresso of our lives and there it was - a thing of splendor-in motion-rotating in a slow circle, the glow of the brightly lit bulbs and wild looking horses calling to us-telling us to jump on- and although there was no conductor-we did just that. She and I jumped on the moving carousel while my parents looked on amused by our carefree decision to just go for it. It was in that moment that Candice said to me that she had never seen my face full of such pure joy. And she was right. I was having a ball and there she was, this girl I was falling for, with me-in France-on Christmas-what more could a girl ask for?

I guess that question was answered two years later when on the last ride of the night, on the Spillman Carousel in Grand Rapids Michigan, on Valentines Day, she leans over while on a white horse with gold reins, and reminds me of the pure joy I had on my face on the carousel in Rouen. She then tells me how much joy I have brought to her life over the past three years, and asks me to be her wife.  I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. So she gets down off of her white horse, gets on one knee at the floor of the carousel, and proceeds to ask me again, at which point I register what is happening and squeal out a "yes!" Pretty freakin' romantic and amazing right? That's Candice for you. And that's why she is going to be my wife!