An Engagement Story

Chuck and I had only been dating for about four months when we realized we wanted to marry each other. If I had to place the pinnacle moment that our mutual epiphanies struck it was walking hand-in-hand through the berry fields of our friend’s farm being hopelessly in love and having our first discussion of a future together.

A couple weeks later we decided to take advantage of the Memorial Day weekend by paying a visit to my friends and family in New Jersey. We spent our nights with my Grandma whom I hadn’t seen in over a year and then spent the day with my two best friends from college in Ocean City. After a fun filled day with my besties enjoying Mac & Manco’s pizza, soaking up some sun and splashing around in the ocean I mentioned to him that my favorite place in the world, Cape May, was only about 20 minutes away. He insisted that we visit, even if just to have dinner and stick our toes in the sand before returning to my Grandma’s house.

He fell in love with the place. Everything that I adored about Cape May: the beautiful beaches, the Victorian architecture, all the fun shops lining the boardwalk, he instantly picked up on. Upon our departure, he insisted that we return again as soon as possible.

After some planning we made the decision to return to Cape May (for more than a few hours) Labor Day weekend. For weeks, Chuck could not stop talking about our planned trip. I loved his enthusiasm but as someone terrible at surprises and being discreet I thought his excitement was a little overboard.

One day, as we were sitting in my apartment being lovey-dovey as usual, he blissfully sighed, “I can’t wait for Labor Day weekend.” To which I replied, “Why, because of Cape May?” Fumbling over his words he awkwardly responded, “Oh…umm…yeah, because of Cape May.”

The instant he left the room, I texted my sister, “The proposal in Cape May is a sure thing!” The next morning, needing to get a hold of his Mom, Chuck borrowed my phone. Later that night, having seen the message I sent to my sister, he asked me, “So…do you know how I’m going to propose to you?” “Umm…yeah.” “How did you know?! Did Joni [his sister] tell you?” Of course Joni never would have spilled the beans- he was just so obvious!

So for the next several weeks, I anticipated my engagement. Leading up to Labor Day weekend, I really had no feelings at all about it. It was strange. No excitement, no nervousness, just a sense of calm and contentment.

The day of, my mom and sister met up with us at our hotel in Cape May and shortly after, my two best friends met up with us again for a day filled with delicious seafood, walks along the boardwalk and lots of fun in the sun! By sunset, I was exhausted. Chuck had mentioned walking to the lighthouse after dinner, but I kept trying to talk him out of it because it was about a 3-mile walk and I was pooped! He kept insisting and I kept resisting until my mom and sister finally pushed me to go.

We got back to our hotel to regroup after dinner and I was still trying to talk him out of it. He gave me a compromise and asked if we could just walk along the beach for a little bit. All the while I kept thinking, “Doesn’t he realize how tired I am? Why can’t he just propose tomorrow?” Yeah, I know. I’m ridiculous. But I eventually conceded.

We walked a short distance to a line of Adirondack chairs overlooking the ocean. As I sat taking in the view of the lighthouse, full moon and ocean waves, Chuck spoke. “So, there’s a reason I brought you out here…” and proceeded to kneel down in front of me. I have very little recollection of anything he said after that as my heart beat faster than I ever thought possible and tears sprung to my eyes. What was I doing? I knew this was going to happen, so why was I reacting like this?

I sat there, a blubbering idiot as Chuck waited for what probably seemed like an eternity for me to get my act together. All I could do was keep apologizing for being a complete mess and hugging his neck. Finally, after about 5 minutes of a complete emotional breakdown I responded, “Oh! Yes!”

The night was chilly and we only stayed on the beach long enough for me to admire the new addition to my ring finger before knocking on my Mom and sister’s hotel room door and sharing the news. I discovered then that not only had Chuck engraved the day’s date in the silver ring box (he had to propose on that day!), but being as nerve wracked as he was, completely forgot to pack the celebratory wine he had planned. My sister, who had packed for her return to college following the trip, however, had brought with her a bottle of “Orange Dream” mixer.

So we toasted our engagement with shots of vodka-y, liquid Dreamsicle. It was a ridiculous, hilarious and absolutely perfect drink for our ridiculous, hilarious and absolutely perfect engagement.