Fairytale Engagement

This past weekend, in the middle of packing for our impending move, my family took a trip down the the Sawgrass Mills Mall.  (If you don’t know of the Sawgrass, it is a ridiculously HUGE outlet mall – I believe one of the largest in the U.S.)  Being in the area brought back memories of the day my husband proposed to me!  I used to work in the area, (dangerous during lunch time!) and this was where my fairytale engagement began!

It was a Friday afternoon on February 15, 2002.  I was at my desk, daydreaming out the window, waiting for the clock to read 5:00 so I could start my weekend.  At about 3:00pm, the owner of the company came to my desk and said, “Pack up your stuff. Note: my office was slowly laying people off and when you hear the phrase I had just heard, you think you are next – 3:00 pm on a Friday – the witching hour.  After the fact, she told me I turned ghost white, but at the moment I grabbed my bag and followed her to the front door where there was a limousine waiting for me.  Huh?!

The chauffeur opens the door for me and I climb in as my coworkers wave to me – huh!?  On the seat I find a sealed envelope with the letter M on it.  I open the envelope and it is a letter from my then-boyfriend, telling me that I am going on a scavenger hunt.  Still confused, and happy that I was not just laid off, I read that I was first going to a place where I needed to pick up a bottle of bubbly.  The limo takes me to the Crown liquor store around the corner, I go into the store and am looking for champagne.  (Note: I have zero cash on me and no clue what to buy.)  The lady behind the counter asks if I need assistance and I tell her I am looking for champagne.  She presents me with a wrapped bottle from behind the counter, along with another sealed envelope with the letter A on it.  I jump back into the limo, and rip open the envelope to read a beautiful poem and the next clue.  Apparently the driver knows where to go, and next thing you know I am at the mall.  He drops me off at one of the many entrances, and I take the escalator up to the main floor.  As I reach the top, a young guy that was just sitting on a nearby bench approaches me and asks if I am Dana.  OK, now this is getting freaky (exciting though!).  He takes me into Victoria’s Secret where I get a bag and the next clue with the letter R on the envelope.  Each clue after that was a beautiful poem, the next location I needed to go to and a letter on the envelope.  After a while, I had gone to get candles at Pottery Barn, champagne glasses at Crate and Barrel and chocolate at Godiva.  Each person that presented me with a gift and clue had huge smiles on their faces…they obviously knew more than I did!  The letters that I collected were R, R, Y and M.

So now, I have champagne, lingerie, glasses to drink the champagne, candles, chocolate…and the letters spell out MARRY M…OMG

I fly down the escalator, get into the limo.  No one I call answers the phone.  I am dizzy with excitement…can this be happening?   Next thing you know I am at the Pier 66.  I go to the front desk where the person hands me an envelope and a key. The envelope letter was….E!  Holy shit.  Yeah…I was freaking out.  I run to the elevator, practically running over the poor bellman who just wanted to ask me if I needed help with my bags.  I get into the elevator with someone who at the time seemed like the chattiest guy I have EVER met.  Why is the elevator so darn sloooooowwwwww?

Bing…I arrive at the 14th floor, run to the room, open the door and there is R on one knee in a candlelit room, with rose petals and roses all over.  Of course I said yes, and hyperventilated a bit, and I know he said more than, “Will you marry me?” (which I made him repeat at dinner – the beginning of the proposal).

I don’t think this could have been any more romantic – the thought that was put into each step, the planning that was choreographed perfectly, the people that were involved, the FABULOUS ring.  It was a fairytale come true.  I tear up thinking that I am so lucky to have someone in my life that is so special and makes me feel special.