| Well, it has been well over a year since I have posted on here (everyone seems to be saying that). Since I am not tired enough for sleep AND because about 1 billion people (give or take a few) have asked me to write the engagement story, I have decided to appease. I must warn you, I tell long stories. I cannot help it. They are good stories, but long stories.....here it goes! It all started back at the beginning of this year. I knew that I wanted to propose to Chelsea in 2008, but I wasn't sure when. Wait. Back up. It all started last November when Chelsea won Miss Lake County (yeah boy!). It was during the pageant that I thought, "wow, I really could propose to her here." So I decided that that was exactly what I was going to do. I was going to propose in 2008 when she gave up her crown as Miss Lake County. It was going to be awesome: I was going to appear in a tuxedo right before her final walk as Miss Lake County and do it right there in front of everyone. It was a very cool idea. Or so I thought... Anyways, I decided that I needed to seriously start saving for this ring, so starting in January, I began saving big time. My goal was to have everything saved up by October and then get the ring and propose in November. God has a funny way of changing my plans. One eventful night (when Chelsea gave up her Miss Winthrop Harbor crown) I asked her how much longer she had until she gave up her Miss Lake County crown. "Isn't in the first week of November, or something like that?"... Apparently that was enough to send out the hey-I-am-going-to-propose-hormone in girls and Chelsea responded, "No, I never told you it was the fist week of November. Why? Are you going to propose to me then?" WHAT?! HOW COULD ANYONE FIGURE IT OUT FROM THAT?!!! I was instantly perplexed beyond reason. Needless to say, I had to think of another idea. (Its kind of funny to find out later that Chelsea didn't want to be proposed to in front of people watching her....good thing I didn't do that!) So we shall fast forward to spring when I was interviewing for a job at Abbott Labs. For whatever reason, I came up with the idea of: if I get the job, then I will just rent a car and go down to Chelsea and propose to her in D.C. on the 4th of July.---I suppose a little background would help now. Chelsea is in Washington D.C. for the summer for an internship with the Claire Booth Luse (spelling?) organization. It is a really awesome women's conservative organization that promotes conservative ideals...easy enough. Chelsea will be in D.C. until September 1st (that's when she's coming home!!!). Ok, enough back story--- I decided that I would drive down and just do it on the 4th of July. She would love it! I told Jake about it and he loved the idea as well. He told me that he would drive down with me and help out. Bethany, one of Chelsea's dearest friends, was suppose to be there with Chelsea visiting and she was going to help us too, even if she didn't know about it. Sadly, I did not get the job at Abbott (I was robbed!) and Bethany did not end up going out there, so I decided that I would not go through with the engagement plan in D.C. The only reason, I said to myself, that I would go is if I got the job at Abbott. I didn't get it, so I wasn't going. Jake did not like that idea very much at all. He kept pushing and pushing me to go down there. I just kept getting more and more mad until one very special night that Chelsea and I went out to dinner. I have to say that in almost 6 years (on and off) of dating, we have been on many, many dates. However, this date was my favorite. It wasn't planned. It wasn't extravagant. It was just her and me talking and having dinner at Chili's. Never in my life have I had so much fun talking. We talked for hours upon hours (don't worry, I gave the server a huge tip!) and it was a blast the entire time. We talked about marriage and school and life and kids and money and God (not in that order)...it was pretty awesome. After that date I realized that I had to do this on the 4th of July. It truly was perfect. The next step was making it happen. The next few days were pretty fast in that I convinced Chelsea that if she wanted to get engaged somewhere around late fall, then I needed an idea of what kind of ring she wanted BEFORE she left for D.C. (all along I wanted to propose just a few weeks later! Sorry Chelsea, but I think it was worth it!). So we went to Helzberg in Gurnee and looked. After a very fun time that was sort of ruined by an annoying and rude employee, I had a pretty good idea of what Chelsea wanted. I had to play dumb a little bit too. See, I couldn't let Chelsea know that I had been studying diamonds for the past two years and could tell her almost everything thing there is to know about them. So I played dumb and just asked a lot of questions (I even asked if Cost was one of the 4 C's...it really should be 5th C) I knew what she wanted. The next step was to get it! I stopped by Kay (Every Kiss begins with Kay...I know..) on Monday and found the perfect ring. It was a 3/4 carat, round brilliant beauty and I had to have it! I got the diamond and setting separately, then had them put together. Very awesome ring set in a tiffany-setting solitaire with white gold. Magnificent! I had the ring. Now I needed the permission from Dad. This was the most scary part to me. Even though it went very well and I received his blessing, it was still really hard to do. To ask a man for his daughter's hand in marriage is a very weighty question and not one that I was going to take lightly. Thursday we met at one of the finest establishments in Lake County, had a great salad, and got down to business. He said yes. Now I needed to get to Washington. We could call this next section, "Mr. Stanley goes to Washington." I knew that I wanted to propose in D.C. The only problem was getting there (well, there were more problems, but this was the first and biggest of them). I couldn't afford to fly or drive there, so I had considered asking my parents for help (even though my dad keeps secrets like a strainer!). It was at that moment that I remembered that I know someone that travels a lot and might be able to help me get down there. Lisa Ulrich saved the day! She booked me a flight and even had friends that could pick me up from the airport and take me to where she was staying! (Jay and Julia, you guys so ROCK!) Now the real fun begins... CAN YOU BELIEVE ALL OF THIS WAS JUST THE INTRO?! I told you this would be long... The 4th of July on the steps of the Capitol building during the fireworks at night. For Chelsea, I could think of nothing better. I knew that I couldn't talk at all about the 4th of July, because Chelsea is that good at figuring stuff out. I knew that I would first play it off that I just came out there to visit her for the weekend..that was the first obstacle--not letting her find out. Everyone did an awesome job of keeping this a secret! So the day comes and I fly out there (Chelsea just so happened to be going to a movie with the family she was staying with --they were in on it too!). I was very scared because I had heard that there were metal detectors at the National Mall (where the Capitol building and monuments are), and I didn't want to get caught with a tin box in my pocket..that would sort of ruin my plans. So I tested the box at the airport and it did set off the metal detector...dang it! The TSA ladies loved me and were laughing at how cute I was with everything. Oh well, I would just make sure that we didn't go anywhere that had metal detectors. I actually made a list of all the museums that had them! So I get on the plane and chat a little with the people next to me and I tell them that I'm flying down to propose. The next thing I know, all of the flight attendants and a lot of the passengers were asking me all about it and I was even given two bottles of Cognac! So I land safely in D.C. and Jay and Julia (awesome!) picked me up to take me to Chelsea. They were home by the time I got there (about midnight there) and I went down and suprised her in the basement. She was half-asleep and it took quite a few minutes to register that I was there! In fact, after a while she laughed and said that she thought I was going to propose. HA! Like I would actually do that. What was really funny was that I had her thinking that I spent a lot of money to fly down there and visit her. So when she kept asking me how much I paid to fly down there, I told her that I wouldn't tell her until after I left so that she wouldn't get mad at me (clever!). That was day one. Day two: the proposal. She woke me up at 8:30 by texting me (even though my room was right next to hers....she couldn't even knock!). She really wanted to go see the parade in D.C. Ok backup --she was sort of bummed the day before because she really wanted to be in downtown D.C. for the 4th, but no one was going....that changed when I arrived!-- So she really wanted to see this parade. I said yes even though I was freaking out thinking, what are we going to do for 10 hours in D.C.?! We can't go to any museums and it will be a long hot day. Well, we went and saw the parade and were stuck outside all day long. I felt bad for her because she kept wanting to go to museums. I kept on telling her that I hate museums and I just want to be outside with the people and see the monuments in the National Mall (all along I really do love the museums there, but I wasn't going to risk the ring!). Also, I had the box in my left pocket (I was wearing cargo shorts, so you couldn't tell) so I made Chelsea walk on my right side all day which kind of got annoying because she kept moving to my left side. We end up killing a lot of time walking to the Lincoln Memorial (which is a 3 mile walk from the Capitol building) and hanging out there for a while. By that time it was 6:00 and time for us to head for the Capitol building for the concert and fireworks!!! By the way, did I mention that it was about 100 degrees and raining that day? Yeah. We were both very sweaty and very wet. Our umbrella broke and we were using a blanket to keep dry. Well, it didn't actually keep us dry, it just kept us from getting very very wet. We just got mostly wet. Anyways, back to the Capitol building. I needed to kill more time, so I kept asking Chelsea if we can take breaks from walking and just sit together for a little bit. It worked! (ok, side note, I'm starting to get very tired now from typing this, so if this gets bad I will fix it later). We approach the Capitol building. It was beautiful! Only one problem...there were very long lines to get into the concert! So we waited and waited and when we got to the front, I realized my worst nightmare....METAL DETECTORS!!! They actually had us walk through metal detectors before they would let us onto the lawn/steps of the Capitol building for the concert and fireworks!!! I WAS RUINED!! I didn't know what to do. I obviously had to ditch the box. But I had another problem NO GARBAGE CANS!!! There were none! I was kind of freaking out at this point. Finally, I took the ring out of the box and into a little cloth baggy that I got from her family who she was staying with and decided to just set the box down somewhere. SO right before we are supposed to go to the metal detectors, I tell Chelsea that I want to get a quick picture of the Capitol building, where upon I walked away and leaned over a fence and quickly set the box on the other side of the fence and took a picture. I thought that Chelsea didn't see me. When I came back and Chelsea asked me, "did you just put something on the other side of the fence??" I panicked and said, "no, I just had to set my phone down to take the picture." Then of course there was the lady behind us who asked me if I just set something down on the other side of the fence. A quick glance and a "shh! I'm proposing...it was the box the ring was in...sets off metal detectors..." she understood and shut up. Finally! We get the Capitol steps and get to watch the concert. It was raining during this time so I was not too encouraged at all by the weather. I kept praying to God that the rain would stop, but it didn't. The whole time I kept telling Chelsea that I"m sorry for being a jerk today and not letting her go into any museums or anything. And I told her that I was sorry that this was not more romantic because of the heat and rain. She laughed and encouraged me that it was ok and that there was no where she would rather be and no one she would rather be with. The concert starts....I get a little nervous...its coming....the concert ends...THE RAIN STOPS!..I'm FREAKING OUT! The fireworks start going off. I wanted to do it during the finale, so I kept asking her "is this the finale?!" It was amusing. Sorry to pause in this tense moment, but some more history is needed:.......For the past two years, I have been setting up all these "romantic" moments or dates and then I would say to Chelsea, "it would be pretty cool if I propose right now" and so I've been doing this for a long long time. Also, before this moment, I really didn't know what to say. I tried writing, but nothing came to my mind. She made me speechless! Of course when it came time to do it, the words just flowed... It was the finale. I was standing right behind her. Her arms crossed in front of her and my hands holding hers from behind. I whispered into her ear, "hey, it would be pretty crazy if I proposed right now, wouldn't it be?" (I"M SO NERVOUS THAT I"M SHAKING!!!). She said, "yeah, that would be crazy." I could see a small smirk coming from the side of her mouth (Also, remember she thinks that I spent a lot of money to fly down to see her). Then I said, "it would be even crazier if I knew someone that flew a lot and could get me a ticket for free to fly down here and do it." All she could say was, "yeah...." She knew it was coming. "It would be even crazier if the person who got him a free flight also knew people that lived in the area that would give him a free ride to the house that she was staying at. It would be even more crazy if the family she was staying with would let him stay there for free. And it would be even more crazy if they were in on the whole thing and planned to go out to a movie the day that he arrived so that everyone would be up and awake when he got in. And (there were a lot of and's...sorry) he would be freaking out all day, because he has this little black box in his left pocket all day. He couldn't let her walk on his left side and He knew that it would set off a metal detector because he tested it at the airport before he flew down. So, he couldn't go anywhere all day that had a metal detector, even to the point of being a jerk about it to his girlfriend. He just couldn't get caught. So he made them walk around all day killing time until this exact moment. Although, when he got the Capitol and realized that he had to go through a metal detector, he realized that he had to ditch the box. Since there were no garbage cans around, he had to just set it down somewhere. So right before the metal detectors, he went over and set the empty box down on the other side of a fence, pretending that he was just taking a picture. And when his girlfriend asked if he set something down, he had to lie (This all kind of seems like a movie where in the end the movie is explained...kind of like Shawshank Redemption, but a proposal story instead of a jail-break story). So he got in, the concert was awesome and the finale is breathtaking." Then I concluded with getting down on one knee and said, "and Chelsea Thompson, will you marry me?" (the four words I have been waiting all of my life to say!!!). I brought out the ring (no box :(... oh well!) and she immediately said yes and it was awesome. Now, note that there were hundreds of thousands of people all around us. She never wanted to be proposed in front of a lot of people, but that just means she didn't want all the people to be watching her. Since the fireworks were going off and there were SO MANY PEOPLE, no one noticed that I got down and proposed! Chelsea was glowing. So then, we had to get pictures! We asked these people by us if they would take some pictures of us (the ones on Facebook). They said yes and I told them that we just got engaged. They said, "oh, that's great. When did you get engaged?" they asked. I told them, "About 30 seconds ago." There were like, REALLY?! And we said yes. Then the lady proceeded to yell out to the ENTIRE Capitol building steps, "HEY EVERYONE...THESE GUYS JUST GOT ENGAGED!!!" And then we had most of the people on the steps of the Capitol building cheering for us. Yeah, it was pretty cool. The next 3.5 hours were spent trying to get back to the house she was staying at. We were both exhausted and excited. I told her everything that you all now know and I could not stop looking at the ring on her. I feel bad for all of you, because the picture on Facebook does not at all do that ring justice. I'm not sure any picture could. It looks simply amazing on her! It sparkles like nothing that I've ever seen and I can only hope that you all get to see it. More importantly, I'm so blessed and excited to be given the great gift of marrying Chelsea Thompson who is more amazing than most people know. She is everything to me and I cannot imagine my life without her. Chelsea, if you are reading this, I love you and I can't wait to be your husband. Thank you for loving me and seeing in me something that was worth your love. I can't see it now, but I'm willing to spend the rest of my life with you trying to find it. Also, it will take the rest of my life to show you how amazing and awesome and wonderful you are. Thank also to anyone who read this. It is very late for me and I hope this story was worth the read. |
