I woke up on March 25th to a smiling face staring at me. A face I rarely see awake before me, because I am usually woken up by the dog looking to go outside, and he hears nothing through the forceful hum of his sleep machine.
"It's almost 10, why don't you get up, showered and dressed-- and I'll take you to breakfast before you head for work," he said with a coy smile. I have to admit, I was a bit suspicious and really not in the mood to get up and dressed to go somewhere for lunch before work. I told him cereal was fine-- but he just kept pushing until I finally, reluctantly agreed to go.
On our way to lunch, I got a text from my aunt: "I need your help. My mother-in-law fell so I need to leave work to take her to the ER." She said my uncle was still at work and my cousin was still on spring break so she had no other options and asked if I could come pick up the dog.
Of course I said yes. I called work and told them I was going to be late, which wasn't a huge problem because I was acting as a safety net for a co-worker who was training on the 10. Jason was eager to go with me-- which again seemed weird. But we headed west toward the Vallejo area. When we got to my aunt's freeway exit, Jason kept on driving and that's when I knew something was going to happen.
Jason had apparently taken a personal day for me at work-- and drove me to Point Reyes, just north of San Francisco. We pulled into a nearby town, walked through the shops and then he took me to Drakes Bay. We walked down the beach, and enjoyed the beautiful day.
I was half-expecting him to pop the question there, but when he didn't-- I started to think it probably wasn't going to happen. He had been leaving hints about things happening in April, and this wasn't April. So maybe this was just a romantic weekend away.
A few hours later-- closer to sunset-- we were driving to Limantor Beach. We found a spot to park, and then Jason just sat in the car for a minute.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Enjoying the view." he replied.
He was actually stalling. About 5 minutes after we parked, another car pulled up and parked a few spaces down. A woman got out, carrying a camera and a bag of photography equipment.
"Is that our photographer?" I asked. A little backstory about me, I had seen a post on Pinterest of a bride who received photos of the proposal from her groom on their wedding day. He had, had them secretly taken. I thought it was so sweet, and I told Jason so. Which is why I asked him if that was our photographer.
"No." Jason answered. "That looks like some woman who is here to take photos of the sunset."
"Ok." I said. And we began walking down the beach. 2 and a half miles down the beach.
This wouldn't have been such a big issue, except I was still wearing my work clothes. I had thought I was going to work when we left the house. So, I was wearing leggings, a cardigan over a tank top and a pair of boots. Not really beach attire. When we got on the beach-- it was super windy, cold and the tide had come in... meaning we were walking on loose sand.
About two miles in to our journey-- I was tired, cold, battling a cardigan that kept blowing off my shoulder and my calves were on fire. And that's when I started to complain. I was a complete pain in the ass. And when we got to a stream I had to forage in my work clothes-- I was done.
I could tell Jason was getting frustrated with me. Here he had planned this romantic proposal on one of my favorite beaches, and I was being a brat. We finally made it to "the spot." And he grabbed my hand and told me how frustrating, funny and caring I am. He told me how happy he has been with me over the last nearly eight years, and how I make him a better person. Then he got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him.
I was in tears, and of course I said yes!
Now, I don't know about you-- but when I walk long distances, or workout, my hands get swollen. So when he went to put the ring on my finger, it didn't fit on my finger. We had a good laugh over the whole thing, and hugged. And when I looked over Jason's shoulder, I saw a woman-- the same one I saw getting out of the car-- hiding in a patch of sea grass, taking photos of us.
"Are you sure that's not our photographer?" I asked, yet again.
"No. She's just a woman taking pictures of the beach." Jason answered.
"And us." I said.
We spent a few moments sitting on the beach, enjoying the sunset and talking about how excited we were to be engaged. We walked down the beach, and drove to the hotel Jason had reserved for us for the weekend. We had dinner, called our families and enjoyed the rest of our weekend on the beach. It was such a great weekend, and I am so incredibly excited that we're getting married.
I'll let you know if I ever see those "nature photos" that woman was obviously not taking that night.
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