Sparkly Surprises!

One week ago from today, to my complete surprise, life changed again!!  While in Denver, CO for the first time (for both Adam and myself), he proposed!!  I've told the story, with Adam's help, several times to family and friends during the days that followed as we made our way from Colorado back to North Carolina.  Now, on the day he departs fro California and a day before I drive north to Pennsylvania, I am thankful he and I had some quiet time to reflect on last Sunday night's events.  I'm also thankful to have a place to share this story with all the beautiful details that I inevitably forgot in retelling the story over the last few days amidst graduation and celebratory festivities.  This story is told mostly from Adam's point of view since much of last Sunday night is a blur for me with my words in italics.  Thank you for sharing in our joy and excitement as we look toward the future together!!

After a day of being total tourists that involved a breakfast picnic with friends at Red Rocks, hiking, visiting the Buffalo Bill Museum (my long lost great great great great..........uncle!?) and gravesite, hiking the 374 steps to the Mother Cabrini Shrine, attempting to view the buffalo from the overlook on a side of a majestic mountain, and grabbing some beers from the second largest brewery in Golden, CO (Coors Brewery is the largest..ha!), Doris, Adam, and I wound up at the Basilica Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Denver for mass.

 

Once I knew our itinerary (Doris, my friend whom we were visiting while in CO, did an AWESOME job of planning and coordinating), I knew I would propose to you after mass on Sunday night. The only question was exactly where in the church and how I would get you there alone without tipping my hand.

I had taken the ring with me all day in my pocket. I had initially thought it might be cold enough in Denver that I would wear my jacket, and then I could take the entire ring box with the ring in it. But since it was too warm, I had to keep it in the front pocket of my jeans sans box.  (Which explains why he grabbed my hand when I put it on his lap [over said pocket!] during mass.)

During mass, I was scoping out potential places for the proposal to go down. I saw two places that might work, but I wanted one with a kneeler and I couldn't tell if there was one from where we were sitting. But duing communion, I saw that there was a kneeler on the left side up at the front of the church, so that was going to be it.

I wasn't really nervous until mass ended and now it was time to go. I had to get you to the other side of church without Doris. So I asked if you would come pray with me and I asked Doris if she would take a picture of us. I debated if I should try to tell Doris what I was doing, but it was too risky that you would overhear or she would get too excited and blow my cover. :) You were a little confused so I just ended up taking you by the hand and leading you over there.  I remember being distracted because I had wanted to get a copy of the music since it contained a song I thought my friend, Jim, had liked and I wanted to give it to him once I returned to NC.

 

There were a few people up there when we got there, so we had to wait maybe two minutes as the band cleared out and a couple other people finished viewing the statues up there. Once they left, we went up and looked at the statues. You explained to me who the saints were. My mind was racing with how I was going to transition this into what I wanted to do so I was only half paying attention.  I was excited because I had just taken a photo earlier that day of a quote from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux who was one of the statues standing in front of us!

After we were done looking at the statues, I asked you to kneel next to me so we could pray at the foot of the cross. I began a prayer asking God to lead us on the path that he wanted us to be on, tying it in to the theme of the Gospel and homily from mass. Then I got a little side tracked and asked if you knew that this had been our 5th mass together and each of them had been in a different city across 3 different states. You looked a little confused so I named them to you. Then I finished the prayer and now the moment had come. I needed something to transition from the prayer into the proposal so I asked you how you felt about where we were currently in our relationship. I wasn't really worried about your answer, but I was interested to hear what you would say. After you answered, I said I have one more question for you. And I'm going to ask it with a huge smile on my face. Then I reached in my pocket to pull out the ring. I held it up and asked you, "Will you marry me and be my wife?" You turned your face away and asked, "Are you serious?!" I think you were a little overwhelmed and surprised. You asked the same question again. I just looked at you and grinned ear to ear. I think you took a moment to gather yourself before saying, "YES!" ;)   

So I put the ring on your finger. Sparkly! :)  Yes, sparkly indeed!!  :P

We basked in the glow of the moment for a little while, and then I said, "Let's go tell Doris". I realized we had been up there for a while and she was probably wondering what the heck was taking so long. So we got up and walked down from the altar. No sooner did I see Doris than another women stopped us and asked if she could show us a picture she had taken of us. I said sure, wondering what this was about. Then she said something like she had just been overwhelmed by the feeling of God's presence and love and felt compelled to take the pictures. I mentioned that she had actually captured a very special moment, but she didn't realize what I was referring to. By then, Doris had made her way over to where we were, but was hanging back a little, so I waved her over. Then I told both Doris and Kathy (as we learned the woman's name was which is my Mom's name..and spelled the same way!!)  that we had just got engaged. At that point it looked like both of them were going to cry and congratulations were given all around.  And hugs...lots of hug!

You gave Kathy your information (I could barely remember my phone number) so she could send you the pictures, and we started heading out the door, when you stopped (to get one last look at the altar..when I glimpsed Msgr. Fryar who had just presided over the mass and delivered an awesome homily related to the gospel of the two men on the road to Emmaus when Jesus appeared to them) and said we should see if we could ask monsignor for a blessing and get a picture with him. So we went back in and headed for the altar. Kathy was there, and we hadn't even uttered a word when she asked if we were looking for monsignor. We said yes and she responded that she knew him and would go get him for us. He had just gone into the back, but Kathy followed him and brought him out. She must have filled him in on the story because he already knew what had happened when he came out. I asked if we could get a picture with him and he said that he could do one better and also give us a blessing. He took us up in front of the statue of the Sacred Heart and had us face each other. I took your hands in mine and he gave us his blessing. The beginning of his blessing sounded almost word for word like the beginning of the prayer I had said just a few minutes earlier.  We both were overcome with emotion at that point and felt doubly blessed!  

 

"At the foot of the cross where grace and suffering meet. You have shown me your love through the judgment you received. You've won my heart. Yes, you've won my heart. Now, I can trade these ashes in for beauty and wear forgiveness like a crown. Coming to kiss the feet of mercy and lay every burden down at the foot of the cross." ~ Lyrics come to life from one of my favorite Kim Kalman songs — at Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Denver.

This was the exact moment when I realized what he was asking...hehe.

 

 

Upon our return to Doris' apartment, we Skyped with my parents to share the good news and I found out THAT was why I hadn't been hearing from my Mom the last couple weeks for she feared spilling the beans.  She and Dad had known it would happen at some point during the trip since Adam had spoken with them of his plans during Easter weekend!  Next, we moved out to the balcony of Doris' building to enjoy the Denver skyline and tell Adam's parents via speaker on his cell phone.  Once we had spoken with both sets of parents, we opened a bottle of wine I had gotten for Adam as a memento to remember the Denver trip by the night before he flew into CO.  I had the bottle personalized with a wine label that contained a picture of us from his parents' home on the evening of St. Patrick's Day.  Originally I had planned for him to decide when we would enjoy the pomegranate zinfandel wine but after our exciting event that night, it seemed like a good time to drink it!  

 

 

Thank you to all for the outpouring of love and support over the last week as we shared our news!  It will be hard putting my fiancé (eek!) on a plane to go back to California tonight.  It's never easy saying goodbye (I've been doing too much of that these last few days and HATE them) but knowing we will be back to our daily Skype calls and moving forward with wedding plans helps.  Besides, three months from today, I will be in California for one last trip before the new school year kicks in up in Ohio!

 

God is good....what a surprise twist in this story!  Only He could author such a grand plan in which impossibilities are becoming possibilities before our eyes.