We’re getting married!

There I was... going down beautiful Shem Creek. Three knots of current coming down the river, wind coming from behind, and a group of beautiful women struggling to my right. This was my opportunity to pick the most needing and available from the herd. I paddled up to help a damsel in distress. I did not expect to find my soulmate, but there she was. After rescuing her from the marsh, I offered to buy her a drink and show her my favorite watering hole in Charleston. The infamous Salty Mikes became the foundation of a beautiful relationship. After getting to know her and her several favorite drinking establishments that evening, I realized this was something special. A whirlwind of regattas, sailing trips, and beautiful days on the water proved to me there was no one I would rather spend the rest of my life with. After moving several times and purchasing our first boat together, I had to seriously start thinking of when and how to propose to the love of my life. In November 2018, I began creating plans to propose and entrap the most beautiful woman in the world.

In December, I began to pry a diamond off of my mother's ring to create one for Brittany. The diamond has been in the family for generations. With the support of my family, the heirloom was in my hand. Next, I had to determine what the size of the ring should be, without her knowing. I treated Brittany to a spectacular evening of dozens of oysters and a pitcher of sangria. She was now susceptible to my task at hand. In the middle of the night, I took a string and wrapped it around her ring finger to measure and accurately find out the appropriate ring size. I commissioned a dear friend and incredible artist, Christopher, to create a vintage ring to match the diamond. The ring was almost as beautiful as her. I then brought pictures of the completed ring to her parents to beg and plead for their blessing to ask Brittany for her hand in marriage. Her mother was almost as excited as I was. Her father demanded a bride price. He demanded a horse, I offered a goat. He accepted and I will be delivering the goat before the marriage. The blessings from our parents were in hand.

Where to do it? Should I choose an exotic destination like Hawaii, or Belize? Where could I do it to make it even more meaningful and memorable for both of us? I know... I will go through her facebook pictures to find the most important place to her. I chose the location of her profile picture that she had for over a year. This was the north shore of beautiful Block Island. Block Island was very important to us because this was the first place we ever traveled together. We race on the J109, Ariel owned by our dear friends, Jeff and Diane. Block Island Race Week is every other June. Race week was fast approaching. This was the perfect setting. She would never see it coming. My groomsman, McJones, and many friends were already going to be there. The entire crew and dozens more knew what was going to happen. She was still unaware. On the day of opening ceremony, Brittany, McJones, and our photographer (she did not know he was a photographer), and myself went to the lighthouse of Block Island. We meandered around the beautiful landscape and wild nesting birds. We slowly walked to and fro among the impressive natural landscapes, which is Block Island. As we walked upon a beautiful hill with the lighthouse behind us and the ocean before us, I knew this was the spot. McJones sneakily passed the ring to me and I quickly hid it in my pocket. I grabbed Brittany's hand and embraced her. My goal was to distract her to get the photographer and my friend in place. I told her she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I declared I wanted to spend the rest of my life with no one else. I told her I loved her more than anyone, maybe even my own mother. She told me she actually wanted to spend the rest of her life with me. I was ecstatic. I asked her if she was sure she would want to spend the rest of her life with me. I asked, "are you sure?"..........

As I'm inquiring of her true desires to be with me forever, I slowly unwrapped a ring pop in my pocket. I got down on one knee and pulled the ring pop from my pocket. I asked, "Will you marry me?" In a flailing confusion of emotions, tears, and dropping phones and adult beverages into the sand, I thought I could hear a YES. There were tears and blubbering and all sorts of noises I think were somewhat positive. As the blubbering and tears continued, I picked up her phone and beverage as any gentleman should. The YESes were becoming more consistent and more clear. She was holding the ring pop as if it was the most important thing in her life. I held her close to prevent her from falling and collapsing into the ground. I was becoming more confident that she actually meant YES. As the camera men were taking dozens of pictures from the grassy knoll, they shouted, "GIVE HER THE REAL RING!" Before I was able to grab her hand, the tears began to flow again. I opened the white box, she was happier than I have ever seen. I placed the ring upon her finger and I wasn't sure if she liked the diamond more or the candy ring in her mouth. Many minutes passed with dozens of photos and I knew, unequivocally, I loved her more than anything in the world. As we slowly stumbled across the hills back to the car, we were both floating. As we arrived at the opening ceremony for Block Island Race Week, you would have thought everyone came just to celebrate our engagement. It also helped there was an open bar. I can not thank enough the crew of Ariel, her parents, or the other 100+ people that knew I was going to propose. No one told her a damn thing. She had no idea. This made it even more special. The guys at Salty Mike's almost blew it. I easily recovered with another drink and a smooth fast line, "Marriage is like prison, if you can not handle 5-7 years, you will never last 25 to life."