Sisters are great to have. They're always looking out for you, and always wanting more for you. When neither of us was in a relationship, and after Stephanie and Mason became engaged, our sisters had the brilliant idea to set us up. They talked to James about it, met up with him to tell him all about me, and created a plan to get us together. So everyone in the world knew about this plan, except for me. I knew that Andrea wanted to go out to dinner and have a game night with Chrissie and Leslie, and that James would probably be there, along with one of Leslie's friends. Their reasoning for not telling me ahead of time (or for the next year for that matter) was that they thought I would run away. They're probably right. We all had fun together that night, but I was definitely surprised when James asked me for my phone number at the end of the night. We quickly grew to be friends, bonding over food, movies, and word games. Needless to say, our sisters are pretty proud of themselves :)

So picture this: I was driving to work shortly after Mason and Stephanie got engaged, and I got an unprompted text message from Chrissie with a photo. It was of Carolyn and Andrea, and below it was the question, completely without context, “What do you think?” Not knowing where this was going and figuring I’d humor her, I eloquently responded “She’s cute”. She then barraged me with questions about meeting her and these grand plans that she, Leslie, and Andrea had been having about getting us to meet. At first, I’m a little overwhelmed, having never been the subject of a match-making before, I don’t quite know how to proceed. I do the best I can by getting specifics; learning a little more about her, about her job, her faith, her personality. Things keep getting better and better, and what began as an innocent question turned into a setup. When I first met Carolyn, she was content to be on the sidelines, content not to make any waves. But that’s no fun. My focus was on her the whole evening, learning what I could from the unspoken responses she had to the people around her, my jokes, how she so graciously and thoughtfully treated everyone. We had dinner, got dessert, and went back to my sister’s house for games. All too soon the evening was over, and as she got up to leave, I chased after her and caught her in the street. I was nervous, but managed to blurt out the question that would start an amazing journey: “Can I have your number?” In the almost two years we have been together, we have indeed had an amazing journey, we have gone to amazing places, done amazing things...and all of it hand-in-hand. I cannot find the words to describe the excitement I feel when I think of our future together. Wherever we find ourselves, and whatever the circumstances, I’m sure it will be amazing.

On Monday morning of one of my weeks off work, James texted me the following message: “want to have a picnic and watch the sunset at Bombay Hook on Thursday?” All I ever want to do is be outside, enjoying nature, so my immediate response was “yes!!”. That week, I wasn’t sleeping well at nighttime for whatever reason, so I was definitely thankful to have the week off to relax. I planned to help Andrea out at the house, but she managed to keep me away as she was busy crafting surprise engagement decorations. My parents were on vacation that week, and I found it interesting when I talked to them that they didn’t have specific plans about where they were going or even when they would be coming home…but then again, that’s not too surprising ☺ On Wednesday night, James texted me that he had called Bombay Hook, and that they had warned of crazy bug problems. Then he suggested going to Gibraltar Gardens in Wilmington instead, and said something about me wearing a dress. I got excited because I never wear dresses! I kind of wondered if he might propose, but really didn’t think so. When I asked what made him think to call Bombay, he immediately responded, so I believed him. So on Thursday, Sara and I spent the day helping Chrissie set up her new classroom at school, then I went home, got ready to go, and then went to pick up Wawa to take with us. to be continued...

He picked me up, we started driving to Gibraltar, and I was TIRED. He was quite the opposite, and said he had just eaten a bunch of M&Ms and offered some to me. Once we arrived to the gardens, he handed me a small container with a key inside and said “we’re going on a scavenger hunt”. He led me through the gardens and helped me find 5 keys with personalized tags on each one, which corresponded to certain boxes, each of which had notes about the future. Maybe I should have seen what was coming, but remember, I was tired :) by the 4th box, I saw someone taking pictures nearby and I thought to myself “that looks like Leslie”, but I didn’t say anything. I started to wonder, but I really wasn’t sure until Leslie made herself known and moved a bench out of the way so that James could spread out a magic carpet, just like from Aladdin :) He got down on a knee on the carpet, proposed, and gave me a Disney ring that is inspired from the movie Aladdin. And then I basically couldn’t talk until the next day :) I soon found out that everyone else already knew, and they were waiting to surprise us at my house. James is the most elaborate planner there is.

So, as just about any guy I know who has proposed can attest, the planning and execution to proposing to their bride-to-be was intense. Mine was no different, and I couldn't have done it without both of our families working together to both keep the secret, making sure everything went smoothly, and making Carolyn feel as special as she is (which is hard, because she’s just so special). It all began Monday on the week I proposed with a flurry of texts to our families checking for availability. After ironing out a few details over the next day, we determined Thursday would be the best time, with Carolyn’s parents ending their much needed vacation early to come back home to surprise her. With the consensus established, I began the PR campaign to get Carolyn on board for a trip to Bombay Hook wildlife refuge, which holds a very special place for Carolyn and I. She was all for it, and we began casually planning for a Thursday trip. Leslie, in her professional photographic wisdom, suggested she and I scope out the place early so she knew where to hide to take pictures when I finally popped the question. Turns out Bombay hook was a terrible choice for a proposal in August. From the moment we stepped out of the car we were overwhelmed by flies and mosquitoes. As we advanced through the swarms of insects, trying to get to the place where I would propose, we came to a mutual agreement that this would not work. And so, recovering from our mad flight through the bugs in my car, we decided Gibraltar Gardens would provide a suitable alternative. So I sent Carolyn a text on Wednesday saying I had called Bombay and they advised against a trip at the moment considering the number of water insects, and so instead let’s go to these gardens. Her response lauded my foresight in calling Bombay and she had no issue with going to Gibraltar, but she had a thorny question: “but what made you think to call Bombay?” (Continued in part 2)

Now I felt trapped, I couldn’t tell her I had been there and experienced the flies myself, so thinking fast I responded as quickly as my panicky brain could: “oh, there were flies at work and it got me thinking Bombay might have a problem too. Good thing I called!” She bought it, and I dodged that bullet. Then I began my fabrication project. I decided to be a little elaborate with my proposal. I wanted Carolyn to have a scavenger hunt to find 5 keys with special pendants, each of which would open a lock box. Inside each box would be a poem preemptively celebrating something in the future (our first fight, our first house, our first year of marriage, our first vacation, and our first child). Initially, I was going to 3D print each of these boxes, but Leslie came to my rescue again and suggested Michaels as a backup, which I ended up using. I did, however, 3D print a special lock that could open the boxes without a key just in case I lost the key or someone picked them up between when I hid them and when she was supposed to find them. I took the day off from work on Thursday and threw myself into my work, and I managed to finish all of the boxes and pendants only 3 hours before I was going to propose. I immediately drove up to the gardens and hid the keys, praying no one else would find them. I then drove back home and waited. The day before I had fabricated another story for Carolyn that would put me in close proximity to her house, particularly helping my parents at their house, so it would make sense for me to pick her up instead of her driving to me since the gardens were much closer to my house. So with a little more than a hour to go I went to my parents house and waited. Finally it was time, I drove to her house, surprisingly calm but not nearly calm enough for my preference, and picked her up. (Continued in part 3)

The whole drive up there I was almost hyperactive, which stood in stark contrast to her tiredness; it had been a long couple weeks for her. I played off my excitement as a sugar rush from M&Ms, which I offered to her. I knew she wouldn’t be so tired for long. We finally get to the gardens and park, at which point I pause for a moment. At this point in our relationship, I had a habit of making small personal gifts and projects for Carolyn, and so I played what I did next as one of those gifts. I handed her a small black box and asked her to open it. She finally got the puzzle box open, which only opens when you twist it into the shape of a heart, and it had a key in it. With the key in hand I reached behind her seat and pulled out a large chest, which I asked her to unlock. Inside the large chest were the 5 small chests, each locked and awaiting their key. “Let's go on a scavenger hunt” I said happily, and so we did. We hunted out the keys, me giving her small hints and nudges in the right direction, and she would open each box and smile at what was written inside. But by the 3rd box, she started getting suspicious (not before, which I was surprised to learn later!) that something was up, she caught a glimpse of Leslie at the 4th box, and by the 5th box there was no doubt. As she read the final poem, I reached into my little pack and unfurled a magic carpet from Aladdin and began to read my proposal. I was so nervous, I got to the end and realized I had grabbed the wrong box from my bag instead of the ring. I quickly fumbled back into my bag. She didn’t seem to notice as she was still stunned. With the ring in hand, I finally finished my proposal...and after a short pause she said without equivocation: Yes!