Mike's perspective: After several long years of waiting, praying, saving up, and talking with Lucy about marriage, I finally decided that it was time to pop the question. I knew from conversations with Lucy that she was expecting me to propose near Christmas time, so I wanted to surprise her by doing it early! I originally had planned on doing it on a Topsail Island, NC, family vacation which Lucy was coming to, but other events that year did not make it seem like doing it on that trip would be feasible. Although I did do some window shopping for a ring prior to the trip, I planned on waiting until sometime in the Fall to pop the big question. Something happened on the trip, however, that changed my perspective. The whole family went out to dinner, dressed up for the occasion, and it was right on the water with a beautiful view. Although I enjoyed being with everyone, I was sad because I had missed an opportunity. I really wanted Lucia (Lucy's mom) to be present whenever I proposed to Lucy, and she was not with us on the trip. Furthermore, although I was fairly certain I had found a ring that I wanted to buy for Lucy, I had not yet made the purchase and we were 100s of miles away from Rochester, where the jewelry store with the ring was. I was disappointed that I had missed an opportunity… Things changed the next morning, however, when I said good morning to Lucy. Making conversation, I asked her how her mom was doing. To my surprise, Lucia had been given several days off of work unexpectedly - and I realized that this could be my opportunity to propose!! I prayed about it and decided to go for it - knowing that the Lord's hand had to be in it if I would be able to pull it off on such short notice. The next 36 hours were some of the most stressful of my life!! With help from my parents, we booked a plane ticket for Lucia, purchased the ring and arranged for Lucia to pick it up before getting on her plane, and came up with a plan for the proposal. When Lucia arrived, my oldest brother Dan got the ring from her and secretly met me at the beachside restaurant Lucy and I had gone to dinner at for her "birthday celebration". Lucia and my family hid themselves on the pier and throughout the beach - watching and waiting for what was about to happen. After dinner we walked down to the beach and walked along the shore. It was a beautiful night with a full-moon. After walking and talking, I got on one knee with the ring out and asked her if I could kidnap her for life! She was completely caught off guard, but she said yes!!! My family came out of hiding and Lucy also was shocked to see her mom there as well! I was relieved and thankful that the Lord had helped such an unlikely proposal to come together successfully!

In August of 2021, I joined the O’Hare family on a vacation to NC. During the trip Michael asked if he could take me out to dinner for a late birthday celebration, as we had been unable to celebrate the previous month. I was excited and agreed to it. We went out to put down our name on the list at the restaurant (had to be done in-person), and then we went to get ice cream and walk down the pier at the beach. It was a nice and sunny day out!! I was having a lot of fun just walking around and looking at stuff in the stores along the beach. About an hour or so later, we returned to the restaurant and waited to be called. Time went by and we were not called. We went up to talk with the staff and they said they had already tried contacting us but we did not answer so we had to wait longer. Neither one of us had received a call or text. We were disappointed but sat and waited. Eventually, Michael and I were called into the restaurant and, in my opinion, we were given the best table. It was outside on the back terrace, facing the ocean, and off on a corner where there was more privacy. Michael made an odd comment and said he really wanted to go walk down the beach before the sunset so we should try to eat fast… I did not think much of it aside from the fact that he loves food and we had been waiting for nearly two hours to try to get inside this restaurant. He also made several stops to the bathroom during dinner which I thought was weird too. Once inside the restaurant, we had great food, watched the sunset and then headed out to walk down the beach. Michael began saying nice things about me and our relationship as we walked down the beach but I just thought he was doing that because we were celebrating my birthday! Once we passed the closest pier from underneath, he stopped to face me and pulled a ring box out of his pocket! I was shocked, I just stood there and don't even know what Michael said after he got on one knee. I was trying to process what was happening and then heard people watching us from the pier clap for us. After what felt like a couple of minutes, I was still speechless. As I said, I do not know what Michael said, but I replied with “YES!”. After Michael got back up and hugged me, his family began migrating down towards us from the houses nearby. I was thinking it would have been nice to have my mom there too. I began hugging Michael’s family members one by one and realized that Rita was not in the crowd… I looked around and then up at the pier and found her!... and then I wondered who was standing behind her… It was my mom!! Both of them came down and gave me a hug. I was extremely shocked. It was a very special moment.