How I got the Girl

Most of you may know that Julie and I recently took a vacation to St. Lucia. Along with amazing food, weather and water sports, we decided to get engaged. Well, I decided to propose is more like it. For those of you that are interested, here is a quick run-through of how it all went down.

We started off the morning by waking up and hitting the beach to float around and catch some morning sun. With Julie being one of the most energetic people I have ever met, I knew my relaxation would soon come to an end. We decided to pop out on the Caribbean ocean in a couple of ocean kayaks. The water was perfectly calm and blue which added to the backdrop of what I still think looked like the approach scene to Jurrasic Park.

Kayaking lead us to Pigeon Island. A twin-peaked beast of land shooting out of the ocean about half a mile from our beach. This was going to be the location of the proposal, but not yet. There was no way I would trust myself with Julie’s Mother’s ring in a kayak in the middle of the ocean…give me some credit. I digress. On the top of Pigeon Island is a 17th century English fort named Fort Rodney. You can check it out in the background of this photo:

We rested a little bit on the shore of the island before heading back to the resort for some lunch and more activities.

Lunch was a quick sandwich then off to more activities. Julie’s activity: heading back to the beach to sign us up for some jet-skiing action later that afternoon. My activity: a nap. I was trying to stay calm knowing that soon I would be dropping down to one knee and the siesta definitely helped. Julie came and got me when it was time to hit the ocean again, this time with a motor instead of an oars. I knew time was edging in on me if I wanted to get Julie over to the island before it closed, but how can you pass up a jet-ski in the Caribbean? Suffice it to say, we finished up and I persisted that I head back to take a shower. I wanted to be presentable for hiking (and proposing).

After getting cleaned up we headed to the resorts dingy dock (that sounds awesome) to catch a ride over to Pigeon Island. When we got there we began the hike and made it to the fort in great time. Unfortunately, when we got to the top there was a huge tour group taking photos and running around in the fort. I was disenchanted for a moment until I saw a girl wearing an Ohio State t-shirt. I instinctively called out “O-H” to which she proudly and without a second’s hesitation responded “I-O!”. It’s always great to run into Ohioans around the corners of the world. Anyways, shortly after our Ohio moment the tour group left. This left Julie and me on top of the fort all by ourselves. While she was distracted with a posted plaque telling the history of Fort Rodney, I placed her mom’s ring on one of the old cannons that remained on top of the fort:

I grabbed Julie from where she was reading and told her I would explain how they used to make these old cannons work. She wasn’t all that excited but she entertained my enthusiasm and energetically hopped over to the cannon. The sparkle from the diamond caught her eye and for one brief moment in her life, she was still and quiet. She looked at me and asked, “what’s that doing here…?”

I replied by taking the ring and getting down on one knee. Julie kept saying how the ring would never fit, it was too small, what’s going on? My only response was, “Will you marry me?” 

I slipped the (re-sized ring [ask me if you want that story]) onto her finger and she was quiet again. My nerves were going everywhere. I wasn’t used to her being quiet, and now was especially a time when I wanted to hear her excited little voice. It seemed like a fort night but was only a second until she said yes. We stood up there, on top of Fort Rodeny, and let it all sink in. She finally returned to her giddy-self and hopped around for a while. I did my best to get her to calm down so I could snap a photo of her in her excitement.

Just in time and serendipitously an Englishman and his young son climbed up the ladder to the perch of Fort Rodney. He graciously snapped a photo of the two of us standing on what we’ll (ok maybe just me) as the most awesome cannon ever.

I can’t say I have been more excited or sure of something in my life. I don’t get cheesy on these intertubes all that often, but now will be an exception. I still think back to my very first day at Ohio University when I entered Morton Hall, Room 201, for Psychology 101. In a room of 300 fresh, young students I saw this amazing girl. I could have never known she would give me the time of day, let alone a chance at spending the rest of my life pestering and loving her. I also want to say thanks to all of you, the ones that made it this far in the cheese-ball story of how I got the girl. Without the support and friendship each and everyone of you brought us, we’d never be here. This is going to be great.

Now, let’s party.