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5 years ago today, Nick proposed!
Because of Nick’s timeline for work, we already knew when we wanted to get married. We had been dating for 4 years and we were ready, but we were waiting for him to finish his deployments. There were a few moments where I thought he was going to propose only to find out later that he was trying, so hard, but it just wasn’t working out.
What I didn’t know at the time was that Nick had been trying for 6 months to propose, but due to some family circumstances, a deployment, and the ring getting stolen (yup, you read that right. Nick has terrible luck with rings), it hadn’t happened yet. At the time I didn’t know about any of this. I didn’t know that he spent 6 months trying to propose 5 different times.
By the time he was able to propose, it was his Plan F.
I was planning to go to California on December 27 to spend New Year’s with Nick and his family.
On December 26, my parents went to pick Nick up at the airport while I was still sleeping. I was completely in shock to wake up and find him here in New York.
“I’m supposed to go see you tomorrow!” I said.
“I couldn’t wait that long,” he replied. He had traveled over Christmas night to surprise me.
He told me we were going to New York City for a surprise. At this point I obviously knew was was going on, so instead of asking a million questions I just went with the flow. I took the quickest shower of my life and threw on the first shirt I could find. We spent the day in New York and at the end of it, we ended up in front of the tree in Rockefeller Center.
I could feel Nick’s heart beating as he sat next to me, and all of a sudden he was down on one knee. He said a lot of beautiful mushy things and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes.
A stranger saw it happen and offered to take our picture right after:
We went home and my entire family was waiting for us. We all went out to dinner to celebrate.
The next day, we went to California together, as I had originally planned. We celebrated again with his family. It was a beautiful Christmas and the perfect way for us to start our engagement — even if it wasn’t what either of us had envisioned.
Life almost never goes according to plan. So, go into 2017 with an open heart. Know that beautiful things happen in their own time.
I don’t believe that good things just fall into your lap. I don’t believe that good things happen to those who sit around and wait. I don’t believe that you should wait for your life to begin.
But I do believe that hard work can sometimes take time to pay off. I do believe that setbacks aren’t the end of the world.
I do believe that things are not always what they seem and that we need to cut each other some slack. You never really know what someone else is going through.
I do believe that things that don’t work out like you planned can also be beautiful. I do believe that the best things in life are worth fighting for, waiting for.
And I believe that even if takes until Plan F or Plan Z, it’s worth it.
In 2017, get creative.
Oh my goodness, the ring got stolen?! That is craziness! I love that it took him until Plan F to finally get to propose. That photo of you guys is amazing. 🙂
I felt so bad when I found out after I think that the worst part for him was that he couldn’t talk to m about it. Luckily he had insurance, but he had to go get another one which added to the delays. In the end it was worth it. I can’t believe it was 5 years ago!!
This is adorably true. K had my ring for a month before he proposed, but I think he’d had a date in mind the whole time. (Our four year dating anniversary.) I love that a stranger took your picture! Two different friends of ours just got engaged on Xmas and I’m SO excited for them!!
That’s so sweet! We were dating for about 4 years when Nick proposed too. I love Christmastime engagements and congratulations to your friends!
What a romantic 🙂 Happy proposal-anniversary to you both!
Thank you so much!! It’s so hard to believe it was 5 years ago!
I love that you guys were able to celebrate with both of your families and looove that he surprised you a day early! So sweet! I can’t believe the ring got stolen- I feel like that’s every guy’s worst nightmare between purchasing the ring & proposing.
Thank you! I never thought we would have had that chance, to celebrate with both of our families, because they live in New York and California! It was such a perfect week, even though it only happened because of all of the craziness. I felt so bad when I found out after about the ring being stolen. It was really hard for him and he had to pretend like everything was okay. Thankfully he had insurance and everything worked out even better than I could have imagined!
Y’all seriously have such a sweet engagement story, and I can’t believe that your ring got stolen! I know that I’m one that majorly overplans everything, but sometimes when life happens unexpectedly, that’s when we have the most fun! I hope to learn to go with the flow more in 2017 as well!
I could learn a thing or two from you about planning! I love going with the flow and I think that a lot of the best things do come spontaneous, but I am so bad at planning things out. Sometimes you do need a plan to make sure you get everything done that you want!
Such a sweet engagement story minus the ring getting stolen!
Thank you!! It all worked out for the best in the end:))
Aww that’s such a sweet proposal story! Plan F sounded pretty good to me! And yes, I needed to hear that today…! To be patient… Hope you had a great Christmas!!
Thank you! Christmas was so great and now my husband has a whole week off so we’re having a nice relaxing staycation. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, Julie! I need a lot of reminders and practice with being patient but our engagement story is one that will always stick with me.
“I do believe that hard work can sometimes take time to pay off. I do believe that setbacks aren’t the end of the world.” This is exactly what I needed to read today! And your ring got stolen!? Poor guy!
Chelsea, your comment totally made my day. Nothing is better for a writer to hear than what you wrote is what someone else needed to hear. Thank you and I’m really glad that you liked the post.
I can’t believe he came all the way to NYC to surprise you like that! What a sweet sweet thing to do and despite all those plan A, B & Cs not working out, what a wonderful proposal and fairytale ending for the proposal!
Thank you!! It was the biggest and best surprise of my life!
What a sweet story!! It sounds like Plan F turned out to be the perfect one! Happy new year!
Thanks! Who would have thought Plan F would turn out to be better than any other plan he could have come up with?! Happy New Year!! Hope you had a great holiday season.
Carolann! You’ve done it again! Firstly this is a gorgeous story, setbacks and all, and that picture of you post engagement is lovely. Secondly, your words are inspiring as ever. I am nodding along here like a loon. Thank you for your ever inspiring writing!
Thanks so much Rachel. It means so much to me to hear that, to hear that someone can connect with what I am saying. Thank you so much for your sweet comment and for reading! Here’s to 2017!
Man–he was pretty committed to keeping his plans a secret from you! Loved reading your engagement story…sometimes when things don’t go perfectly and smoothly, it makes the best story years later.
I’m honestly not so sure I would have been able to keep all of that from him for 6 months! But now I love our story and how everything worked out. Things never seem to go to plan, and I’m okay with that.