Well worth the wait...

I’ve been asked what went through my head the day I proposed to Elizabeth. That day was very special. We got up real early on July 5^th to be able to spend the entire day at Disney World.

I had planned to ask Elizabeth to marry me since last year. Now the time was drawing close to finally ask her. I WAS SCARED! But I was going to do this one way or the other. I was able to sneak the ring out of the suitcase and into my pocket without Elizabeth seeing it. I went into the kitchen to get something to drink and Elizabeth’s father and stepmom were in there. They knew what I was planning on doing and Karen (stepmom, or just Ma as I call her) asked if I was nervous with Pop (Elizabeth’s dad) smiling at me.

“Yep!” I managed to squeak out. “You better believe I am.”

She told me to calm down and not to worry. But the thought of going through with this and being told ‘no’ was still haunting me in the back of my mind. We finally got on our way to Disney a little late, but at least we were finally going. I tried to act calm and normal, but my nerves were all over the place.

“Will she say yes? Will she say no?” kept running through my mind.

Elizabeth looked at me at one point and asked me if something was wrong. Oh boy, if she only knew! But I told her I was just tired and need a caffeine hit. If I don’t have my soda, I’m a zombie like out of one of Elizabeth’s books. After the hour drive, we made it to that magical place called Disney. We rode the ferry across the river and I hugged Elizabeth and pointed at the castle.

“Hey look! Cinderella’s Castle! It looks incredible,” I said, giving Elizabeth a kiss.

“Yes. I’m glad we were able to come on this trip.” Elizabeth answered.

We made it through the front gate and then security. Then we were in Disney World! Wow! I could feel the magic of the place start to hit my body. I felt like a young kid again and wanted to start to ride the rides and see all of the Disney characters.

Then I saw the castle again… and the desire to ask Elizabeth The Question started to hit me hard. I had planned to ask Elizabeth in front of the castle. Just like she told me that she always dreamed of when she was a child. Now to get her to the castle and pop the question.

“Come on!” Elizabeth yelled with excitement. “Let’s get to Space Mountain!”

“Space Mountain first?” I thought to myself. “Oh well…I can wait.”

Boy is Disney huge! I thought the walk to Space Mountain took forever. Then we got there, and the line wait was forty-five minutes!

“Shit!” I thought, and gritted my teeth at having to wait.

           

We went through the line and finally got to ride Space Mountain. I will say that it was a real blast riding a roller coaster in the dark. But even through all of the twists and turns and screams of fun, I was thinking of the castle and asking her the question. After the ride we met up with Ma and Pop outside.

Ma whispered to me. “Almost time… are you ready?”

“Yes,” I whispered back, “I am more than ready.”

But…first things first, I went to a drink stand and got me the largest soda they had. God, was I needing a caffeine hit to the brain. Elizabeth gave me snark for getting a soda, but she sure didn’t mind taking a drink when I offered it to her.

We started to make our way to the castle. We had planned to take family pictures and then let the kids run off and be kids. My heart was starting to beat out of my chest as we drew closer.

Then to my shock, there was a stupid parade going on right in front of the castle! Both Ma and Pop looked at me with a look that said, “This boy just can’t catch a break.” We worked our way through the crowd to the front of the castle. A part of me wanted to go ahead and ask her despite the noise of the music and the cheers of the crowds.

“Just calm down.” Pop said. “No sense to ask her if she can’t hear you.”

He was right, of course. So I held Elizabeth’s hand and waved at Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy as the parade went by. After another long eternity of waiting, the parade made its way around the square in front of the castle and the noise calmed down.

“This is it!” I thought with my knees shaking. “Now or never.”

I took Elizabeth by the hand and took her to the front of the castle and drew her close to me.

“What? Don’t you want to get your picture taken in front of the castle?” she asked me.

I drew in close to her and started to whisper to her. I will always remember the words that I said to her.

“I love you. With all of my heart I love you. You mean everything to me. So I am asking you… no, I am begging you, on one knee.”

At this point, I pulled the ring out of my pocket and went down to one knee. The sight of me doing this made Elizabeth catch her breath and hold her hand to her mouth.

I opened up the ring box and showed her the ring. I took her hand and slid the ring on her finger. She was smiling now and I gladly smiled back to her.

“Please let me be your husband and you my wife.” Yes! I asked her the question.

She smiled down at me and I could see the tears of happiness in her eyes and felt mine flowing down my face already. She bent down toward me.

“Yes.” She whispered to me.

I jumped up and grabbed her in a tight hug and gave her the biggest kiss I ever could. Yes! She had said yes. Thank you God for bringing her into my life. She said yes, and I will remember this moment forever. I looked at her and kissed her again and whispered to her.

“Let’s go to Splash Mountain now.”