March 21, 2024 Day 3/93 - Throwback Thursday
I was incredibly nervous that evening, March 19th of 2021. Of course, I was nervous for the regular reasons, that I was going to propose to Mandy and I wanted it to go off without a hitch, but also, the engagement ring sat loose in my pocket with no box to protect it, like a single coin, only that this "coin" was worth many many wheelbarrows-amount of any standard coin. Hopefully, that wouldn't prove to be a mistake.
The Trip to Savannah
You may not be aware that Mandy and I spent the first few years of our relationship long distance. It was hard. At the time, I lived in Jacksonville, Florida, stationed there with US Coast Guard, and she lived in Boise, Idaho. The story of how we met, grew apart, then reconnected as adults is a fantastic one, and one I will absolutely share in its own post. For now, however, we're fast forwarding to when I felt that I was prepared to make this woman my wife. Ffffooorrrreeeeevvvvvveeeeerrrrrr.
We had talked about exploring Savannah for quite some time up until then. Just a few hours of a drive to the north from Jacksonville, Mandy and I planned a couple of evenings in the Georgia city to hang out sans child, explore some awesome restaurants, and of course party it up with the locals. I had other plans that I needed to prepare for, however.
One place we found to be particularly beautiful was Forsyth Park, which I snapped a picture of here. Tall sycamore trees line the walking path through the center of the park. Long runs of willowy-green Spanish moss hang from the branches to provide a tunnel of natural beauty in an otherwise crowded town. I felt like I was standing on a movie set. Perhaps this would have been a perfect place to pop the question as well.
The Set-Up
On the evening of 19th, we dressed up in our hotel room to prepare to go out for a nice dinner. I primed her up by telling her we were going to go do a sunset dinner cruise on a steamboat. She wore a thin blue dress that night, actually, one of my favorites that she owns and she looked stunning. Mandy's tall. Her legs are sky high and I couldn't help but check her out every time she turned around. She rolled her eyes whenever she caught me staring. She still does.
While she was in the bathroom, I pulled out the rather unwieldy black ring box from my bag and opened it up. Seeing the diamond made my heart flutter with anticipation. I was wearing khakis that night and they were rather snug. I shoved the ring box in my pocket and inspected myself in the mirror, hoping to find a good way to hide the box in my pants without it looking like...another type of surprise.
No luck.
I fiddled with every pocket. At one point, I imagined a way to tape the ring box to my ankle. If it looked obvious, I'd just say its my ankle monitor. Okay, terrible plan.
I could hear her in the bathroom washing her hands, which only meant that she was going to be out here any second. I thought quickly and pulled the ring out of the box and shoved it into my pocket. I buried the box back into my bag and hid it among the dirty laundry on the bottom. This time when I looked in the mirror, you could hardly tell anything was there. Perfect.
She came out, put her heels on, and together, we walked through the lobby of the hotel and into the warm Georgia spring air. As we made our way to the pier where our dinner date would be, I couldn't stop thinking about the mix of excitement and dread I felt all at the same time. Excited because obviously I was about to risk it all to ask this beautiful woman whom I've known most of my life to marry me in about an hour, and dread because the ring worth approximately one-million of my paychecks was hanging out freely in my pocket.
The Proposal
As we walked down to the pier to board the Savannah Riverboat Dinner Cruise, I cautiously fondled the ring in my pocket, holding it firmly between my finger and my leg as if I was channeling some Bilbo-like ring possessiveness energy. I wrapped my whole hand around it as we walked over the expanded metal grate that led to the interior of the Georgia Queen Steamboat. No way in hell was I going to drop this thing in the water. Perhaps I should have brought the box, I thought.
But, alas, we boarded the boat with no issues, ring still firmly attached to the inside of my pants, and we quickly found our seats (and our drinks).
As we pushed off from the pier, we could feel the gentle movement of the vessel as it rocked ever so slightly left and right. I, of course, took this as an opportunity to make a joke about how similar this pushback felt to all those I experienced during my seagoing time in the Coast Guard. How I genuinely missed being underway.
The live music was played by an old man piano player who was no doubt talented, but even less doubt, old. The ambiance was great. People were happy. Mandy and I chatted over dinner and I grew more nervous. I looked into her big brown eyes and could feel those tingles of attraction course beneath my skin. Like when you see a girl you like and each time she looks at you, your lips swell and you can hear your heart in your ears, then, to act natural, you compliment her by saying something totally coherent like, "You have nice, uh, fingerprints. I bet they're pretty handy." Then you shuffle off to puke and think about that moment every time you lay down to sleep for the next 20 years. But that was me right then. I was nervous. I was jittery. Totally in love with Mandy.
As the night wore on and the prime rib took its rightful spot in our stomachs, I knew the moment was drawing close. My thoughts raced as I was unsure of exactly where to do this. Truth be told, I hadn't thought about the exact place that I would ask.
I invited her to walk with me out to the weather deck of the steamboat. The first place I thought to pop the question was a real doozy. I thought it might be fun to ask in front of a few unsuspecting strangers on the topmost deck overlooking the bay. But the wind had other ideas. It was downright cold and the wind was whipping so bad that her hair was flying into every open mouth in a two-foot radius and her dress decided to go all Marilyn Monroe in front of the pilot house. Surely, this wasn't the show I wanted to put on.
Finally, we walked to the back of the steamboat and found just the smallest windbreak on that side of the deck. Honestly, the view was nice, but in retrospect, I should have just ushered her back into the main dining cabin, but for some reason, my cold and nervous self though best to power through the plan. I pulled the ring from my pocket and took a deep breath.
And right there, on that cold and windy weather deck, on a steamship in the middle of the Savannah River, on the last day of winter in 2021, I asked Mandy to be wife.
And she said yes.
The Aftermath
I got up and said, "wait, really?" She laughed and hugged me and immediately put the ring on. I felt like I couldn't hear I was shaking so bad. She stared at it as hard as she could in the darkness, and she was pleased.
We walked back into the main dining cabin where she was all smiles. It felt good to see her in this way. Admittedly, I felt silly for kind of fumbling the exact moment of proposal, and even to this day, sometimes wish I did it slightly differently, but she was happy, and that's what matters.
An older couple at the table beside us immediately recognized Mandy's demeanor. The woman asked if I had just proposed and Mandy said yes. They both congratulated us. Mandy asked me to dance and we went to the dancefloor together. The old man behind the piano caught wind of the news and congratulated us as well.
After a few songs worth of dancing and making friends with our table neighbors, the boat pulled back up to the pier where we stepped off back onto land. I let me fiancé cross the boat's brow first, then I followed right behind. She held my hand and kissed me one last time before we made our way back to the hotel. All the days' nervousness and stress seemed to fall away. I was happy.
What's next?
Well, it would be irresponsible to not address the fact that though we have been engaged for three years this week, we are not yet married. Why are we waiting? What gives?
A bunch gives.
Just a few short months after this wonderful trip, I moved back across the country to Oregon where Mandy and I live currently. We had initially thought we'd be married by the summer of the following year, but some horrific life events have gotten in the way including a some back-to-back deaths in the family.
But here we are, moving forward. We have a date! August 10th of this year is when we finally plan to tie the knot. Overdue? Maybe. Worth the wait? You bet! And believe me when I say, this woman is worth every second.
What did you think of our engagement story? Drop me a comment, subscribe for updates, and let me know!