Surprise of a Lifetime

A message from the groom ((and probably his only post ever!)) :

Well I had known for a while that Chelsea was the one. I just had no clue how I was going to ask her. The problem was that after six years of dating, Chelsea also knew that the proposal had to be coming soon. My challenge was to somehow surprise her.

Towards the end of the summer Chelsea started getting antsy. Every time I would take her out she was thinking that it was the night. I was ready to propose, but I had no idea how in the world I was going to surprise her because she was always expecting it.

Finally, the perfect day fell right into my lap. October 15^th, 2011. Our 6^th anniversary of dating. Chelsea’s last day of being Miss Nashville. And a perfect opportunity to surprise her. October 15^th also happened to be during Knoxville Young Life’s weekend trip to Windy Gap. Chelsea knew that and was very upset that I would be missing our six-year anniversary and her farewell pageant. What she didn’t know is that only 2 of the 3 guy leaders were allowed to go from Gibbs High School, and I was the one who volunteered to stay behind.

October 14^th rolled around. Chelsea thought I was supposed to be leaving for North Carolina, and she was leaving for Nashville. I packed up a fake bag and said my farewells. She left for Nashville, and I stayed in Knoxville. Later that night I called her and told her that I was about to lose cell phone service from being in the mountains and that I couldn’t wait to talk to her on Sunday. We hung up and I turned off my phone.

On Saturday I woke up, put on some new clothes, picked up Seth and headed to Nashville. I dropped Seth off at the pageant, and I met my parents to get some frozen yogurt. As the pageant was winding down, my parents and I snuck into a back room trying our hardest to avoid Chelsea. It seemed like we were waiting for forever, but then Chelsea’s director, Sherri, came to the room and said it was time. I listened to Chelsea as she gave her farewell speech. Her speech came to an end, and I knew it was time. I got a microphone, walked down the center aisle and onto the stage. I said a few words and then got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.

It was a success. Chelsea was surprised, the audience was excited, both of our families were there to watch it, and Chelsea was happy that there were lots of people there to take pictures of us. I never would have imagined that exactly six years after I asked Chelsea to be my girlfriend I would be asking her to be my wife. On that day we started a very long and happy journey together, and I can’t wait to see where God takes us!

((grab some popcorn and enjoy!))

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