Vanessa and Joel

Posted Monday, May 12, 2008 10:40 AM

Lost hope for the perfect proposal

Joel and I took a trip to Greece during the end of September. I had an inkling that he was going to propose on the trip since my mom slipped and told me he had asked for her and my father's permission to propose. However, after a few days in Greece, which included many romantic dinners, strolls along gorgeous beaches, and breathtaking sunsets, I gave up hope. 

A no-frills romantic tavern in Santorini

On the fifth day of our Grecian adventure, Joel and I traveled to the island of Santorini. We arrived at our hotel late in the evening and inquired about nearby restaurants where we could grab some dinner. We were given a flashlight and told to walk half a mile down the beach to get to a local tavern.

The seafront tavern was small, charming, and far from glamorous. The sun was long gone, replaced by a bright full moon, and light poured out of the restaurant windows onto the open-air patio where we were seated. Our entertainment was watching the stray cats and dogs scattered on the beach sand, waiting for table scraps. With the waves crashing in the background, the ambience was set for a romantic meal. 

I, however, was in no such mood for romance. During dinner, I remember Joel staring at me quite a bit. Being the anti-romantic I was that day, I annoyingly asked, "WHAT?!"

He sweetly replied, "Can't I just look at you?"

I responded by rolling my eyes and continued to eat my meal. Once finished, we grabbed our flashlight for the dark walk back along the beach to the hotel. Then, the most uncanny thing happened. One of the stray dogs (seemed to be of German Shepherd descent) got up from his resting spot on the sand and began walking with us. I felt a little uneasy about our large, furry companion, so I willingly took Joel's hand when he offered it. As he grabbed my hand, I felt something poking me. Thinking it was our room key and wondering why one would hold a room key in the hand they were going to hold someone's hand with, I snapped, "What is poking me?!"

The unsuspecting moonlit proposal on the beach

Still holding my hand, his feet now stood still, and I turned to face him. He got down on one knee and said, "Vanessa, will you marry me?"

In his hand, he held a ring, and again, in typical fashion, I responded in semi-disbelief: "Shut up." I kept looking down at him, with the ring in one hand and my hand in the other. The only words that kept coming out of my mouth were, "Shut up," accompanied with an occasional eye-roll. After a few moments, I came to my senses and replied with the answer he had been longing for: "Yes!"

Joel stood up and in ready excitement said, "You HAVE to see this ring!" He then shone the flashlight onto the ring he held.

Feeling the excitement of his proposal, I didn't care what the ring looked like and said, "Put it on my finger!" to which he happily obliged.

The oddest thing about that night was the aforementioned stray. During the proposal, the dog had wandered off, but when we continued our way to the hotel, he was back by our side. It wasn't until we reached the outdoor staircase to our second-floor villa that he turned and walked away. During his time with us, he never once tried to garner any attention; he was just a silent companion in the night. Joel and I have never been ones to believe in the supernatural, but we feel like this event was something special. We like to think that, through that stray, we had all of our loved ones with us, blessing the evening and our engagement.

Greece, the beach, a moonlit walk, and a dog? What could have made the proposal more perfect? Maybe the perfect man -- luckily, he was there too!