Amy and Lee

Posted Tuesday, September 01, 2009 12:50 PM

I went to California to visit my then-boyfriend for two weeks -- we were dating long-distance. He waited until the second to last day before I left to give me the biggest surprise of all.

When I woke up in the morning, I saw a big black gift bag filled with blue tissue paper beside the bed. I asked if it was for me and if I could open it. My boyfriend smiled and said yes. I then held back and said that he waited this long to give it to me, he must be waiting for the right time. So I resisted the pretty bag.

During the day, he took me to Laguna Beach because I love going to the beach. He then took me to Heisler Park to take pictures. For dinner, I had no clue where we were going. He just told me to dress up. We got into the car and I saw that he brought the gift bag with him. After a short drive, we ended up in a parking garage with a man in a gondola outfit waiting for us in the doorway. We followed him to the dock where a gorgeous white gondola with a wooden solarium waited for us called the Crystal Swan. I was so surprised I wanted to cry. It was the most romantic surprise I’d ever gotten, but I didn't know that there would be more.

We had a three-course meal on our two-hour sunset cruise in the private canals of Newport Beach. After the sun had set and we were finishing up our cheesecake, I heard a thud from under the gondola. It was a glass bottle that was thrown off a wedding charter. The gondolier turned the boat around and picked it up from the water. He handed it to me as a souvenir. I saw that there was a message inside and uncorked the bottle. As I was reading the message aloud, I was thinking to myself how romantic this was (believing it was from a wedding boat). I finally got to the bottom of the message, and I read, “Amy...will you marry me?”

I was just in shock. I froze and said OMG. I looked at my boyfriend and he began to smile nervously. I dropped the message. My heart was beating so fast. My boyfriend, stuttering nervously, gave a beautiful speech saying how this was meant to be. I was sitting there crying tears of joy. He made me believe that he hadn’t gotten my ring yet and that he got me a little something from Tiffany. Since our relationship was long-distance, we used all of our money to fly to see each other, so I didn't think buying a ring was even possible. He handed me the black bag with blue tissue. I saw that there was a box in a small bag in the big bag. I excitedly went straight to the box without taking anything out. It was the famous blue Tiffany box with a white bow on it. I opened it to find a velvet ring box inside. My boyfriend placed his hands over mine before I opened it, and he said, "Baby, I got you your ring." He got on his knee and opened the box. He asked, "So, Amy, will you make me the happiest man in the world tonight? Will you marry me?"

I was so surprised, I just nodded joyously and finally said YES! He caught me completely off-guard. When the gondola cruise ended, we took pictures together with the gondola and even snapped a shot of my fiance with the gondolier. Afterward, he took me to Pacific Park at Santa Monica Pier, which is where he took me the first time I visited him in California. It was the best and most romantic day of my life.