Kathleen and Troy's Proposal

Posted Friday, January 27, 2012 3:35 PM

On August 13, 2008, Troy and I said "I love you" to each other for the first time.  Ever since, that date has been very special to both of us.

I had absolutely no idea that August 13, 2011 would be the day of our proposal.  Troy had all but convinced me that something was up for my birthday dinner on August 27th. I fell for the ruse completely.

We had plans to spend the day together at Universal Orlando and so after a quick lunch following some routine errands, we headed off to the park.  Looking back, it would seem that the universe was conspiring to make this day nearly perfect.  Even the rain was kept to a minimum. Every staff encounter was perfect, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter wasn't too crowded, and the clouds kept the temperatures from being too oppressive.  The only thing we missed was meeting Capt. America - the rain cancelled our third attempt of the day.

Since I had a few gift cards to finish up, we planned on having dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (my favorite restaurant).  The rain started drizzling around 5pm and neither of us was very hungry so we decided to leave Islands of Adventure and walk over to Universal Studios.  It started to sprinkle harder, so after one lap we decided to head for the exit and get to the parking garage.

We took a different route to the Mall at Millenia and ended up taking a few "wrong" turns because, as it would turn out, we were ahead of schedule.  Once we parked and walked up to the restaurant, it appeared like it would be a long wait.  Troy told me it would be 30-40 minutes, which was fine.  Of course, when the pager buzzed after only a 10 minute wait, I just figured that it was the universe continuing with the perfect karma of the day.  We had a great table, which was for four people (oddly) and there was an empty two-top next to it.  Our waiter was fantastic and just made it a great dining experience.  I still had no clue.  In fact, Troy was laying it on really thick about something special happening on August 27th (an early 30th birthday dinner with friends).  

All day Troy had been very insistent on wanting to get dessert.  So we ordered our desserts and Troy's nerves must have kicked into overdrive, but he never showed it (cherry cheesecake for him and a goblet of fresh strawberries with whipped cream for me).  The waiter brought out dessert.  He put Troy's cheesecake in front of him and placed a Vermont Teddy Bear in front of me.  For a split second, I was like "I ordered strawberries, not a teddy bear."  Then I saw the bear (named CF) wearing a t-shirt that said "Will You Marry Me?" and the ring was around his neck.  Troy was already on one knee and unclasping the ring to slip on my finger.  It was all a blur, although the clasp got stuck!  The whole restaurant cheered.  I was alternating between smiling, shaking and crying.  My best friend (and now Maid of Honor) Lara appeared and snapped photos, while her boyfriend shot the video.  They sat with us for a few minutes.  I called my parents and tried to take a few bites of dessert.

It was indescribably magical and absolutely perfect.