The Engagement Story

Let me start off by saying that Dawson is not an extremely sentimental or romantic person.  This is why how he proposed is such a great event in our relationship, and why I am going to share how it all went down because I'm still so impressed with him.

Setting the scene:

We were in San Francisco for Spring Break with Blair, Diana, Tyler and Lauren, visiting Colin and Jamie and the girls.  The week had been so much fun; hanging out with everyone, cramming everyone into Colin and Jamie's little home (1 bathroom + 6 adults + 2 children = we all got a lot closer), and seeing all the San Fran sites.....  

Earlier in the week me and Daw had gotten to take the car ourselves and go to Half Moon Bay.  We didn't get in the water, since it rained almost every minute of the trip, but we had fun on the beach, being a cliche romantic couple and writing our names in the sand...  This is important later on in the story.

So it was the 2nd to last day of our 7 day trip.  When we woke up, Dawson looked outside and said to me "Miss, today is going to be a great day, I just know it".  I think he was TRYING to give me hints, but I wasn't catching on.  Jamie was asking me that morning about how serious me and Daw were, and I was telling her how me and Daw would get engaged sometime soon, but we hadn't gotten a ring or anything so it would probably be a few months.  FYI Jamie should get an Academy Award she is such a good actress. 

We all went to the Aquarium by the Bay at Pier 39 for the little girls to see all the fish.  We had taken 2 cars there, and somehow when we were leaving it was decided that me and Daw would go by ourselves to return something to H&M and meet everyone at home later.  Little old unsuspecting me didn't catch on to how everyone was smiling and hugging a lot more as we were leaving, or the short conversation Tyler and Dawson had in Spanish when they were saying good-bye.

The day was perfect.  We got front row parking at H&M, which in SF is unheard of.  Then we started driving towards the Golden Gate Bridge because Dawson had "something he wanted to see over there".  I was with Dawson by myself in SF so I was happy going ANYWHERE with him.  We were following the GPS, the one that has a soothing woman's voice and says the directions outloud.  Well she seemed to be lost because we were driving around for quite awhile.  I was in a fabulous mood though, cracking jokes left and right and singing along to every song on the radio.  FINALLY, much to Dawson's relief, we got to the little beach by the bridge that he was looking for.

Right as we got out of the car, it miraculously stopped raining.  We started walking towards the pier when Dawson decided he wanted to go over to the beach.  I was in my favorite black sparkly Toms so I didn't really want to walk in wet sand but I loved this boy so I humored him without much complaint.  I started snapping pictures and having a grand old time.

I was taking pictures of the bridge when Dawson said "Don't turn around, I'm writing something in the sand".  I didn't think anything of this, since I knew we were cheesy and in young puppy love and he was probably writing our names again like we did at Half Moon Bay.  Then when I was allowed to turn around I saw this:

I laughed and said, "Oh that's funny Daw, it says will you marry me"... Now don't think I'm a brat or anything.  Ever since me and Dawson have known each other we've joked around about when we were going to get married.  Of course there was that short awkward phase when we realized that the joke was turning into the real thing so we stopped for a little bit, but then Daw picked it right back up.  So him asking me to marry him wasn't unheard of at this point.  

I turned back to look at Dawson and MUCH to my surprise, there he was on his knee with a RING!  He said some very sentimental things, which I won't share so everyone will still think he's super manly, and asked me to marry him.  I started talking a mile a minute, pretty much saying everything EXCEPT the answer to his question.  I was also looking at the ring because as I said earlier, we hadn't picked out a ring yet.  Turns out Mr. Dawson is verrrry sneaky and went to the jewelry store and got a temp ring that he could propose with and then I could pick out my own after.  I didn't realize that I HADN'T said yes yet, until with a worried look he finally asked, "So.... is that a yes?"

YES!

There were no tears though, which I had thought would happen.  I was just so happy and surprised I couldn't even think about crying!  A group of crazy people working out on the beach ran by and we stopped them and made them snap a few pics for us.  And then it started raining again.  We jumped in the car, and lo and behold - our song was playing on the radio!  I know.  Pretty much we were destined to be together, cuz if that isn't a sign I don't know what is.

Then we called my family, since they hadn't known Dawson was going to propose, then his family since they had all known since that morning.  Jamie had even tried on the ring while I was in the bathroom before our conversation.  Like I said, Academy Award.  (Dawson brought the fake ring on the trip just in case he decided to propose, but it wasn't officially decided til that morning.  He didn't want to feel pressured or bad if anything didn't go according to plan, so he wanted it all to be spur of the moment).  We went out to dinner at this nice Italian restaurant and then got a BOMB ice cream sundae at Giaradhelli Square.  So yeah, it was pretty much a perfect day and I couldn't have asked for anything better.

I love him so much, and seriously am grateful everyday that I said yes.  Corny, yes, but also true.