Spoiler Alert: I’m ENGAGED!

Most people know that I've been dating a wonderful guy for a loooong time (*cough* four plus years *cough*). Since we've been together for so long, we get the age old question, "So when are you getting married?" at least once a week. My response was usually, "Well, I'll only say 'yes' if I'm surprised. So it’s kind of slowed the process down." Danny usually responded, "She hasn't asked me yet."

I got my way, sorry honey, you didn't get yours.

Thursday, August 4th was my 25th birthday. I had planned to paint my room on that day and the next so I could get that and many other things done before dental school starts (oh boy!). I apologized to Danny, but hoped he understood that I had stuff I needed to get done. But to my surprise, my dark blue room was white when I got home from Atlanta Wednesday night. Yay, Danny’s the best!! Danny made me promise I'd go kayaking with him the next morning to have a nice relaxing birthday morning.

Thursday morning it was drizzling when I woke up. But Danny called and insisted that it wouldn't be bad till the afternoon so we should go as early as possible so we could get some kayaking in before the real rain started.

I was a bit leery, but he had just painted my entire room, so I just went with it. We got to one of our favorite lakes, unloaded, and were in the water by 8:30 a.m. Danny mostly fished and I meandered/fished. Important Note: This is a bit weird, but I really LOVE "treasure" hunting. Which is basically me paddling along the shore seeing what kind of cool things I can find. I usually just find fishing lures or bobbers, but sometimes other cool stuff.

We headed down the shoreline towards “our cove”. It’s a somewhat secluded place we found that has cool rocks lining it, tons of frogs, and cute turtles. After a couple of hours we had made it to the cove and we fished a bit. I got frustrated because I wasn’t catching anything, so I suggested we find another spot. Danny said something to the effect of, “Why don’t we stay a bit longer? I think I might be able to catch something here. Why don’t you look for treasures, I bet storms bring stuff in here all the time.” I totally bought it and started scanning the shoreline.
Suddenly, I found a clear glass bottle tangled up in fishing line that had a bobber attached to it. It looked like the bottle had some sort of message in it. I got super excited!! (I watch too many movies ;)) I called to Danny. It played out kind of like this.

“I think I found a message in a bottle, super cool!”

“What?! A message in a bottle, you're lying.” Danny looked my way. “Nah, from here it kind of looks like a piece of trash in a bottle.”

“Really?! I think it looks like a message.” I was secretly bummed out, thinking I didn’t really find anything cool. We paddled towards each other.

“Oh, that does look kind of like a message, open it up.”
I struggled to get the cork off and handed it to him to open. He opened it and handed it back.

“Ooo, it is a message.” I untied the piece of paper and read out loud.

“From the first time we met
From the first time we kissed
My mind would not forget
That this chance could not be missed!

I needed you, and wanted you
Woman who takes away my blues
Never wanting to bid you adieu
For I knew you were the one to choose

As our love continues to grow
I continue to get happier in my life,
And my dear sweetheart this is how I know…
Jessica, will you do me the honor and be my wife?”

You know how you just read that all the way through? Well, it took me a while to get the whole way through. I started crying just about in the middle of the poem, and then I started bawling right before the last line. Which is weird, cause I’m not really a crier. I take that as a [good] sign.

While I’m on the last line, Danny whips out the ring and says the classic, “Will you marry me?”

And I say…….”YES!!” through a lot of tears. It was a total surprise. It was fun. It was unique. It was a little adventure. It was romantic. It was us. It was perfect.
I’m still on cloud nine and I’m sure I will be for quite some time. Love is in the air <3