While our engagement officially began on October 25, 2013, I had been planning it for some time earlier.  By late-summer I knew I was going to ask Kelly to marry me, I just needed to figure out the time and place to do it.  I wanted to speak with her family about my intentions, specifically her father, before I did anything official.  In late September, we were heading out to Lake Tahoe to watch her brother Jason compete in the 2013 Iron Man and I knew that this would be my chance.

I made sure to let my family know about my decision before leaving for Tahoe; it was going to be more challenging to find time to talk to her family without her being present.  During the day of the event, I managed to get a couple chances to start the conversation with everyone as Kelly would step away with the boys (her nephews) here and there.  In the span of maybe an hour I was able to get time with everyone except Jason, and received blessings all around (I had to pay her dad 3 cows and 5 goats).  I spoke to Jason later after the event, and in his weakened state I was able to negotiate his blessing and received 3 cows and 5 goats from him as well.

Next, I had to figure out a time and place.  I nearly proposed to her there in Tahoe spontaneously that weekend, but I hadn’t planned for it and didn’t have the ring with me I wanted to give her.  Once we returned to Redondo Beach, I was in ‘go’ mode.

I decided on my first choice for a location pretty quickly, and reached out to Chris and Annemarie Penny to see if they would be up for hosting.  It seemed fitting to me to take Kelly back to where we met and propose to her there.  The Pennies (Pennys?  How do you pluralize a proper name like this?) agreed, and 3 cows and 5 goats later we had it all set up.  In order to keep suspicions from rising, we decided to have the Penn…  the P…  Chris and Annemarie host a dinner (as they are wont to do) and Kelly and I would just “happen” to be invited.  We also arranged who the other guests would be so that 1) they would all be friends of ours and 2) they would be guests that “made sense” to have been invited so Kelly wouldn’t be on alert.

Dinner was lobster that Chris personally prepared fresh for us. One moment they were crawling on the floor being adorable, the next they were sitting on a plate being delicious.

After dinner, it was suggested we take a walk out back and enjoy the evening.  As we headed up to the gazebo, I was sure that Kelly knew what was coming, though she didn’t show it.  I don’t recall being nervous about the impending proposal, but I was dreadfully afraid something would go awry with the ring in some way.  I had my hand constantly in my pocket to make sure it was still there, and finally as we approached the gazebo I decided to just slip it onto my little finger and hide that hand from Kelly for the next few minutes.

As we stepped into the gazebo, I let the chit-chat that was underway continue, though it faded quickly.  I think everyone was afraid to step on the moment, and wanted to make sure to I had my window to speak.  Honestly, I hadn’t prepared my exact words, I just had a rough idea where I’d start.  I hadn’t expected it to just go quiet, so I clumsily started talking about the gazebo and anecdotally how we met the year prior in this spot.  Things went smooth from there, however, and I transitioned from how we met to where we’ve been since then and what she means to me.

As I was finishing telling the group about how I feel about Kelly, I turned to her and knelt, eyes only on her.  I told her I love her, and that I wanted to be with her the rest of our lives, and asked if she would marry me.  I took the ring from my finger, my grandfather’s wedding ring, and placed it on hers.  The only word she was able to say at first was “yes”.  By the expression on her face, it was clear she didn’t expect this at all, and the planning for this night worked perfectly.

Many thanks to everyone who was a part of creating this moment for us.  It was exactly what it was planned to be.

Despite some cows and goats being left a little confused, no animals were harmed in the making of this betrothal. Except the lobsters. They were delicious.