Where it all began...

So on this past Monday, February 23rd Marcus comes walking in the door with these...



{Now before I go anymore into this post I'm going to warn all of you this will be a long one and my feelings won't be hurt it you don't read it all the way through.}

Needless to say, I was surprised to see him with all those flowers. I thought at first that maybe they were a belated Valentines surprise because our Valentines day was spent at urgent care waiting to have Marcus's ankle looked at because we thought it was broken. Luckily it wasn't but going out that night kind of didn't happen after the day we had. :(
So then I realized the date and remembered that exactly 10 years ago to the day was the day that we got engaged, although I thought it was the day we were breaking up, BUT I digress...Here is the story of where it all began for us.

On February 23rd, 1999 I get a phone call from Marcus saying he wanted to take me out to lunch to talk about some things that he had been wanting to discuss with me. Now when I heard this, the way he sounded and what he said made me think he was wanting to take a break from us or break up all together. Needless to say, I was freaking out! I confided in my mom about my impending doom and she tried to reassure me. Little did I know that she and my whole family was in on the scheme.
So he comes to pick me up and his best friend is in the car with him! I'm thinking, how are we supposed to "talk" if his BF is there with us? He made some weird excuse about how he his BF was leaving on his mission very soon and he couldn't tell him no when he wanted to come along. The car ride was pretty much silent until we got near the airport. Then I was just confused. Marcus then tells me that his BF was going to drop us off and we were going to eat at the airport. Obviously, I am not catching on too quick to his plan. So we are dropped off and then we wander through the airport and finally we get in a line where Marcus finally explains to me that we are going on a surprise trip for our three month anniversary together. At this point I am just relieved that he is not breaking up with me. While we are standing in line he gets a phone call and then immediately says he needs to use the restroom. He tells me to stay in line & that he'll be "right back." Well, he is gone forever. This is on a Tuesday in the middle of the week so it's not like there is a line for the bathrooms especially the men's restrooms. He comes back and we get our tickets where I find out that we are going to San Diego. He then says he needs to use the bathroom again and that I should board the plane without him. I'm panicking because I don't want him to miss the flight and I get sent to San Diego by myself. Finally he does show with a bouquet of my favorite flowers identical to the ones Marcus brought home two nights ago in his hands. I finally realized that during all those bathroom breaks he was trying to meet up with some co-workers who picked up the flowers for him because he had to call a ton of florist shops to find sterling silver roses which are, as he found out, very rare and hard to find esp. on short notice. (Wow! I am trying to be short, but this post is getting long.) So we get to San Diego, pick up our rental car and drive to LaJolla. We ended up grabbing a late lunch at Hard Rock Cafe in downtown LaJolla. Then we decide to go down to take a walk on the beach and watch the sunset. The whole time I'm starting to think that there be more to this getaway.

{We had talked about marriage and had even looked at rings recently but Marcus had always said that he wanted to have the ring made by a friend of a friend in Oregon so I assumed that there was no way that that could have happened yet. Little did I know that as soon as he found out what I wanted in a ring (no yellow gold and not big or gaudy) he put designs together and had it made.
He was not wasting time!}

So we are walking on the beach and then we stop in a little private alcove to watch the sunset and the seals. I suddenly realize that we are completely alone and it is so romantic. All of a sudden Marcus is holding my hand telling me how much he loves me, wants to spend eternity with me and then he gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him with a ring more beautiful than I could imagine with the sun setting in the background. This was just the beginning of many great memories and moments to come! I am grateful to Marcus for loving me and that he has stuck it out with me for 10 years. I love you babe!