It happened just about three weeks ago, on Wednesday, May 18th. A little bit of backstory: Matt and I booked a seven-night cruise to the Bahamas a couple of months ago. One of the ports of call? Port Canaveral. An hour away from Port Canaveral? Disney World, aka my favorite place in the world. I was reluctant to commit to a day trip at first, but Matt insisted we go to Magic Kingdom just for the day. And there's no way I'm saying "no" if someone says, "do you want to go to Disney?"
I had suspicions, but no real evidence, that Matt was planning to propose. I was, I'd say, about 90% sure. And that's a dangerous place to be. What if he hadn't proposed? I would have been incredibly confused -- and devastated, for sure.
When we got to the park, Matt said he had to go to the bathroom, and I took the bait. I knew something was up because he knew exactly where the bathrooms were despite the fact that he hadn't been to Disney World since he was 13. I went to the bathroom too, taking my time, assuming that he was probably taking care of some logistics -- moving the ring from his backpack to his pocket, taking it out of the box, maybe. I came out to discover that Matt had disappeared. This is hadn't expected. I waited for about a minute and a half, and then my phone started ringing. This was it.
"Hey, I found Mickey! And I found someone to take our picture with him! Walk towards the flagpole and make a left, I'm right here!"
"Matt, there are literally hundreds of people all around me right now. I can't find you."
"Matt, there are literally hundreds of people all around me right now. I can't find you."
"Just do it!"
And then he hung up on me. I was really nervous now. My heart was pounding, my pulse whooshing in my ears. I scanned the crowds, caught his eye, waved.
Before I even had time to think, he was down on one knee, presenting me with this sparkly little disco ball set in platinum, and a park photographer was snapping pictures, and people all around us were clapping and saying "congratulations!" And at some point, I started bawling. Just all-out bawling, like a child.
Eventually I managed to gurgle out, "OF COURSE," and the crowd prompted us to hug, kiss, and put the ring on my finger.
Later on, after I called my parents and my sister and my best friends, I got the whole story out of Matt. After I'd entered the bathroom, he sprinted out into Main Street, USA and started searching for someone to be his accomplice. He chose well -- the two older women who he begged to help him turned out to be park workers in plain clothes! They hooked him up with a park photographer and grabbed his camera, too. By the time I got out of the bathroom, they'd set up an ambush.
May 18th, 2011 was probably the best day of my life. I was in Disney World, I was in the middle of an amazing cruise to the Bahamas, I had just come out of a tough semester of grad school with a 3.8 GPA, and I was engaged to my funny, generous, smart, and kind boyfriend. Though I guess he's my fiance now. WEIRD.
I wish I could bottle up that day and keep it on a shelf, and take a shot of it when I'm feeling low, in the future. For now, I'm trying to keep the feeling going for as long as I can.
