OUR
Story
(the condensed version...)
Let's be honest, you missed too much!
We met Freshman Year in P.E. class. George transfered into my class two weeks into the school year and sat right in front of me. For weeks I stared at the back of his head (one with a lot more hair :) ) Intrigued by the cute and quiet new kid, I thought of ways to introduce myself. One morning, my friends and I were doodling on my notebook when I thought of a conversation starter. I wrote "Jorge" on a piece of paper and tapped my neighbor on the shoulder saying, "Look, I wrote your name." Without skipping a beat he responded, "That's not how you spell my name." Somewhat embarrased, for the first and really the last time in our relationship, I admitted I was wrong about something and we became friends. Over the next four years we helped each other get through high school, I helped George pass Anatomy (really, the actual class) and he helped me through all of my high school boyfriend drama (there was a lot). We bonded through sports, both playing basketball for our high school and both winning a District Championship, mine was first! I even gave him his favorite nickname, which has stuck with him after fifteen years, "Feet!" And through it all, we were best friends, but my crush on George never quite went away. (He may deny it, but I think the feeling was mutual.)
<insert years of missed opportunities and awkward moments>*
"It was always you."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald
For college, when I decided to move almost 3,000 miles across the country, George was one of the people who took me to the airport to say a tearful (me of course) goodbye. My friends at Stanford quickly learned of my friend Feet. Through college in California (J), paramedic, EMT school, and fire college (G), and a semester abroad in Spain (J), we talked on the phone all the time. But toward the end of college we began to grow apart, and during law school we barely even spoke. My roommate from Stanford (and one of my beautiful bridesmaids), Wynn, was so surprised to learn when she came to visit me that my new friends at Notre Dame didn't even know about Feet. It wasn't until after law school, that we reconnected. When I moved back home to Miami, I had convinced myself there would never be anything more than friendship between us and it was best we keep our distance, but George somehow snuck his way back into my every day life and slowly but surely we picked up right where we left off. Thanks to my ACL surgery and my unemployment while I anxiously waited for my bar exam results, in October 2010, I had a lot of free time on my hands. So, George agreed to watch all of the Harry Potter movies with me, leading up to the final one that would come out in November. It turns out that six 3 hour movies was the perfect amount of time to stir up some feelings for both of us. But it wasnt until April 2011 when a "tipsy" George finally told me he wanted to be more than friends. After a full weekend celebrating his 26th Birthday, we finally decided to give this whole "dating thing" a shot.
And the rest, as they say, is history...
THE
Proposal
(George's version...)
"How do I surprise the girl that basically detects liars and lies for a living?" I asked myself. I had kind of rushed the whole idea of a weekend getaway to propose to Jenny on a nice beach with a beautiful sunset, but that has always kind of been my style... figure it out as it happens and make the best of things. I also thought some spontaneity would be good for us. We both had been so busy with work and all so I thought that this trip could be a good thing... with the added bonus of an engagement. I forgot briefly about Jenny's absolute OCD, about her having to know all things, and that she has to have an itinerary for everything. She was driving me crazy, asking me a million questions about our trip.
We booked a hotel in Marco Island, Florida and took off on the hour or so car ride. I had called ahead an told the concierge of my plans and they made special arrangements in the room, along with a free upgrade. Again, when we got there she knew something was up & I told her to stop asking questions, & we went to drop our stuff off in the room & then to have dinner. I told her that I've heard the sunsets are amazing on the west coast of Florida and I didn't want to miss it, so we had to hurry up finishing dinner. Of course, after dinner we were both standing awkwardly on the beach staring at no sunset, because it was covered by dark black clouds & with my great luck, it started to rain.
My frustration mounting, I told her let's just go back to the room. The hotel had set it up beautifully with rose petals in the shape of a heart on the bed and chocolate covered strawberries to go along with 2 bottles of chilled champagne, so I figured I'd improvise. I had told her the trip was to celebrate her new job, though she wasn't buying it. We had a two room suite, and while we were in the bedroom with one bottle of champagne I told her to go grab the other bottle in the other room. She returned with both bottles, one in each hand, and I was there waiting for her on one knee asking her to marry me. Needless to say she started crying and I asked her if that meant yes lol. And she finally said "Yes," between tears of joy, making me the happiest man on the planet and all the weekend madness totally worth it.
George's Champagne Opening
(Jenny's version...)
After having just been on a trip to the Dominican Republic for my sister's bahelorette party and a road trip to Orlando for work the very next weekend, I could not for the life of me understand why George was so insistent on taking a trip to Marco Island for the third weekend in a row. Anxious and overwhelmed at my current job, and having just received a new job offer only 2 days after we booked the hotel, I asked George if we should postpone the trip to a time when things were less hectic. But he insisted we go, even if just for one night. Becoming a little suspicious, I told a client about the whole thing, and she almost immediately said, "Just go on the trip, what if he is going to propose?" That was all it took to fill my head with the idea, so I started to prepare for the trip a little differently. I did my hair, got my nails done, and bought a few new outfits.
Leading up to Friday, George gave me no details about what we were doing, which only made me even more suspicious. But, having ruined every surprise he's ever tried to plan for me, I stayed relatively quiet. As we headed toward Marco Island the black ominous clouds were growing and so was George's anxiety. He had sold me on going to the west coast of Florida to see a beautiful sunset, but it did not look like we were going to get one.
We ate dinner and made our way to the beach, where we stood staring at a sky of black storm clouds. Waiting for him to propose, any movement he made I would jump and I was convinced every person passing by was waiting with a camera. At one point he bent down to tie his shoe and I just about had a heart attack. After about 5 minutes, he said, "Well, let's just go inside." I thought to myself, 'Maybe he won't do it because his sunset was ruined.' When we got back to the room, I kept expecting our family and friends to jump out of the closet or something, but again nothing happened. He had told me that the heart shaped flowers on the bed and the two bottles of champagne were for my new job, but I wasn't really buying it. I thought a heart on the bed was an odd choice for a new job. Strangely, there were also five birthday cake candles on the dresser, which I later learned George had asked them to put lit candles in the room and that is what the hotel brought!
After a few minutes in the room with nothing happening, I thought maybe I was wrong about the engagement. So, when George asked me to go get the second bottle of champagne in the other room, I thought nothing of it. But, when I walked back toward the bedroom George wasn't where I had left him. When I turned the corner, he was down on one knee with a little box asking,
"Will you marry me?"
I started to cry before remembering I was carrying two bottles of champagne in my hands. So I put them down and ran up to him to give him a kiss. He asked me, "Is that a Yes?" And I said, "Yes, it's a yes." Then he whisered in my ear, "You make me so happy, I love you so much," and I thought to myself, 'I can't believe I am finally engaged to my best friend.'
*The omitted stories are available upon request. There are some good ones :)