Chris spent a little more time in Michigan than I did. This gave him time to plan even more with his mom and aunt. To my knowledge, only a few people knew his plan. Sylvia, Diane and Al (his aunt and uncle), some people at his work, and the guys on “the boards” and that was it. He told none of our “close” friends who lived in Michigan. He told no one from my family. He was afraid someone might let the cat out of the bag. He flew into Detroit Metro on Saturday and I followed on Tuesday. This was great for both of us because he spent some time with his family without me and I got to see my dad and my best friend, Gina.
Little did I know that, behind the scenes with Aunt and Mom, Chris came upon a plan that I swear is yet another reason why I am with him and agreed to marry him. To put it matter of factly- Chris and I laugh a lot. We laugh together, at each other, at situations, in anger and the list goes on. Over Fourth of July, when we had pictures taken at the beach, we laughed continuously. There is one picture from over Chris’s shoulder of me with my head thrown back, mouth open and whole hearted laughter. When we were finished with the session we were told by Tina, who was taking the pictures, that we were one of the easiest couples she has photographed. We’re relaxed around each other and were, quite simply, ourselves. Chris makes me laugh in just about any situation and that makes me love him all the more. At any rate, this proposal of his would be no different; there would be a good laugh stuck in there for good measure.
Wednesday rolls around and I drove from Saline to Lansing to pick up Sara, Mig, and the kids (my godchildren) before we all drove in two cars up to Traverse City to spend the day with Chris and his aunt and mom. The day went by fast and it was all too soon when Mig and Sara had to head back down to Lansing. It was all good, though. Thursday meant that Chris, Sylvia and I would be heading over to Mackinaw City and then to the island. It was still in the back of my mind that I might be heading toward that whole engagement ring thing, but I was becoming more convinced by Chris’s ever calm behavior that a ring was not in my future. Little did I know the first thing he said to Miguel when they left for a movie earlier was that he WAS going to ask me The Question of Questions tomorrow. Chris and Mig are pretty good friends, but he told no one who was close to me in any way (Miguel’s wife is one of my best friends) and Mig is definitely not one to keep this kind of secret. It would have popped out of him (unintentionally of course) had Chris told him any earlier.
On Thursday we took a nice and scenic tour of the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula (I know that sounds so confusing to those of you who did not grow up in Michigan). The fall colors hadn’t come out in many places, but in some it was fantastic. It was an all around leisurely trip to Mackinaw. We arrived and met up with Al, Chris’s uncle, who was in the U.P. fishing with his son. We were a merry group and it was a pleasant time in the city eating some lunch and walking a bit. All things appearing as perfectly normal as can be, I was convincing myself that The Question would not be asked and that was alright. A little disappointing, but it was shaping up to be a beautiful day, as the clouds began to clear and the pavement started to dry from the earlier rain. We said our goodbyes to Diane and Al; and the three of us boarded the ferry to the island.
Fast forward to the hotel; we check in and find out rooms. Sylvia decides to go for a walk and Chris and I hang out our room where I actually managed to get in a thirty minute nap! Chris changed into some very snazzy clothes (dress slacks, fabulous dark purple striped dress shirt and tie), I start getting ready while he takes his mom’s luggage down to her room now that she is back and has switched hotel rooms. In hind sight, this is the moment when Chris managed to get the rings (yes, there were two, but I’ll get to that) into his pocket without me seeing him. In the whole shuffle of both of us changing and getting ready for a fancy dinner and taking his mom’s luggage to her room, it was easy for me to not notice anything out of the ordinary. I had honestly convinced myself that my instincts were wrong and we were here to simply have a really nice vacation, which I badly needed thanks to the hellish few children in my class this year. Fine, great, fantastic! A vacation was a vacation and I would take it! As we headed out of the hotel to head towards dinner there was a new decision to make: Where to go?
I had thought Chris had more or less decided that he wanted to go to this place that had something to do with French food (as the French were some of the earliest settlers in this part of Michigan). It was then that we started discussing the distance we would be walking and, in the end, it was decided we would go to the Mission Point Resort to find our dinner. At the time it didn’t seem so weird; a resort and large hotel is bound to have a five start type dining establishment or something close. I look back now and think: “How the hell did Chris remain so calm with this detail not planned? I would have been insane!” In the end, it was the best decision, as dinner was served in the BEAUTIFUL and lovely Epicurean restaurant. We had the whole place nearly to ourselves and the waiter who served up was fantastic and friendly. He couldn’t have been more friendly or interesting and seriously steered us all toward the best glasses of wine and plates of food we all have had in some time. By the time dinner was over I was stuffed and insanely happy to know that I was on vacation. It was fall and I was on Mackinaw Island with my boyfriend (and his mom whom I adore) and having an incredible dinner. We would go back and stay in our cute and historic hotel room, and I would still be on vacation until Sunday. Life was good.
As dinner wrapped up, Chris suggested we go for a walk and Sylvia declined. Nothing odd in that for me- she had already walked around the island. So we all headed out in the same direction until we got to a little place where you could get closer to the shore line. Chris and walked in that direction and chit chatted. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: THIS IS IT AND YOU DIDN’T KNOW IT YET??? Nope. I had convinced the whole brain that it was not happening and we were just enjoying something we liked to do together- walk and talk. This is where I need to back up a little bit to earlier that day on the ferry…
We have a set of friends who are getting married next fall. I don’t know if we are invited to the wedding because it is very small and it is up in Michigan and we are down here. I was telling Chris about all this and had mentioned (as I am often doing because it’s the person I am) that if I were to come into a lot of money that I would love to get married on the island at the Grand Hotel. For those of your familiar with the movie “Somewhere in Time” The Grand was where it was filmed. For all you people who grew up in Michigan, you have most likely been to the island on some elementary field trip and walked past it. I am in love with every romantic notion that goes along with this place. My grandmother stayed in the hotel once and said it was one of the nicest places she has been (and she traveled all over Europe). At any rate, I play this game a lot: What would I do if I had the means to do things? I changed my mind about the getting married on the island, though. If I had the funds I would do up a wedding at Biltmore Mansion during the Christmas season. I actually said all this to Chris, laughing the entire time. By now the boy has gotten used to my little day dreams and paid (what I took to be) very little attention to these details.
Back to the walk by the shore. The evening was shaping up to be quite nice as the clouds were nearly gone, the island wasn’t busy, and the water was lapping. I can’t say at all what we were talking about. I only know that we stopped at one point and looked around at the ducks and I pointed out that the moon was out. I can say that there wasn’t a more perfect moment. The whole picture was framed in the perfect sights and sounds: moonlight, not quite dark out yet, the bell on the buoy ringing, and the lighthouse in the distance. Chris let go of my hand and put his arm around me. It was at this moment when my heart skipped a beat and I thought that IT might be happening. Sure enough, I was right.
“I know you said that you would love to get married at the Grand,” he said. “And I really can’t do that, but I can do the next best thing…”
At this point I am getting all teary-eyed and Chris is actually reaching into his pocket and going down on one knee.
“I can ask you to be my wife here.”
He opens up that lovely velvet ring box and there is an ENOURMOUS ring. I take it put it on and he asks (still on one knee): “It’s the right ring, isn’t it?”
It wasn’t the ring I wanted or the right center stone I wanted. I had no clue what the center stone was, but it wasn’t a sapphire as I had SPECIFICALLY pointed out a million times. But, you know what? I really didn’t care at that point that it wasn’t the right one. I put on the huge ring because I loved this man who moved 800 miles to be with me. He left everything to be with me. We had made a life together down here; we survived long distance in Michigan, fights, problems, illusions about marriage via other family and friends. I didn’t care that this ring was not the one I picked out. I cared that he was asking and that he had gotten a ring.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Is what I hear in my head, but what comes out of my mouth is: “Uh-huh.”
“You’re such a liar, Mandy! Let me get the real one.”
Of course, he pulls out the EXACT ring I picked out way back at the beginning of the year as the “guide post” of what I wanted. The ring I got was actually one of those little day dreams I was prone to. I had declared it to be my dream ring way back and he had insisted I go back and have them write down the info so he would know what to look for. And I am sure that some of you are thinking that it was mean of Chris to trick me, but I can tell you I would have the proposal no other way. It was perfect, lovely, funny, and well planned. It was everything that sums up who we are as a couple.I can only hope that the wedding will shape up to be the same…
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