She said YES!… oh well I guess I should start a little farther back in the story.

After knowing I wanted to ask Jessica to marry me during the fall semester I struggled over the best/right time and place to do it and the all important question of what about a ring?

The Ring
The answer to the “all important” question came first. At OC lighting of the Commons on Nov. 27th I was able to hang out with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Most importantly, my long time good friend Shannon. She has been married about 2 1/2 years now, and has been itching to get me hitched. So, through the conversation of her poking a prodding to get answers out of me about my future plans, she offered to help me pick out a ring. It took me just 24 hours to take her up on that offer.  It was a little tricky getting away from Jessica, since the end of the semester was coming and we were wanting to spend as much time as possible together. As God planned it (well I believe), Jessica was working a theatrical production the night I planned on looking for a ring. So, I used that opportunity and a small lie  to get away. I told her, I was going to the Apple Store in the mall to exchange my iPod since the battery had died. It was still a tough sale, but she took it without thinking twice. I picked up Shannon and we went to the mall because we knew the jewelry stores there would be open untill at least the mall closed. After reviewing the Board Jessica created for me several months ago I had a pretty good idea what she wanted. Being the first time I had ever seriously shopped for jewelry Shannon was a great help to let me knew what I was even looking at. We hit all the major ones and then finally at the last one there it was. It fit all the specifications and I loved it!

The Plan
Over the next few days after getting the ring I analyzed the calendar to find the right date. With other activities and the stress of Jessica’s finals/graduating I decided that I would be best to do it after finals.  So, Thursday Dec. 13th was the day.  After that the plan just fell together.  Her parents were already planing to come down that night to be here for graduation the next morning and my parents were planning on coming up as well.  After some advice from my brother about finding some place special to us. I decided to take her to Tokyo OKC.  This is where our first date was and where our Pac-Rim Study Abroad group went as a precursor to our food adventures in Japan.  We had already planned on seeing the Hobbit that night at midnight so there was a perfect end to a perfect night 😉

The Night

After taking Jessica to lunch and dropping her off to take her last final, I went and got the prettiest bouquet of flowers I could find to surprise her after her test. I headed to her classroom to wait for her to finnish her test, but when I got there her teacher said she was already gone. So, I went to her apartment hoping I would find her there. She was there! but she hadn’t finished her final, so I waited to give her the flowers. After she finished I gave her the flowers and explained that we were going to hang out the rest of the day to celebrate her graduation. The first stop was to buy a dress for graduation the next day. We went to the mall, and after several hours and dresses and stores we finally found the perfect dress. I wasn’t even nervis at all…I knew she loved me and thats all that mattered. I was kinda afraid she would find the ring  in my coat pocket, or over hear me talking with her mom as I stepped out of the store while she tried on dresses. but she didn’t…. By this time we were already past our dinner reservation time, but being a Thursday night I figured they wouldn’t be too busy. After dropping her off at her apartment to get ready, I called the restaurant and was able to move it back an hour giving us enough time to get ready. I had her text me the color of her dress so I could pick the right tie. When I picked her up she looked so beautiful and I knew that this night was going to be perfect.  She begged me to tell her where we were going but I told her it was a secret. She knew right when we got off the highway where we were going even tho we hadn’t been there for almost 2 years. She was so excited!!  I was just hoping that my facade of tonight just being only about Graduating was still holding up. We sent to the private room I had reserved and it was like going back to Japan. We really cherish our time that we spent in Japan on our Study Abroad trip. They made us take off our shoes and we sat on the floor at a table set for two.  To our surprise tho under the table gave way to a lowered floor so we could sit normally and be comfortable…..I can’t even explain it, the night was just so perfect picking out sushi, getting pile of this fried ice cream desert, having a great day so far getting her the perfect dress and knowing she was relieved of finals and about to graduate. It a perfect day….Then I told her I had one more surprise. I was trying to figure out how to get the ring out of the coat without her seeing it, and it seemed impossible, so I had her close her eyes, and all the while wondering how I was supposed to get down on one knee when we were already sitting on the floor. I don’t know how to say how wonderful it felt to finally be able to ask the girl of my dreams to marry me. I couldn’t help but stare at her for a minute soaking in the moment. I could tell that she knew what was coming next, because she had the biggest smile that I had ever seen. In effort to not kill her in anticipation.  I let her open her eyes. We locked eyes and I felt like this moment could last forever. There wasn’t much I could say that I hadn’t already said except for… “Will you marry me?”  and she said yes!  I couldn’t have asked for any better if I had planned it ;).