He Asked, She (I) Said Yes

The events that occurred this past weekend were very, very unexpected to myself. Brady, the sneaky bastard, decided to ask the question that most of our families and friends probably never thought was going to happen. We both knew that at some point in life we would eventually become husband and wife but we both knew that it would happen when it was supposed to. We never rushed or pushed each other. As with every relationship, we have had our share of ups and downs however for the last couple of years we have been riding high on a huge up and enjoying every minute of it! We were, for the many years we were dating, perfectly content with how we defined our relationship. Explaining to family and friends that it will happen when we are ready and until then we will be enjoying exactly where we are currently. Well apparently Brady got a memo that I somehow missed.

I would be lying if I said that I never thought about it. I did, but those times were few and far between. Every now and again I would sometimes get a, 'oh, could this be it' feeling but usually as fast as it came, it would leave and I would go back enjoying our time together. His plan was to do it on Saturday since we already had plans with one of our favorite couples, my brother Brandon and his wife Claudia, to do our own tap room tour of north Chicago. This way, he knew we would have all day to celebrate. 

Jumping at the zoo

Not knowing anything, I came up with the idea of going out to breakfast at the Original Pancake House that morning since that was on our Chicago Bucket List. After bringing up the idea of breakfast Brady said that's perfect because he wanted us to re-create these jumping pictures we took when we first started dating. In these first pictures I had us jumping (BK), karate kicking (me), twirling (me) like lunatics with the beautiful Chicago skyline in the background. Having breakfast at the Original Pancake House puts us right by the lakefront for these pictures without Brady having to come up with some story to get me to Montrose Harbor, the place where he wanted to propose. Since I love pictures, I was in. No question. This should have been my first clue since Brady is not one to like taking pictures, let alone staged jumping pictures. He always gives me a hard time when I take them but then secretly loves them when he can look back at them. Here I am thinking, yes he is finally becoming sentimental on our possible upcoming move and didn't think there could be another reason why he'd want to take these pictures.

This was taken right before Brady proposed

After our Dutch Baby pancake breakfast, side note - if you haven't had one you must, I brought up the idea of going to Lincoln Park Zoo where there is a great view of the Chicago skyline and where I thought would be perfect to re-create these pictures. After waiting for a couple who was taking their engagement photos in the spot I wanted to take our picture we got down to business. I set up our GoPro and Brady was my place holder. When we hit record we would count off to simultaneously jump in the air doing a kick or jump or being ridiculous anyway we could. Later in the day, Brady confessed that he thought about doing it at that location for a split second until he realized that the ground we were on wasn't a ground at all but but a deck with 1/2 inch gaps in it with the actual ground being a foot under that. Being the thinker he is, he thought better of asking at that spot for the odd chance that the ring drops and slips through the cracks. When it comes to me klutz is my middle name so it was smart he kept the ring in his pocket.

While walking to the car, he brings up the idea of going to Montrose Harbor to take another set of pictures, this was where he wanted to ask anyway since it was a special place for us. In his explanation why he includes that he wants the lake in the background. Perfect, that's easy, I think. We are here anyway, might as well do it. As we walk up to the spot he was thinking we see that the pier is overtaken with about 30 fishermen and women all set up with their coolers and fishing poles and chairs. I look at Brady and say, I think they would be pissed if we went down there to take our pictures. And then I tried to convince him why we should just pack it up and come back sometime this week; the weather will be nicer, there won't be all these people around, we are going to be late meeting Brandon and Claudia, blah, blah, blah. Brady doesn't give up that easily. He finds a little spot thats hidden from the fishermen and tells me to set up the camera as I continue to try to talk him out of this. I barely look at my set up and Brady asks me two times, are you sure this is how you want it? I feel that I rolled my eyes and was like dude it's fine, I can tinker it later if I need to and briefly glance at the screen. Once again we have a blast taking these random jumping pictures. As we were counting to three, Brady decides to take my hand and on three as I'm just about to jump, he keeps going down until he is on one knee. I don't remember much of what happened after that except to tell him that the ring box is upside down and that I noticed a couple of fishermen popping their heads up over the steps behind Brady to see what was going on. Afterwards when we were reliving the moment, Brady informed me that I did say yes and I did cry (both things I don't remember doing). 

It was amazing to know for that hour him and I were the only people who knew our secret. He asked my dad 2 YEARS before asking me! (Dad, I'm still impressed that you kept a secret for that long!) The second best part of the day was coming up with how we were going to tell Brandon and Claudia. Unfortunately most of our family lives away from us so we had to share the wonderful news via phone calls and texts but we were able to to at least tell these two in person and their reaction did not disappoint! 

Needless to say it was an amazing and magical day. I would not have changed one little detail, it was perfect! We have no plans as of yet for when the wedding will be but I have a feeling that our families are hoping they don't have to wait another 9.5 years for the 'big day' to happen!