The Proposal
On October 2, I woke up feeling nervous and excited but trying to act as normal as possible. Brian was completely unaware that I was planning to propose to him later that day. At this point, so many people were in on the surprise that I was constantly nervous about a slip up that would cause him to find out. His phone vibrated. "Lubes wants to paddle at noon!" he read. "That's great!" I replied, smiling. Little did he know that I had coordinated with Chris [Lubes] to arrange this paddling session.
Things were coming together, but there were still details that could go awry. Brian was talking about paddling a different section of river because of low water, which would mean he wouldn't be taking out at the beach where I had planned to meet him, the place where we had first met when I picked him up off the side of the road. Thankfully, T-Pot called Brian up and laid down the plan. They would paddle Tres Amigos to Red Bridge, he had been boating it all week and the levels were fine. I silently celebrated. After a bit of shuffling, all the shuttling got figured out and we met Brian's buddies to load up boats. I told them I could wait at the bottom of the run and drive them back to the top, which meant they didn't have to leave a shuttle vehicle at the bottom. The guys drove off and I headed for the Red Bridge.
Once there, I scoped out the beach, which thankfully wasn't too crowded. A growing group of friends started to show up at the beach, increasing my nerves, but also encouraging me because I was in good company. I texted Chelsea, "hurry! I'm so nervous!" She showed up and I got into my dress. Brian's family arrived and then all that was left was to wait for the paddlers. Janelle arrived and said she had just driven the canyon and seen them and they would be there soon! Shortly thereafter, a group of colorful boats was visible on the horizon. As the boats pulled in, I waited for the right time behind a little bush. Brian spotted me quickly and yelled out, "why are you wearing such a nice dress?!" Once he got onto the beach, I made my way towards him.
With a bunch of family and friends close by, I got really nervous. (Brian was expecting his mom, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew to be there because they had told him earlier that they wanted to see him paddle. Our friends were all hiding in the bushes where he couldn't see him, except of course for the friends who he has just paddled with who were gathered around.) I knew Brian was liable to start wandering around talking to everyone so I gripped him by the PFD and started stuttering and mumbling. I pictured the proposal being eloquent and heart-warming but I was struggling to get coherent sentences out. Eventually I dropped down on one knee, pulled out the box with the rings my brother had made and popped the question.
Brian was shocked and elated! He threw his hands in the air and said "Yeaaaaa!" I put the ring on his finger and he picked me up and said "you are crazy! I love it!" Then all his friends started pouring out of the bushes and the shock continued. Brian was blown away by everyone who had come out for the event. Everything about the day was awesome and I am now engaged to the love of my life!
