The Set-Up
About a week ago, I decided to arrange the first meeting of Karen's and my family together. I called a restaurant called South Bay in Lindenhurst, got a reservation for 12, and a time for noon on Sunday. My brother was gonna be in, which was significant considering Karen hadn't met him yet and we've been dating for almost 2 years.
The plan was for Karen's family to tell her that they were going to meet some friends, and her sister would join them, leaving Karen alone in the house. They'd go to the restaurant and wait for us with my family. I was gonna come over to her parent's house around noon to pick Karen up for a sunday brunch, and pop the question before leaving. A single rose was critical, because I gave her one on our first date.
Plans changed a bit when Karen asked me to spend the night at her parent's house. No problem. I brought the ring with me, so I was prepared. The only thing I needed was a rose. After searching about a dozen places both here and by her parent's house at 9:30 PM on a Saturday night, I finally found my salvation at 7-11, who had exactly what I was looking for: a single rose with the little water tip at the end.
When I got to the house, Karen was out of it. It was Yom Kippur, so Karen hadn't been eating, which played havok with her head and stomach. She was not a happy camper, but I was determined to ask her the next day.
On Sunday, her parents left a little after 12, keeping up with the original lie. Karen was still feeling miserable, and couldn't understand why I wanted to go to this one place so badly (I told her my mom raved about how good it was). Finally around 12:30, I drag her out of the house and to my car. I open her door, she gets in, and I go to the trunk to get the rose. I then open her door again, tell her how much I love her, and give her the rose. She smiles and accepts it happily.
Then, I reach into my pocket for the ring box, make my way down on one knee, and ask her to marry me. At this point, she has her seatbelt on, and leans back and starts crying. She it totally blown away and 100% in shock and surprise. She then asks if her parents know, and that's when I tell her their waiting with my parents right now.
She absolutely loves the ring. It's exactly what she would have picked out, but she's still blown away. We go back inside so she can compose herself a bit. We've never had a real-life serious discussion on marriage. We knew we loved each other and that this is something that she really wants, but it still took her by surprise. But very soon afterwards, she finally said yes.
At that point Karen and I then got going, and met our families at the restaurant. Everyone was smiling and clapping. My family got us flowers and Karen's family got us balloons. The 2 families got along instantly. Karen's parents even invited mine over for dinner that night, which they accepted.
It was just such a good feeling knowing that this was gonna be the start of a great life.
Although I did run over a bunny on our way home from shopping. We both agreed that it meant 4 lucky rabbit's feet!
