The Proposal

In the Fall of 2010, I told Melissa that we needed to escape for a weekend around the holidays, just us.  I let Melissa pick the location and she picked Charleston.  Little did she know that I was planning to propose and she was picking the location.  She made a great choice.


Melissa is a beach person.  She loves everything about the beach.  So I decided that I would ask her on the beach.  I hid the ring in my briefcase and we hit the road  She did not notice how nervous I was at the time, but she later acknowledged I was little quiet. We got into town on Friday night and went out to enjoy the town.     Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating on Saturday and it was a little chilly with a light rain.  The entire week before the trip I had talked up going to the beach to at least see the ocean.  So to keep up the ruse about going to the beach in less than ideal weather that afternoon, I talked about going to a place called Taco Boy on Folly beach which was recommended as a good causal place to eat by our good friends Alan and Pamela.  Melissa likes local causal food, so she was on board.  Plus we had a late breakfast, missed lunch and wanted to get an afternoon snack.  Melissa took it upon herself to look up directions on her phone and was headed out the door.  But there was a little problem, there was no time for me to grab the ring out of my briefcase.  So when we were leaving the hotel, I was adamant that I had to go back to the hotel room to get the "map."  Really, I had to go back to the hotel room to put the ring in my pocket.  She thought I was crazy and little weird for going back to the hotel room for a tourist map when she had GPS on her phone, but it was necessary trip. She did not fight me too much, so she must be used to my crazy and weird moments.


The weather on the beach was not cooperating and we were both a little cold.  Fortunately, the beach was covered with starfish.  This kept Melissa on the beach long enough for me to gather up my courage to get on bended knee and ask her to marry me.  She said "yes," but only after what felt like a few nervous seconds. She insists her response was instant.  She was completely surprised.  The sneaky operation was a success.


After proposing and getting in the car to warm up, I asked her if she wanted to go back to Charleston, figuring she would like to go somewhere nice to celebrate.  She said that she still wanted to go to Taco Boy.  So before calling anyone, Melissa and I went to Taco Boy.  Melissa ordered guacamole and beer, which can only further show how lucky I am. 


For the record, we did go out to eat somewhere nice later that night.

Here is our first engaged picture...in an empty Taco Boy