Paul took me downtown to a nice dinner at Nicola's. The place made me feel like I was in another country. Our Italian dishes were delicious and the red wine equally so. Paul said the night was in celebration of his recent move to Omaha and our 10 month anniversary. It was a great date. We lingered at the table and time flew by as it normally does when the two of us are together. We hit up Ted and Wally's for some ice cream before returning to the car in our killer parking spot we happened upon, and Paul asked if we could go out to Standing Bear Lake where we had our 1st date the weekend of the 4th of July. I thought nothing of it, as Paul is romantic most of the time and comes up with the most curious requests that I oblige to simply to humor him.
We arrived and parked in the same place we had that 1st date night, and he suggested we get out of the car. I got out as he said he had to tie his shoe. At this point it hit me, "he is going to propose and this is so perfect." I was shivering by the time he made it to the back of the car where I stood. Being the gentleman he is, he started to take off his sweatshirt, then stopped midway through and said he'd get me the sweatshirt he had in his backseat. Just before he finished putting the sweatshirt on me, big, bright, beautiful fireworks started lighting up the sky. Paul dropped to one knee, held out a ring, asked me to marry him, and had the ring on my finger before I could say a thing. I cried as it sank in that Paul wanted ME. I cherished those moments before finally realizing I needed to respond. "Yes, of course I'll marry you!" was my answer.
"How coincidental is it that there are fireworks?" "Wait, are they coincidental?" I asked. "No, it's Amy and Justin," and he wrapped me in his arms as we watched the spectacular, private, April 28th fireworks display Paul planned just for me. Only later did it come out that not only had I been the one to transport those very fireworks from Minneapolis to Omaha, but he had wrapped them as my birthday present. Turns out he has not yet purchased me something for my 26th birthday, but I suppose he has 2 weeks for that. And I now have the sparkliest finger I have ever seen, and the most incredible fiance anyone could ever dream of. He is everything I never knew I needed, and I'm the luckiest girl alive.
