WE ARE ENGAGED!!!

Proposal in the eyes of the asker.

I had always envisioned that on the trip I would ask Katie to marry me. I had no doubts that I wanted to ask her but I was just unsure of where I would do it. I figured that the moment would just pop out at me. After altering our plans to stay in Africa I knew where I was going to do it – Mount Kilimanjaro...that was unless something else arose and I couldn't help myself.


I had decided the previous day (as this is our last day) that this would be the place to ask the most important question of my life!!!


The previous day while we walked along the beach I had been searching for Sandstone. On our desert Safari I had fashioned a heart from sandstone that Katie had adored. Because there were no shops nearby I thought that this would be the nicest and most meaningful ring. Unfortunately, none of the rocks could be carved with what I had at my disposal. So that morning I asked Mostafa where in town I could get a ring. He said he knew of a place and would help me out. This might have been a bad idea because when we went into town he could barely contain his excitement and whenever Katie was a foot ahead of us he would make gestures and sometimes started to talk a little loud. I think I managed to keep him quiet with some gestures of my own but there was no way to sneak away from Katie to get a ring. I tried on my own at one point, feigning that I had to use the washroom, but after ten minutes of running around, I ended up empty handed.


I didn't want to give up and when we got back to the hotel I snuck away from Katie to ask about the ring. Mostapha by this point had filled in Said on what I had planned to do and now I had two very romantic people extremely excited and bursting with ideas. Although, they had a great many ideas I already knew how I wanted the night to turn out in my head. But it was hard to organize everything, even with their help, without alerting Katie as to what I was planning.


Katie ordered a simple meal and I went along with it. She had decided on spaghetti and chicken skewers. It is amazing how two people can think so alike. When I went into the kitchen I couldn't help thinking that spaghetti reminded me of the Disney's movie 'Lady and the Tramp'.


I knew that Katie did not need a ring or anything else but I did not want to be empty handed and I really wanted this to be somewhat traditional. I wanted everything to be perfect and it was making me so nervous. I knew that having Katie in my life was something I had no questions about but for some reason I was nervous. I don't think it was because I was scared but rather because I was so excited and it was really hard to contain my excitement. It was really hard to think and get everything straight...it didn't help that Mostapha and Said kept proposing things that I should do. For example, they wanted me to ask her 'my question' first and then come up for dinner, music and dessert. It took a long time to convince them of my ideas because they were just so excited...which was very touching.


I again asked Mostapha about the ring and because he was busy he sent me into town with a friend of his to look for something special. Before going into town I managed to sneak down to the beach and write M2 in the beach. I also added BFF because I think despite Katie being my girlfriend for a long time, she has also always been my best friend. She is there to listen to me when I need it, is also there for comfort when I am down but most importantly is always giving me more encouragement and love than I ever deserve.


After playing with rocks in the sand I managed to sneak away yet again from Katie and left her watching a movie in the room and headed to town. Despite driving around to every shop in town (there were so many open so late) I had to settle on something not very pretty and what seemed to be much to large (I picked out two to try and even my odds but both seemed a bit off).


Although, we rushed in to town and rushed back I was two minutes too late and Katie had come looking for me. Now she knew something was up.


Although, it was very late by the time we got to eat (Mostapha had waited for everyone to leave before preparing our food) the dinner was so nice. Katie thought exactly like I had and announced that we were rein-acting the lady and the tramp...candle light and spaghetti – great minds think alike.


All throughout supper it felt like my heart was running a mile a minute and I couldn't wait to lead Katie down to the beach. After a few hiccups in the plan and some difficulties in explaining what I wanted to do after dinner, I led Katie down to the beach.


The stones were lit up by candles but that didn't add much light making it hard to lead Katie down the stairs blindfolded. When we got to the bottom the pictures started. Mostapha had asked if he could take pictures and I agreed because it would be nice to have the evening recorded. It was a nice touch because it truly made the mood happy as Katie could not stop giggling as the flash continued to go off from every angle.


Once the boys left and Said had brought down the ring it was time to ask the question. I knew in my head what I wanted to say but it was so difficult to get the words to come out especially since I was nearly crying and tears were streaming down Katie's face. It didn't come out exactly as I had figured it would but either way Katie filled me with happiness by agreeing to spend the rest of her days with me!


We sat on the beach Katie, Rockie (our beloved German Shepard who was protector of the grounds and Katies new best friend) and I just enjoying the moment. It was very romantic until one of the previous guests had wandered down the beach and stumbled over to us. For what seemed like the next five minutes, Andrew rambled about his abilities to understand what the local dogs were saying to him. We had no idea what he was saying and couldn't wait for him to leave.


After the beach we went back up stairs...this time Katie asked to be blindfolded only at the top of the stairs so she would not trip...this seemed like a good idea. When we got up the stairs the guys had lit all of the candles and brought out the flower shaped vegetables. They were so excited when we entered the room and quickly Mostapha began shooting photos. He would shoot from one angle and then move to the next and take more pictures and even got a couple of shots through the book cases.


It was so amazing what they had done for us, especially the beautiful bouquet made of veggies. The atmosphere was very nice. They had the flowers, Christmas ornaments, dozens of candles, pastries and soft music...well some of it was love music the rest was club music. The rest of the staff and some of their friends were there to congratulate us. We sat around eating sweet after sweet, drinking coke and just talking. It would have been nice to be at home and share this moment with everyone but it was so nice that we had met some good friends to share it with and I am so glad that Katie said yes!!!


Proposal in the eye of the askee

When we arrived in Legzira, I knew we had found paradise – the 8 hour drive was so worth it! Once we were settled in and waiting for our food, Jeremy and I started talking about our future (like we always do) and how amazing it would be to bring our kids here one day. Jeremy mentioned it would be a dream to get married her…and before you knew it, we were planning our dream wedding. The only vital and key component that we were missing from this picture was the engagement. By the end of the day, I joked (haha…joked but then not really) with Jeremy that we could not leave this place without being engaged – it was THE most romantic place I have ever visited!

Day 2 was just as mesmerizing as day one only this time we ventured in the opposite direction as the massive rock monuments. Here we met numerous dogs along the way and continued to look at each other laughing and dumbfounded…we were so lucky to be here and even more lucky to have the beaches deserted.

On Day 3 I was getting a bit anxious and so in the morning I finally told Jeremy that, “screw it…I will just propose to you”. Jeremy did not like this one bit - he is a helpless romantic as I am sure you all already know. The remainder of the day I made jokes about my soon to be proposal to him and constantly alluded to the fact that I had “something really big and important to ask him”. I even at times would pretend to have tripped and fallen on one knee…I would then say, “Will you … (followed by a very long pause) help me up Jeremy?”

When the sun was starting to set, we went for our usual beach stroll. Along the way I asked Jeremy that I had to stop and write something very important in the sand. He promised me that his answer would be No. I laughed and told him he didn’t even know what I was going to write (although we both knew exactly what I had in mind). I jokingly wrote out “M2” (Marry Me – I thought it was cute seeing as we are both enginerds) and Jeremy blushed like I have never seen him before. He of course said no…but I knew he would. We made it back to the amazing stone arches and sat down to play a game of Backgammon. Unfortunately for me, I had lost the game but I made sure to point out that I was acting like a great loser (instead of the usual poor loser which is part or my Heisler genes). After this point, I figured I had pushed my case far enough and I let things be.

Jeremy I know has written about the events leading up to and after the big moment…so I won’t repeat them but all I can say is that it was amazing and I wouldn’t have changed anything.
Now, we feel like we are on cloud No. 9 – I proudly tell all of my new acquaintances of our recent engagement! Yep…life is good!