Zachary always has
surprises… from sushi to a day trip. You just never really know what
kind of surprise you’re
going to get. Friday night he said to me, “We have to wake up early tomorrow and we’re leaving
at 8, 8:30 at the latest.” He
gave me a 1/2 hour because he knows I’m always late. I asked a million
questions as usual, mostly about how I should prepare myself. Should I dress up
and wear makeup? Am I gonna get wet?
Should I be wearing a bathing suit? Is this a fancy event? What should I
be wearing? Will it be dressy enough to wear wedges? Or is this more of a
sandal event? Or is this a super active surprise? No answer, of course.
I woke up early the
next morning and started getting ready. 8:30 rolls around and I still wasn’t quite
ready to go - but away we went. I finished getting ready on the way up.
Zach gave me the
address to a Bob Evans in Tampa and the whole way up to I kept questioning why
we were meeting up with some stranger in Tampa and fussing at my makeup in the
tiny car mirror. As we were driving he got a phone call - I didn’t pay it
any mind. He said it was the guy we were meeting. “We’re going to be meeting him somewhere else,” and he gave me a new address
to put into the gps, “5300 Interbay Blvd, Tampa, FL.”
We finally arrive to a
Ballast Point Park. I looked around and said “Zach,
I’m
really concerned about this guy that we’re meeting. There’s not many people in
this park, and we don’t even know who this is. How do you know this is not a weirdo
that’s
gonna try and hurt us or take our money? Or worse… take SUSHI (my car)?!” He
laughed at me and said “Stop
it, we’re
gonna be fine.” I just started
praying.
As I continue fidgeting with my eyelashes he
says “I think you can see the
skyline from here but it’s hard to see with all the clouds.”
It was a rainy day, it rained
the whole ride up. As we’re sitting there just waiting for this “guy” to get there, Zachary
turns to me and asks “The
rain slowed down a little bit, do you want to walk to the end of the pier while
we’re
waiting for that him? He’s going to call when he gets here.”
I said “Sure, that sounds fine
to me.”
As we walk towards the pier, a cold breeze
makes me hold closer onto Zach’s arm. As we walk down I try to cover my hair and face with my
hoodie and shiver under the cool sprinkle. Before stepping onto the pier we
stopped, Zach patiently waiting for me to take a picture of the the scenery, it
looked beautiful- glimmering from the rain drops. There are only 2 other people
on here, two middle-aged men fishing. As we walk to the end of the pier, the
breeze picks up. There’s a pavilion up ahead to shelter us from the drizzling rain. As
we stand there, I look out onto the horizon and I notice the Tampa skyline.
Through the haze and light rain - I think to myself how much I love this weather,
and cuddle into Zach. I looked up at him as he held me to keep me warm and
asked “So, what are we doing
today? Are you finally going to tell me?”
Zach looks down at me
and a mischievous smile creeps onto his face and he goes on to tell me that we
were supposed to go on a hot air balloon ride today but the weather resulted in
a change of his plans. “But I
know I don’t want to wait any
longer. Arlene, I love you so much, will you do me the honor…”
I watched him drop down to one knee and
thinking this was Zachary being his usual jokester self I laughed and said “Get up! What are you
doing?!” He stayed and continued “..of letting me take you
as my wife?” My laughter turned into
a nervous laugh and I turned around to see if I was the only one seeing this
craziness - “What are you doing?” he asked. I turned back
to him and looked at the box that held a beautiful solitaire diamond ring and
then up to his handsome face and said “Is
this for real?!” He laughed “Yes, this is for real!” I pulled him up closer
to me and I started to shake and said “Babe.
Stop. Is this for real?!”
Again he laughed and
said “Yes, what do you think?!
Well…?” I looked at him and said
“Of course!” And as I watched him put
the ring on my finger, I just couldn’t
wait to hug him and kiss him and yet I felt like this was all a dream and I had
to look into his eyes to see if I could interpret the reality of the situation.
As I continue to process the reality of the
situation he wears the biggest smile and laughs at me, saying “Babe, are you okay? Look
at you!” I can’t help but giggle
nervously as well but he laughs and it wears my nerves down. We make it back to
the car and I keep looking at the ring that sits on my left hand… I
just keep thinking to myself “Is
this really for real life?”
I try to hide the fact
that I just keep staring at this ring from Zach but he’s watching me intently…loving
every moment of it because I’m at
a loss for words aside from “Is
this for real?” and he just keeps
giggling at me.
The rest of that day flies by, my family
surprised me and met us at a restaurant along with Zachary’s parents and sister. I’m in a blur of shock,
disbelief, and happiness. And in my head I find myself thinking “Oh my God, thank you! Is
this for real, though?”
over and over again but
I know...this is definitely for real.
...and it was "for real"! Arlene & Zach tied the knot on November 7th, 2015 at a beautiful ceremony at First United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda!
Wishing you a lifetime of happiness,
Marie
Marie
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