Sunday, July 27, 2008

How I Became A Sheets: Part 9

Excerpt (whoa...that's a strange looking word) from last blog:

'As the summer came to a close, Zach invited me to visit Galveston with his family. His dad had been invited to speak at a medical school conference, and the whole family was going to just chill on the beach and hang out with old friends. It was the weekend before school started back up, and I was so excited to have one last mini-vacation with my hottie! Little did I know that this would be one of the most memorable weekends of my life!'

It was a few days before we left for the Galveston weekend that Zach surprised me with a sweet gift. I came home from work one day to find a package in my room at the house. Zach was always really good about buying me things. (Sidenote: He is STILL wonderful about buying me gifts. I am a tight wad and don't like to spend any money, so he is the one that buys my clothes, encourages me to go out and do stuff, and keeps our house looking nice with up-to-date decorations...) I was so excited to see what he had purchased for me, and I was ecstatic to see that it was an adorable white linen dress from J. Crew. (The only reason I am name brand dropping is because I have never bought anything from J. Crew. Remember, I am a tight wad...and I don't like to shop.) I knew that he had bought the dress for our trip to Galveston, and I just thought it was so sweet that he thought ahead enough to order a dress and get it before we left! We were so excited on Friday morning as we rolled out of town.

On our way to Galveston, Zach talked on the phone a lot with his family, and realized that we were going to get into town a few hours before them. We wouldn't be able to check into the hotel with out them, so we were going to be stuck in Galvez for awhile. We decided that we would make the best out of it and decided to have a dinner date while we waited for them.

This has nothing to do with the story, but we got stuck in Houston traffic, and we had a few little disagreements about driving styles. Let's just say that the drive led to my further dislike of Houston.

Once we got into Galveston, Zach made a few phone calls and found some friends (Matthew & Jes!) in whose home we could change and get ready for our date. Zach used to live in Galveston, so we spent a few minutes looking at old homes, his old school, and a few cool places before heading to the restaurant.

We ate at Casey's which is right on the sea wall. Zach used to work at Casey's so it was fun to sit and listen to all of his stories. We overstuffed ourselves on some awesome seafood, so Zach mentioned that a walk along the beach sounded good to him, and I wasn't going to turn that down! Plus, we were still waiting on his family to get to Galveston. We had some time to spare, and a sunset walk along the beach sounded perfect to me!

We got into Zach's truck and headed toward Stewart beach. On our way, I saw the most bizarre thing. There was (what appeared to me) a boat further down the shoreline, in the water that was on fire! I kept on staring at it and mentioning it to Zach, but he made some comment that it wasn't anything to be concerned about. Galvez can be a weird town, so I just dismissed it as a strange deal. It took us several minutes to get to Stewart beach, but once we made it and parked, we were ready for our relaxing walk. As we got out of the truck (which was parked about 30 yards from the ocean), we were immediately attacked (and I mean ATTACKED) by hundreds of mosquitos. We both realized that we were way outnumbered and our slow stroll toward the water turned into a fast jog. Only the jogging made it worse because mosquitos were going in my mouth, up my nose, in my hair, ears, eyes...everywhere! I had to keep my eyes closed to keep them out of my eyes, but I opened my eyes to look at my arms, but all I could see was lots of red, bloody hills popping up on my arms. These mosquitoes were HORRIBLE! Zach took off his long sleeve, button down shirt and gave it to me to cover my arms, back, chest & neck. We kept on sprinting toward the water because all Zach could say was 'It will get better the closer we get to the water!' Well, it was just getting worse and worse. It really was the most mosquitoes I have ever been around in my life! I kept on asking Zach if we could go back to the truck, but he kept running toward the water yelling back at me to follow him. Once our feet touched the water, he realized that it was NOT getting better, and the blood from my arms, back, chest, etc was seeping through onto his dress shirt. I was trying to keep the bugs out of my nose, but it was close to impossible. We looked at each other and could tell by one another's' eyes that our sweet, romantic walk would have to take a rain check. We turned around and high-tailed it back to Zach's truck.

Once we got back to Zach's truck I was almost in tears from laughter, but I soon realized that he didn't think it was funny at all. I tried to tell him that we could just walk the next day on the beach, but he had a look of determination on his face that I had only seen a few times before. He started driving through tall grass in big field. I had no idea what he was trying to do, but I was just trying to concentrate on keeping my head from hitting the top of the truck. We were dipping in and out of huge ditches, and turning in all directions. Zach was getting more and more frustrated with every turn, until he abruptly stopped the truck and threw it into park.

We sat in silence for a few seconds before he turned and looked me straight in the eye. (I honestly thought he was mad at me for not wanting to walk along the beach in the mosquito plague, and I was getting ready to defend myself.) Then he said,
' Kara, sometimes things in life don't work out the way that they are planned. This is one of those times.'
geez...he must have really wanted to walk along the beach...
' I want you to know that I will always love and honor you. I love you more than you could ever know.'
aww...he is being so sweet right now!
wait a minute...what is he doing?! wait...
what is that? what is he pulling out of his pocket and why is it shiny? oh my word. is that a ring? oh my gosh. is he proposing???? right here?! in his truck? oh my gosh. oh my gosh. is this a joke?! he is not supposed to propose now! he is supposed to propose around Thanksgiving....
' Kara Lyndsay, will you marry me?'
ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't believe this! is this really happening?!?! oh my gosh!!!!

After a few seconds of complete silence from being deer-in-the-headlights stunned, I excitedly accepted his offer.

To say that I was surprised would be a gross understatement. I had absolutely NO IDEA that he had even looked at rings, asked my dad for permission, planned a proposal, etc. In my perfect little world, he was going to propose around Thanksgiving...NOT in August!

After a few hugs and kisses, Zach started driving around again, and I could tell this time that he was looking for something in particular. As we drove out of the tall grass, I could see in the near distance the 'flaming boat' that I had seen earlier. We starting driving toward it, but as we got closer, I realized what it actually was! Where the last bit of rolling water from the waves met the sand, there was the most beautiful arrangement on the beach. It was a huge circle of lit tiki torches that was decorated with hundreds of rose petals all around. In the middle was a white, lace blanket that was held down by a large wooden chest. There were also several hurricane vases that had candles in them too. It lit up the whole beach, and I seriously thought I was on some TV show. As we walked closer, I saw a couple of girls behind some bushes taking pictures. It was Zach's sisters (who I thought were in an airplane on their flight to Galveston!) Heather & Sarah. I turned to Zach who had a half grin on his face. I told him that it was so beautiful, and I took the ring off my finger and gave it back to him. I wanted him to propose the way that he had planned! So, with my white sundress on and the water brushing my feet, Zach got down on one knee and proposed again. Of course, I said yes again! It really was a magical moment.



zach made the wooden chest all by himself. i love it!





Once we finished at the beach, we headed off to the hotel to see his parents. For some reason, I was nervous about telling them we were engaged because Zach told me that they had no idea he was proposing. We pulled up to the Treemont Hotel and rehearsed a few times what we would tell them. Little did I know that Zach had another surprise up his sleeve! As his dad opened the room door, I could see a few people back in the room. As I made my way in, I was in total shock when I saw that it was MY parents! There were many hugs and tears all around, and then we shared in a special time of prayer. Zach asked both sets of parents to pray over us in our engagement and marriage. It was so thoughtful and memorable.

Then we spent the rest of the weekend relaxing on the beach and having fun! I didn't even know until the next day that Dr. Sheets had not been asked to come and speak at a conference. That had all been made up, and the only reason everyone was there was for us! I think I even asked on Saturday when the conference was... and everyone laughed at me.

It was, by far, the most surprised that I have ever been.


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My wonderfully romantic man left yesterday to lead a group up a mountain in Colorado for Trek. My mom will be here Monday night to help out, but he is going to be missed! Have a great time, Zach! We will miss you here.

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6 comments:

sharon said...

aw, that was so great.

Kathy said...

It's still a sweet story. I remember that you had the "deer in the headlights" look back at the hotel for at least an hour as if you couldn't quite believe it was real and that everyone was actually there and had planned it all ahead of time.
We sure had some great seafood that weekend on top of an especially blessed time.

Jeremy said...

Zach... very nice... if your proposal is a rib eye steak, mine was bologna.

Brown Sugar said...

good thing he wasn't proposing to me....for several reasons...but i think i look like a feast in mosquitos' eyes.

Jen said...

can't wait for part 10. seriously, your boys...so cute. i miss you.

Staci said...

What an awesome engagement story!