On New Year's morning 2016, I woke up to an email message from a former MCH Intern who lives in China.  Little did I know that the message was going to lead me to a day I will never forget and the most epic proposal a girl could ever dream of.  The email I received was an invitation to be the keynote speaker at an international Montessori conference in Qingdao, China.  My colleague Crystal was also invited to speak and the organization was kind enough to allow us to bring our significant others.  For all of us, it was our first trip to China and The Great Wall was on every one of our bucket lists.  So, we planned an itinerary that would allow us to land in Beijing and stay for 3 days. 

Our first day in Beijing, the Great Wall was our destination location.  We rented a private car and made our way to the base of the Great Wall.  Ryan had packed a backpack with a few things we felt we needed for the day and the climb to the gondola that would take us to the top of the wall began.  It felt like a long hike and it was so hot, like 110 degrees. We were happy to reach the gondola and take a break as we rode the chair up.  The ride up the gondola was amazing as you could see the Great Wall snaking along the ridge of a mountain in both directions.  As we arrived at the top, we all had to rest a bit more and cool down. 

I began to suspect something was up when we arrived at the first guard tower which miraculously was unoccupied by tourists and had an awesome view of a stretch of the Wall that snaked up and over the horizon.  I asked Scott and Crystal to take a photo of Ryan and I against this stunning back drop.  Ryan started to fumble around with his backpack and then some other tourists showed up on the wall and suddenly Scott was suggesting we take the shot elsewhere.  Ryan was acting a bit nervous but recovered quickly.  We began to hike to a more suitable section of the wall where there were fewer tourists and when we finally got to the top of this steep flight of slanted stairs we paused and I asked Scott to again get a picture of us.  Ryan began fumbling again with the backpack, mumbled something to Scott and then walking over to me for the picture. My heart skipped a beat when he grabbed both my arms and started to tell me how much he loved me and I gave him a funny little cockeyed look.  He then began to kiss me, say a few more romantic things, and kiss me again, over and over until I started to laugh nervously and then finally asked him what he was doing.  Apparently, he took that as his que, dropped down to one knee, opened a ring box with the most beautiful sparkling diamond engagement ring I've ever seen and asked me to do the honor of becoming his wife.  I gasped, laughed, and started to cry and as he fumbled the ring out of the box to put on my finger.  I nervously looked at the gutter at the base of the Wall and then noticed a small drainage hole and cried "Don't drop that thing!"  I said "yes" immediately and kissed Ryan repeatedly.  We were honestly oblivious to anyone watching and in the 5 minutes we had been up on the wall the four of us were dripping wet with sweat from the heat.  We located a little snack house and all sat down ordered Tsingtao beer and raised our bottles in a toast to celebrate the most romantic and epic engagement one could ever hope to experience in one's lifetime.

I knew that I was going to marry this amazing woman, I just did not know how I was going to propose to her. I was already looking at rings. Jennifer’s whole family had already made me feel a part of their family but I still felt the need to ask her parents for their permission to marry their daughter. Christmas time 2015 Jennifer’s mom Linda and her husband Keith took the family to Mexico. One night after dinner, I finally got a moment alone with Linda at the edge of the bar and told her I wanted to marry her daughter, she said “Why?” (Just kidding). She gave me her blessing and then I told her about my troubles finding that perfect ring and she offered to help me if I needed it.

We got back from Mexico and Jennifer’s dad Craig and wife Laura and the rest family came over to celebrate Christmas. We were standing around the kitchen at our house and the subject of when I was going to marry Jennifer came up. I told Craig I needed to talk to him, he said “We don’t need to talk, just do it already would you!" So, that was that!

I needed to plan this epic proposal! And New Year’s morning 2016 the perfect opportunity fell into my lap.  Jennifer received an email message that morning, inviting her to China to be the Keynote speaker for the Chinese Montessori Society in July of 2016 at their annual international conference. It was clear to me at that moment, “Yes! The Great Wall of China”. I was going to propose to her on one of the great wonders of the world.

I found the perfect ring a couple of months later and put it on layaway. When the final payment became due I took Linda to see it, just to be sure. I was a nervous that it still wasn't the right ring, but Linda calmed me down and said it was perfect. So I made the last payment and got it sized. A few short weeks later, I picked the ring up and it was off to China and the Great Wall with Jennifer’s Early Childhood Program Director, Crystal, and her husband Scott.

I did not fill anybody in on what I was going to do. The morning after we arrived, we were off to see the great wall and I snuck the ring into the backpack. I had the whole proposal rehearsed in my mind it was going to be perfect. When we got to the top of the wall it was over 100 degrees and within 5 minutes we were all dripping in sweat. I knew I had to do it now! We found a private spot to take a picture of us and I fumbled around the backpack to find the ring. By the time I found it there was a small crowd of people beginning to join us in the "picture opp" spot, so we decided to leave. I had the ring in my hand and gave Scott the backpack to hold. I told him to get his camera ready! I don’t think he had any idea what I was going to do. We walked to the top of the section of very steep and long stairs and when we got to the top I took Jennifer’s hand to pretend to pose for a picture and then turned to face her, we were both dripping in sweat and suddenly my mind went blank, I couldn’t speak so I just started to kiss her a lot.  My perfect rehearsed proposal was gone from my brain. I got down on one knee and started shaking, opened the box the ring was in and heard her say “don’t drop it!” What I said was not what I rehearsed to say but I manage to get some loving words out and she said "Yes!” and it ended up being the perfect proposal!

Jennifer and I are blessed to have all our family and friends who have helped us both in our lives at our wedding. It is because of all your help and love and support along the way that we are here. This again is why I am so lucky. Why WE are so lucky!