(no subject)
On Friday night, the 28th of May, Daniel stayed up very late. He was trying to fix my iPod, which would not connect to my computer. I didn't notice when he finally got into bed.
There was a reason Daniel was fixing my iPod, though he didn't know it. Earlier that day, I had just finished recording a song. The song was about the story of us - from when we were kids to now. I was going to have Daniel listen to it with headphones on, and with his eyes closed. The last line of the song was "open your eyes" - and when Daniel opened his eyes, he would see me holding his engagement ring. This was my plan.
I was going to play this song for him on my iPod - but since that wasn't working, I knew I was going to have to bring my whole laptop on our weekend getaway.
I drove us down to Newport Beach in my smashed-up car. We checked in to the Marriott Bayview hotel - my friend Tara had helped me get a discount. (THANK YOU TARA!) The hotel room was one of the nicest I've ever been in. We had a view of the pool and the bay.
We decided to begin our trip with a dip in the pool. The water was lovely, and full of children.
After the pool, Daniel and I went out for dinner, then came back to the hotel for drinks and a game of Carcassonne. We played the game in the hotel bar. Carcassonne is a hard game, and Daniel helped me strategize. With his help, I beat him. I had two coffee and Baileyses, and Daniel had two Long Islands.
The ring was burning a hole in my pocket. I was trying to decide where the best place to propose would be. The hotel gazebo? The beach? But since I was so impatient, I decided to propose the first thing the next morning. But maybe after Daniel had gotten up and wasn't sleepy anymore.
That night, I had a dream. I dreamed that I went through proposing to Daniel - I did everything - had him close his eyes and listen to the song. While he was listening, I got the ring out, as I'd planned. At the end of the song, he opened his eyes, and shook his head solemnly.
"No?" I cried. "Why not?! What's wrong?"
"You didn't collect enough tiles to complete this city," he said, gesturing to the Carcassonne game in front of us. I woke up.
It was 2:40something AM. I read my book with a flashlight and tried to go to sleep. It was hard - I was so restless. Also, Daniel was snoring.
I woke up at about 6 and decided to get up. I took a shower. Daniel was sleeping like a baby still, so I took my time. I got dressed and read my book some more. It seemed like ages before Daniel woke up - and I was trying desperately to keep my cool.
At last, Daniel got up. I waited until he was at least sitting up before I made my move.
"Hey Daniel? Can I show you something?"
"Is it your boobs?" he asked.
I smiled. "No," I said. "It's the new song I've been working on. You wanna hear it?"
"Wow, sure!" he said. "In like ten minutes. Let me get showered and dressed first."
"Okay," I said, totally not a big deal, totally nonchalant.
I played Angband on my laptop while Daniel showered and shaved. I ignored Daniel until he said, "Okay, I'm ready."
"Put these on," I said, giving him the headphones. Those big noise-canceling headphones took up a lot of space in my bag. He put them on.
"Could you sit on the edge of the bed?" I asked him. He scooted back and sat against the pillows. "Can I sit here instead?" he asked. "Sure," I said. This meant I wasn't going to be able to kneel when I proposed, but whatever. I'd just sit on the bed next to him, I guess.
"Okay, now could you close your eyes?" I asked him. "Don't open them 'till the end." This part was important, since I would get the ring out of my bag and the little sign while his eyes were closed. Daniel complied.
I started playing the song. The headphones were plugged into my laptop. I got the ring out of my briefcase, and put the little card in it. (The little card said "Daniel, will you marry me?") I held it up, ready for the end of the song. Daniel's eyes were closed... but he started blinking.
"Keep 'em closed!" I gasped - but he wasn't opening his eyes, he was crying. He liked my song.
I kept watching him. I also watched the music player on my laptop - the cursor told me how far along the song was. When it was getting close to the end, there were already a lot of tears on Daniel's face. I watched him, and waited.
He opened his eyes. He saw the card. His eyes bugged a little. Then he leaned over. He hugged me. And he kissed me. I was still holding the ring box. He pulled back and whispered "Yes." And I was crying too.
Then we went out to breakfast, then kayaking on the bay, then saw a movie, out to dinner, then came back to the hotel. A bottle of champagne and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries were delivered to our hotel room - courtesy of Daniel's parents. We feasted on our romantic after-dinner treat and watched Rifftrax until we fell blissfully asleep.