Photo taken at A&J's Premium Homemade Ice Cream

Daddy, I have some exciting news to share with you. Guess what?! I got engaged!

Yes...time really has flown.

You want to hear the entire thing, I know, but be prepared because I'm going to warn you daddy, this might be a long one. Let me take it from the beginning. Not the very beginning of our love story, but just a few weeks before the proposal.

Kevin is in the military and as I found out over the time we've been together, there are set procedures to follow. I actually will never forget how I found out his intentions about proposing to me.

It was a Saturday morning - he was on tour and I was groggy in my bed, still mentally waking up. Kevin sent a message saying he's working on a document which he will email to me. I really didn't think much of it because we've swapped different documents to get each other's opinions and editing skills. I honestly thought it was some random document he just wanted my opinion on.

I opened my email and saw at the very top of the page the email titled "Let the waterworks begin'. I was even more confused till I opened the email and saw the title of the document. He penned a beautifully written letter stating his intention to marry me.

I really wish I could show you the letter. He even included our quote at the end of it. Needless to say, and you know I am a sap, I cried half way through the letter to the end. From that moment, we both agreed that we'd get engaged but the when, how, and where remained a mystery to me for two more months.

Before I go any further daddy, I think you'd want to hear his thought process on the proposal. The proposal is a recreation of my perfect day and certain aspects symbolize the journey of marriage. Clever, I know. I only found out about it when he said it during a retelling of the story to one of his best friends.

And before you ask, yes he spoke to mummy before he proposed and got her blessing - just like we always talked about when you were here.

On to the proposal.

I knew it was coming but I didn't know when it would be coming. For me, this particular day was another ordinary day. Kevin was insistent on going Mt. St. Catherine to hike and I was insistent on not going (because laziness) but eventually said okay. Before we started our hike and as the start of creating my perfect day, he took me to this little café owned by a couple called A&J's Premium Homemade Ice-Cream. He told me this was his treat for me before we went on the hike.

Daddy, the food was amazing!!! He ordered a shrimp panini which was the best panini I ever had and I ordered pancakes with scrambled eggs and fruit. You really have to taste it to understand how good their food is. And their customer service is impeccable. So we took some pics, got our breakfast, and had a breakfast car date while we headed to the hike.

We started the hike which was supposed to be 10 miles but you know me - I am lazy as hell and hot midday sun and me don't mix. There were a lot of complaints, a lot of 'babe I'm dying', him saying this was his training was like and me saying this is why I am a civilian. Closing in on two miles of the hike I physically and mentally could not push myself anymore and he said think of doing the hike as all the trials and tribulations I've overcome. I told him those trials and tribulations tried to kill me the same way this hike is.

What I didn't realize he was trying to hint at is, us completing the hike together is representative of us pushing through everything we've been through as a couple and everything we will go through when we get married. As you and mummy always told me, marriage is not a bed of roses. I would always tell him what you guys said and he symbolized it with a difficult hike.

We made two miles in when he said that he has a doctor's appointment at 4pm. I found the doctor's appointment in the evening a little weird especially given that we just did a hike but I said okay. There was a lot of doubt in my mind about the 'doctor's appointment' and I felt like something was up but I just didn't know what. Although I'll admit daddy, I did try to sneak a peak into his final location on the GPS and he moved the phone away from me so the location would remain a surprise.

We went home, showered, headed back on our side. Our final destination was not a doctor's appointment but a couple's massage with Hands of Qi. Remember Vimalesh from form 6? Yup, him...he and his girlfriend are certified massage therapists and they opened their business together.

Of course I grinned from ear to ear when I realized we were coming for a couple's massage, especially after walking those four miles in hot midday sun. The only thing I did not do was fall asleep on the massage table. I felt super relaxed and at ease when the massage was completed.

The couple's massage was representative of the smoothing out of the issues we'd face in our marriage. So after the rough times, when we overcame our problems together, we'd enjoy the good times together as well.

The massage really was a perfect way to end the day. And at this time I am telling Kevin, you created my perfect day. We got breakfast, we did a hike, and now we have our couple's massage. What more could I ask for?

Little did I know that Hands of Qi were in on the proposal plan and knew that Kevin was planning on proposing. When we were ready to leave, they gave us a gift which had me baffled but I passed it off as 'they probably give their first time customer a token of appreciation'.

So a crucial piece of information to this story is, we left Hands of Qi around 7p.m. and we're under a state of emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have a 9:00p.m. curfew. So we have two hours to get home otherwise we're breaking curfew.

On our way home I checked the gift and in seeing it I was like woah. I immediately turned to Kevin and was like 'babe they gifted us X' and then he told me the entire thing. He said he was planning to propose tonight but I confirmed for him earlier today that UWI was closed to the public due to the pandemic. He wanted to propose where we first met on campus and to be very honest daddy, when I thought about a proposal before the pandemic, I always imagined it would happen there with him making some silly excuse to get me on campus while we were on our way to dinner. But alas, life has other plans and we learn to adjust and overcome.

We tried reaching his best friend I was telling you about earlier but they weren't answering and it just so happened that night they were in South. He suggested doing it at home but said it was anticlimactic considering the build up of the day. At this point it's minutes to 8 in the night, the options are scarce because we wanted somewhere with meaning for us and I told him the day was too beautiful to waste by not proposing because time, effort, and money went into this - we're doing this home. So home it was.

Got home, tidied the room a little and I was stuffing my face with pizza, asking him if he wasn't going to propose. Yes I know, I have a streak of mummy in me. He asked now now and I said well duh. He took out his phone and played our song softly in the background. Then my poor little love got down on his knee that has an injury. I really tried not to laugh when he got up and went down on his good knee. So he knelt on the ground, took out the ring (he used mummy's engagement ring), and said...

I am his best friend, his confidante, his epic love story. I can't remember the second part too well because I was expecting the question right after and then I realized he was actually nervous. But he said something along the lines of he can't imagine spending the rest of his life with anyone else but me. Then he asked, 'Will you marry me?'. Of course I said yes, otherwise I wouldn't be telling you the story.

That's how your little girl got engaged daddy.

If you were here, you would love him the same way mummy and Raquel do. If you were here, you'd understand why I love him. If you were here, you'd see how he loves me. If you were here, you'd give your blessings in a heartbeat.

I know you wish you were here to walk me down the aisle, but just know that I know you would have walked me down proudly and happily because you're giving me away to the most amazing man in life.

Until next time daddy and thank you for all your life lessons because they helped me find the one.

THE END

I want to say a special thank you to the two small businesses that Kevin used in his proposal. The first is a husband and wife owned café called A&J's Premium Homemade Ice-Cream and second is Hands of Qi which is owned also by a lovely young couple. Hands of Qi is a certified massage therapist business and let me just say...you wouldn't regret it. Their services made, what I thought was another ordinary day, truly spectacular.

Thank you my readers for taking the time to read this blog post which is deeply and extremely personal to me. In brainstorming how to announce our engagement, how to tell the people who have supported me on this blogging journey for the past year and a half, I realized the best way to do it would be to share with you how I would tell my dad if he were still here with me today.

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