The Proposal

ON MAY 15, 2015 STEPHEN ASKED KADIE TO BE HIS WIFe

It was totally unexpected and incredibly romantic. Kadie made some things difficult by changing up her plans a bit, which caused some quick thinking. But ultimately it turned out great. Here is how he proposed:

I (Kadie) had wanted to go the Annapolis with Stephen for the longest time. It just turned out that really the only time we'd be able to go was Friday, May 15th. I had asked a friend of ours, Erin, if she'd like to join us earlier in the week. The night before we were supposed to all hang out, Stephen told me he wasn't going to go with us. I was bummed, I kept telling him that I really wanted him to join, and if he wasn't going to be able to go then I didn't really want to go. I wanted to spend as much time with him before I left for Chicago as I possibly could, so I almost bailed.

Stephen: This was rather inconvenient for me. I was trying to bail on the trip to be able to go and set up the proposal with my roommate. So this made my job a little trickier. I ended up convincing her that I really needed to work on a project and so I could only go for a couple of hours. She decided this was ok and was fine with spending a couple of hours with Erin.

The next day I showed up at his place in jeans and a t-shirt, looking like I just rolled out of bed (which I probably did). I hopped in the car with Erin and we all drove off. We get to the farmers market and start walking around, they had a bunch of fun things and yummy food. I was like a kid in a candy shop. Literally. Candy everywhere. So I'm quickly walking through and looking at everything while Erin and Stephen are walking slowly behind. They're chatting about things and I jokingly say "What are you guys talking about? His proposal?" and then turn back to whatever it is that I was doing. I was totally kidding, I had no idea what would be taking place later that day.

Stephen: Erin and I both had a mini heart attack but kept our composure and bluffed our way through it.

Eventually we had some lunch and Stephen had to leave to work on a project. Her and Stephen had been talking about the fact that they both were not feeling well. So they're saying that while I'm just thinking "I feel great!" But I didn't want him to feel any worse and I wanted to make sure he did well on his project so we said our goodbyes and he left. Erin and I just walked around and eventually went to a mall nearby, the entire time I was talking about wedding planning and my future with Stephen, still having no idea, but definitely making Erin panic a bit.

Stephen: At this point I drove back to my apartment. I picked up a couple boxes of Christmas lights my friend had lying around, some LED candles, a bunch of paper bags and drove over to our church with my roommate Ben to set up shop for the proposal. We get to church and start hanging up lights and putting LED candles in paper bags around the stage. I had originally slated about 3 hours to set everything up, but it only ended up taking like 45 minutes. So now we had over 2 hours to just wait. So naturally, we turn off the lights to check out how everything looked. Then we played hide and seek in the dark for a while to distract me from my nerves. 

After shopping for a couple hours, Erin and I started heading home. As we're driving, my phone dies and I have no way of charging it, so I asked Erin if I could borrow her phone to text a friend whose house Stephen and I were going to later that evening. Erin started being weird and almost didn't let me use her phone, which wasn't like her, but I didn't think about it much. We start talking about going to stop and get some ice cream, but we had to drop Lily off before we went. When we dropped Lil off at her house, Erin told me that her brother had texted her that she left her bible at church. She asked if I'd be ok with going with her to pick it up. At this point, I'm tired and sweaty and just exhausted from the day. Also, all I wanted to do until dinner was hang out with Stephen, who happened to be right down the street at school (so I thought). Being the good friend that I am though, I agreed to go with her to pick up her bible. I mean, I was leaving for Chicago in a few weeks, I wanted to spend time with her as well! 

So we drive to Mosaic (our church) to pick up her bible. She goes in real quick and then moments later comes back outside. She tells me that she can't find her bible and all I can think was "didn't your brother leave it for you?" I go inside to help her find it and she mentions it may be in the auditorium. I look at her with my eyebrows raised like, "you can't look in the auditorium yourself?" I told you, I was tired and really warm. She points to the door leading into the auditorium from the green room and I go through.

I open the door a few inches and see a few lanterns lined up on the ground. I quickly turn around and ask her "Is this happening?! What is going on?" she laughs and tells me she doesn't know what I'm talking about and urges me to continue into the auditorium. I go back through the door and there are rows of lanterns leading me onto the stage. Once I got onto the stage there are even more lanterns and white Christmas lights lighting up the room. Across the stage is a table where a letter is neatly set. The entire time I'm walking through I am verbalizing everything I'm thinking. I'm freaking out in the best way possible. I'm so thankful there isn't a video, but it definitely would have been hilarious. I read the letter, practically out loud because of my commentary. I'm shaking with excitement and nerves, realizing I'm in a t-shirt and jeans with my hair in a messy bun. Not how I would've expected to look at this moment, but I didn't care. This was happening. I finish reading the letter and was prompted to read a line out loud. 

When I do so, Stephen begins reading another letter out loud to me. It was beautiful and romantic, but I have no recollection of what it said except for a nerdy Doctor Who line, "for the girl who waited, you've waited long enough"

He got down on one knee, I begin freaking out, he opens the box for the ring, I freak out some more, and then he asks...

Kadie, will you marry me?

and of course I SAID YES!