He Asked. I Said Yes Please!

I should preface this whole thing because it's part of the story. Zach and I had been fighting all weekend. All. Weekend. And not light fighting. Hard fighting. Fighting that makes us almost call birthday girls and tell them we're not coming. We'd find a well of calm and then later it'd disappear out from under us and we'd be back into it. And thus starts the story of How My Boyfriend Proposed To Me.

Our original plan was to work Friday and then drive up to Portland that night for a birthday celebration. Crash there and drive back Saturday for more work. Sunday Zach suggested we spend the morning working and animating from home and then Sunday afternoon curl up on a couch together and relax. But then Mom wanted to have a get together with Zach's parents at her house in Albany. This weekend was the only time it'd really work. So this now folded into the plan. I really didn't want it super early b/c I just wanted to relax, and luckily Zach's parents weren't available until a 7pm meal time. So the plan was set.

Sunday, we're hanging out on the couch at 5:45 having just finished episode 2 of Miami Vice on Netflix when Zach's Mom calls. He hangs up and says a pipe broke or something in their bathroom remodel and he has to go over there and help. He tells me he'll be back to pick me up at 6:30 to bring me to Albany. That's fine. I fold clothes. I play Tetris. It's kind of nice to be alone. If we didn't have this dinner tonight I would have been asleep by 6pm.

But then he calls and tells me he's running late. And that I should just go ahead without him and he won't be too far behind. I'm pissed and I'm not hiding it. So I say fine and I throw my crap together and pile in the car. And I'm driving down the country road I drive a million times a month and all of a sudden I see a person standing in a driveway with a large sign that's painted "Kelly." It takes my brain a few clicks to realize it's my childhood best friend Jenn. She's wearing biking shorts and a yellow reflector jacket. I pull over and throw her in and she explains that her bike got a flat and that my Mom said I should be by headed to dinner and could give her a ride. I buy it. We drive a wee bit and then I ask her about the sign. "Oh they were painting their house and let me make it." We live in a nice place I think and don't question in further.

So Jenn asks me how I'm doing and I really don't feel like talking. I'm still cranky. I don't really want to get into any of it. And then all of a sudden I see another person with a sign. And my brain is now really confused by this. Why would there be another sign? Am I dreaming? And why is Kate holding the sign? And why does the sign say in the same nice-we-let-you-make-a-sign-house-paint "Will." How much house painting is happening today?!

Ooooooh.

Beat.

OOOOOOOHHHHHHH!

I look over and Jenn and she's pulled out a camera and is filming me.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOD.

We grab Kate. We throw her in the car and we keep on going. Somehow, and this is a real testamate to the brain's equalizing abilities, somehow I still think that this is it. Or I just don't quesiton beyond what has already happened. I mean this is the proposal. I know that it is but it still doesn't make sense. We've spent all weekend FIGHTING. Kate is suppose to be camping. Why isn't she camping? And then we round the corner and find George. He's suppose to have flown back to Reno already. But nope. He's there. With a sign. Hopping up and down with a giant "You."

I'm already a couple of "fucks" in by this point. We now have to reorganize the car. We dump everything I'm bringing to my parents in the trunk and pile in George. Is this why Zach vacuumed the car on Saturday? The massive amount of chicken in my mother's refrigerator suddenly makes sense.

"I don't have any more friends, " I say. Kate, Jenn and George look around at each other. "I mean," I say. "Not that should be around."

"I'm camping in the Olympic Peninsula," says Kate.
"And I'm in Reno," says George.

And then we rounded a corner and there is Andrea holding "Marry."

I'm not crying yet...but I will be. And soon. And I get out and I hug her and my brain is still trying to comprehend not the proposal but all these people holding these signs. These are the people who are most important to me and I'm gathering them on a country road in the middle of Summer.

We're about 3/4 mile now and everyone is laughing and talking in the car. I round the final corner and I see my brother and sister-in-law's traveling van and then all these cars.I mean, seriously.

"Who the fuck are all these cars?"

I use the most delicate language. Especially when it's being filmed for Grandpa and Grandma.

And then I see the driveway. There's Zach holding a sign...and behind him are all these people. His Family. My family. Our friends from theater. Friends from college. Friends from family. All these people I really do love. And I drive in. And out pile the Kelly Will You Marry and they line up and Zach hands his Me? to my Mom and gets down on one knee. Behind him four other smaller signs flip up. My choices:

"Yes!" "Sounds Pretty OK." "Sure why not." And the one I chose, "Yes Please."

A ring slipped onto my finger and hugs abound.

And like I said, all that chicken in my Mother's refrigerator finally made sense.

Yes there is video footage. Yes you may at some point see it. It's strange. Zach and I picked out the ring together. I knew this was happening. But the excitement I felt when it was Zach's and my secret (and apparently Andreas not too soon afterwards!) has just grown with the amount of love people have shown. Which is what marriage is all about right? It's people holding signs on a country high way. It's the best damn brownies you've ever tasted. And it's lots of hugging.

That probably didn't make sense...but you know what I mean :)

Pink Flamingo!