(From right to left)
Nobita: Whoa!
Doraemon: It's me…did I surprise you?
Nobita: Wh…wh…who are you? Where did you come from? Why did you…? H…h…how did you…?
Doraemon: Don't ask so many questions at once! But that's all right. I've come to save you from a horrible fate.
Hope you guys enjoyed the story! God bless and have a nice day!
Dan and I had met several times before. We always had interesting, in-depth conversations about our favorite football teams (Packers for me, Bears for him), growing up in our respective cities and whatever else was on our mind. Dan was like that with everyone. However, on New Year’s I noticed something different in Dan. Maybe it was because we ran into each other more this night than any other, or because he spent more time talking to me than his friends. Whatever the reason, I’m thankful for it.
For the next three months Dan chased me. He called, emailed and asked my girlfriends about me. Because I lived in Milwaukee and he lived in Chicago we had to take baby steps. Our distance forced us to establish a strong friendship first- another blessing in disguise. For three and a half years we drove back and forth between Chicago and Milwaukee every other weekend. Neither of us took life too seriously then. We were both young and eager to experience as much as possible in life. After a while, the traveling and the scene we were in grew tiresome. We desperately needed a change, not necessarily in our relationship but in our lives. We wanted to get out of the Midwest and start over on a bigger experience.
He was given a coaching opportunity in Arizona and decided he was going with or without me. About a month later I still hadn’t given up on moving out of Milwaukee, or on my relationship. Dan hadn’t given up on us either, so I moved to Arizona. For the first time, we lived in the same state. Going from a long distance relationship to a day-to-day one was an adjustment. We had to start over and discover one another’s daily habits, routines, and quirks.
A year later we took two more leaps of faith and bought a house, and then a puppy. Everything was heading in the right direction, however, I handled our financing so I knew a ring and wedding was going to stay on my wishlist for a while.
A few weeks ago, a girlfriend insisted that I take Friday off to go out on the lake with her. Her company was shooting a commercial and needed extra people. I asked Dan to come, but he had made plans to go on a bike ride with friends.
Friday comes, and Dan leaves early in the morning. I take my suit and towel to work and a few hours later get paged to the front office. I was shocked to see my girlfriend with a HUGE smile on her face, telling me there had been a change in plans. I needed to go home, pack a bag and get to the airport.
Everything was happening so fast and to make things more confusing my friend had been instructed by Dan not to answer any questions. Once at home I find a note and a ticket in my suitcase. The ticket is to Chicago and the note has suggestions of what type of clothing to bring for our weekend and a phone number to call once I get to Chicago. He signed it, ‘see you later, love me.’
My stomach starting flipping and tears pooled in my eyes. How he had pulled something like this off – whatever this was – left me flabbergasted. To make matters more gut wrenching, I arrive at the airport to see my flight has been delayed an hour!
When I finally arrive in Chicago I call the number as instructed and minutes later am picked up by a limo. The driver was just as helpful as my girlfriend. He too had been instructed not to answer any questions. Without any guidance to this wild goose chase, I imagined a number of scenarios, none of which could have topped what was about to happen next.
The limo stops downtown Chicago. The driver pulls out my bags and points me to Buckingham Fountain. He tells me, ‘you’ll know what to do next.’ I haul my luggage around the famous Chicago landmark to find Dan looking extremely sexy. He kisses me and tells me that he couldn’t do this anywhere else but in the city we met.
He drops to one knee and asks me to marry him. After all our years together and the number of ways I imagined him proposing to me I was so nervous I could barely get out ‘of course I’ll marry you.’
He says we have to hurry because we’re already late for our dinner reservation. We rush to a hotel, change as fast as we can and walk in to find my entire family and closest friends waiting to congratulate us. I completely fell apart and couldn’t have been happier. Dan pulled off the biggest surprise of my life and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
