Clearwater Beach, Florida
March 7, 2011 was a beautiful spring evening with light ocean breeze and gorgeous sunset. We had reservations at the Shor Restaurant overlooking the ocean. Chad's mom, Liebe, was in the middle of driving us to dinner when I commented on the beautiful sunset. At that instant, Chad asked his mom to drop us right there. Since we were still a couple blocks from the restaurant, Chad wanted to walk the rest of the way on the beach.
The sunset was breathtaking; shades of fire red and orange fading into a peaceful blue night. I was determined to take our picture with the sky in the back ground but of course I kept cutting off our heads in the shot. Chad ran ahead of me and asked that I take a picture of him with the sunset. (Which Chad asking me to take his picture is not out of the ordinary ;) ) As I was looking through the camera and zooming in to take the picture, Chad pulled a small black object out of his pocket. Me just thinking it was his phone, I didn't even think twice until he opened the box and I saw the glare from the ring through the lens. I looked up from the camera and asked, "Are you serious?" With a huge smile and tears in his eyes, he grabbed my hand and got down on one knee. He said, "I love you...Will you marry me?" 
I was so in shock, this is where it gets a little fuzzy. Of course I said YES but it is a blur in my mind. There was a small group of people about 100 feet away and they started clapping and cheering for us. It was all surreal.
After I was ensured by Chad it wasn't a dream, I called my parents to share the news! We finally made it to our reservations at the Shor. I could hardly even mumble out the words of what I wanted for dinner. The food and drinks were was amazing. After dinner, we called Chad's mom and step dad to joins us for drinks. We surprised them with the news by showing them ring after ordering drinks.
The ring is everything I would ever want! He picked the ring out all by himself. Chad had asked my parents for their blessing earlier that week.
The whole night was perfect! I had no idea that he was planning this proposal. He had talked about marriage for a while but he said he didn't want to get engaged until later this year, trying to deter me from figuring out his plan. Looking back on the situation, there are many funny instances that pointed to the proposal but I was still oblivious. We are so excited and blessed to spend the rest of our lives together!
