So I’m getting married. I know this is old news for some of you, but for those of you who haven’t heard, this is what happened:
About four weeks ago, some friends of mine who live down in Orange County invited me to meet up with them at Disneyland for the day, which I’m always glad to do. So I went, expecting nothing out of the ordinary. As soon as we got to the Park, one of them asked if we could go check out the Animation building in California Adventure. I was happy to oblige. That’s one of my favorite places. Inside, there are these huge projector screens all along the walls in this big oval-shaped room. The screens show concept art, storyboards, screenshots, and clips from various Disney movies, and as each movie is featured, the music from that film plays. But as soon as we entered, I started to miss Stu (my boyfriend) like crazy. He and I had come here together when he was helping me move to LA back in January. We spent the whole day at Disneyland, and this is where we came when we got tired, to just sit and enjoy one another’s company and soak in the magical atmosphere. But once that day was over, Stu had to go back home to Salt Lake City. We had been continuing our relationship long-distance ever since.
However, shortly after I entered the Animation building with my friends a few weeks ago, the giant screens on the walls filled with balloons and the music from Pixar’s Up started to play. That made me miss Stu even more… Suddenly, one of the cast members working there walked up to me and said, “Hey, do you like Up? We have this for you,” and handed me this incredible replica of the Adventure Book from the movie. It had a red ribbon pinned to it with the grape soda bottle-cap pin from the movie and written on the ribbon was my name. Confused, I took the book, opened it, and started to read. I realized almost immediately that it was from Stu and that he had in fact made this book himself. It was filled with pictures and stories of all the “adventures” we have had throughout our relationship. There was a section of things we have done as well as a section for “stuff we’re going to do.” I was dumbfounded. I was racking my brain trying to think of how on earth he had gotten this here. I had talked to him just the night before and he had told me in detail about how he had to work late back in Salt Lake…
Near the end of the book, it read, “Of all the places I want to take you, there’s one that stands out…” followed by a picture of the Mormon Temple (where we had talked about getting married). Then on the final page he had written, “So that leaves one question… So maybe you should turn around now.”
My heart leapt and I spun around, hardly able to believe what was happening. And as I turned, the lights dimmed and the projected walls suddenly filled with the lanterns from Tangled. ”I See the Light” began to play. And there was Stu, right behind me, down on one knee with a ring box in his hands. He asked me to marry him. Needless to say, I said yes. Applause broke out as Stu slipped the ring on my finger. I had never felt so wonderfully surprised. For the rest of the day, I felt like I was in a dream. I just couldn’t believe he was actually there!
It turns out he had secretly flown into LA during the night and organized this whole scheme with my friends from Orange County. It was absolutely the most incredible, perfectly-tailored-to-me proposal I ever could have asked for. It was better than anything I could have imagined.
I am so excited to marry this guy. He is without a doubt the best man I have ever known and he is so perfect for me in ways I never thought I’d find. Next weekend, he’ll be moving out here to LA so that we can finally be together permanently and I can continue to live my dream working for Disney. The long-distance chapter of our relationship will finally be over, and we’ll never have to live apart again.
