Proposal

Written: January 6, 2011

Many of you don't know my love for weddings. When others get engaged, it seems I am almost as excited as they were. I love everything about a wedding. The sentimental value, the dress, the combining of two separate lives into one, the look on the grooms face when his bride walks down the aisle, I love it all. It is not secret I have been planning my wedding since I was 6 years old, and dreamed of the day I could actually plan my own. All this was a dream; until now.

I arrived in Abu Dhabi on the 15th of December with a gleam in my eye, and my favorite boy waiting for me at the arrival gate. I'll be the first to admit, it was a bit awkward at first-to see each other face to face after only looking through a computer screen. A long embrace, and out to the car we went. I introduced him to our new addiction; chocolate covered acai berries and we made our way through the city.

I loved getting there at night. Seeing all the buildings lit up, driving past the mosque, made you feel like you were in a different world, and, I was. It felt like a dream, and it was mine to come true. We had the world at our finger tips, and loved finally getting reunited after so long.

The next morning, Jus had to go to work. He left me there in his big apartment all by myself! Poor me. Justin has almost ruined his surprise by leaving me a nice wake-up note, only to be signed; Love, your fiancé. Luckily, I was too tired to notice. I took a walk across the street in a park, only to get stared at by the locals wondering why this pale, curly haired American was taking pictures of a fountain that wasn't turned on. I waited as patiently as I could for him to get off work, and jumped into his arms when he walked through the door.

The next day we drove the short drive to Dubai. An hour away, we talked about all we had been missing, and how we wish we could see each other more than once in 4 months. As we approached, I could see the city through the fog. It was getting bigger and bigger as we drove near. The buildings were twice as big as Abu Dhabi, and seemed twice as beautiful. Justin had the whole day planned out, and little did I know what was in store for me that night.

Justin knows my love of dressing up to go out, even if it's to a simple sit down dinner. We got in our more than Sunday best, and made our way into the heart of town. Walking through the mall for 10 minutes, my feet were already killing me. Luckily it was time for dinner, and Justin, the lover of surprises, wouldn't let me know where we were going until we walked right up to it. We sat out on the little balcony area where we could see the Burj Khalifa and over looked the pool of water that soon became one of my favorite things on earth.

The clock struck 7:00 and the pool of water transformed into a ballet symphony. Water was shooting up through the air like they were celebrating a birthday. They turned from green to yellow to pink to purple, all apart of this big performance. I found out from Justin it was the largest fountain show in the world. Just this surprise could've sufficed for the night, but Mr. Justin had much more in his coat pocket. By this time, the heels were off, and I was carrying them in one hand.

I'd been starring at the Burj Khalifa all night. The largest building in the world, standing a whopping 160 floors in the air, was the most beautiful site I’ve ever seen. After letting Justin know for the 100th time that I REALLY wanted to go up there, I made him spoil the surprise and tell me we were going there next :) One of his friends from Dubai, JJ came with us. We got in the dark elevator that took us to the 124th floor in exactly one minute. As soon as the door opened, the most beautiful site in the world had just got one-upped. It was Christmas for buildings. Every street corner, piece of building, everything had a light on it. It was simply, beautiful.

We started taking a few pictures of the view, and then with each other. JJ said, “Hey Jus, let me get one more…” I saw Justin reaching in his pocket, and his face was as bright as a tomato. With hands shaking, he got down on one knee. I have always thought of this moment and what it would consist of. I always thought I would break down crying, not knowing what to say, scream at the top of my lungs, and jump into his arms. That is definitely not what happened. I didn’t know what to think. The moment I had been waiting for forever was happening right in front of me, and I had no idea what to do! I was speechless. All that was going through my mind was, seriously!? So that is what I said. I think Justin was worried at this point, because instead of a yes, of course, no drrr, he got “seriously!?”. With Justin’s mumbling words and the sound of my heart pounding in my ears, all I heard was “Cassie, I love you so much. We’ve been through so much together…kjhsfasd…will you marry me?" In my mind I had already said the answer, for I had known the answer to this question a long time ago.

If you have never been proposed to, and have an expectation or an idea of how you will react or what you want your proposal to be, be prepared to be surprised. Justin could’ve proposed to me in a dumpster with a banana peel for a box and I would’ve said yes. But he didn’t. He did it on the top of the tallest building in the world, in front of the largest fountain show in the world. Because that is the type of man he is. He goes above and beyond for those he loves. It didn’t take all those details for me to say yes, but he did it anyway. How blessed am I? Now we can start on our road to forever…