I Got Engaged!

Yes it is true. After 8 long years of dating on and off, Sarah and I are getting married. I proposed to Sarah this weekend, and as you might have guessed by now, she accepted. She is the best thing have ever happened to me and I feel lucky to be with her. Allow me to share our engagement story with you.

Over the past few weeks Sarah and I have been overly busy with work, working out, playing golf, and a host of other activities and events. We agreed that this past weekend would be a weekend with no plans whatsoever...a vacation at home if you will. Little did Sarah know that we were not going to stay home.

Saturday morning came and we wanted to get an early start out at the pool. So at 11AM we went outside to get some sun and fresh air...nothing too exciting yet (except for the excruciating sunburn I now have on my chest). After about an hour, I surprised Sarah by saying that we would be going away for the evening and that she had to go upstairs and pack her belongings to leave at 2PM.

We hit the road on time and she had no idea where we were headed. About 5 miles from our destination, I revealed that we would be spending the night at Chateau Elan, a hotel and winery resort. She was very excited because she always mentioned that she wanted to go there to check it out. Sarah inquired about Chateau Elan often...so often that it happened as recently as out at the pool earlier in the day prior to my telling her about the surprise.

Once we arrived in our room, I told her that there would be another surprise: a massage at the Chateau Elan Spa. I was looking to relax her prior to the proposal and give her some special pampering on this big day. She returned from the massage 45 minutes later exactly as planned: nice and relaxed. Now for the difficult part...the proposal.

While Sarah was at the spa, I spoke to some employees about good places to propose and received an excellent suggestion from one of the supervisors. It started by taking her on a walk along one of the many nature trails throughout the property. The trail went along a small pond and led up to a gazebo on the water. And that is when it happened. I got down on one knee and proposed. I was so freaking nervous that I tripped over my words, but eventually got it out. She began to cry and accepted! We were engaged! We sat at the gazebo and spoke for a while and then went back to the room so she could call her family and friends. She was very excited needless to say. I could have prolonged the anticipation of a possible proposal longer and waited until later in the trip to pop the question, but I thought that doing it early would allow us to celebrate and enjoy the occasion, which we did by having a nice dinner, walking around the property, visiting the winery, and playing nine hole on the par 3 golf course.

This weekend was a very surreal experience for me. Some of it I remember well, some of it went by so quickly that the memory is just a flash in my mind. What I do know is that I will be spending the rest of my life with the most amazing person I have ever met. It is all pretty cool. I'm engaged!

Here are some of the pictures we took.