The Long Back Story

My mom says that when I make a decision, I make it and go with it without avail and I am usually right. Ask her about the swimsuit, that story says it all.

When you find something that is right, you go with it. When you find a person as wonderful as ChoirPres you better be all in. So the story goes in NYC 2006 when an unnamed x started pursing ChoirPres, I felt waves of jealousy that I ignored for better or worse. When I fell head over heels, despite my own arguments against them during Christmas of 2007, my Dad questioning me as to when I was going to date this girl. Lets just say my Dad has similar intuitions about things (i.e. picking out my current car before I even saw it).

So, as ChoirPres and I made it through a high school ski trip and a trip to Washington D.C. where she kept my head on straight, I realized that I had stumbled upon or been handed an opportunity to love and be loved by the best woman in the world.

I think a lot of people are expecting an Ah-Ha moment or that love at first sight deal. The curse and blessing for us both is that we have now known each other for 10 years. When we met, I was so far out of hear league there was never even a glimmer of thought that I could end up with "THE CHOIRPRES" and I mean that in the literal sense.

The bottom line is I knew that I would be dropping to my knee way before anyone would have expected or thought I should know. I kicked back and started planning and thinking and being a hopeless romantic I had been dreaming about proposing since I was...in preschool. Yup, I dressed up to get married in preschool. Again, just ask my mom. The problem was when I was dreaming I was still planning on being a pilot. For some reason I never ditched far fetched ideas of romantic plane rides or helicopters landing on the beach.

Enlisting Phoenix' help I put her on the surprise plan just a few months after Nicole's 30 birthday. I knew if I were going to do it right, I would have to be organized and planned way ahead to be pulled off. Of course, ChoirPres and I didn't start talking about crazy stuff like engagement till much later. Racking my brain around Thanksgiving 2008 I decided one of the most romantic spots to propose would be the Pitock Mansion up in the West Hills of Portland.

I brought in PJP and her hubby into the mix and between the four of us we made some tentative plans that could be flexible enough to work in any and all directions. I also pounded them for help on the ring and by the time New Years 2008 rolled around, my design matched up with the visions Nicole had invented with the crew.

Two weeks before Valentines Day, ring was being made, plans were loosely set. I had found a cheep plane ticket and I thought things were going very well. ChoirPres makes a comment on the phone, "Why are you in such a rush to get engaged?" My heart stopped. Things were in motion. Yes, I am ahead of the game but I have been working on this for over 9 months. I wasn't about to let this girl get away and now she thinks I am rushing her?

I pulled the e-brake, let the parachutes out and killed the engine. Sent off emails and said, if I am not willing to postpone, I am rushing her into this. Really, long distance relationships can wear you down and puts kinks into every relationship no matter how perfect and wonderful. ChoirPres and I both were not in great places, we hadn't seen each other in 4-5 weeks. We needed some reassurance on how we were doing, face to face. Valentines Day was a life savor. Not only did it remind me how wonderful a girl I had, it also put us both back into the spirit of knowing this relationship really was still trucking, albeit slower than we want.

The Jeweler called and let me know she was shipping me the ring. For the next two days I carried it around with me. Yes, I am weird like that. I was too scared to leave it in the apartment since it wasn't insured yet. Jaws dropped as I showed it to friends. I knew it would be ok. Suddenly, this wasn't an option to hold onto. I would never get the surprise I had planned and to top it all off, ChoirPres had come up with the Pitock Mansion of her own accord! The Stars were aligned and ChoirPres would soon find out the greatness she was.

I flew out to Portland Friday night and spent the next 16 hour with my best friends, practicing Blue Eyes by Cary Brothers for the big surprise in the morning. Through text messages and phone calls we tracked the crew to the Pitock Mansion, avoided being seen and then stood outside, freezing a little, playing music and entertaining small groups of tourist passing by. The rest is detailed below in ChoirPres’ account and in the wonderful collection of pictures our friend Tim took. Thank you everyone who helped out in the planning and execution of this wonderful weekend. I couldn't have done it without some of the greatest friends ever. ~soundguy