The Proposal
It was the day after Christmas and Sara’s plane was due to land at 2:30pm. I rushed around the house all morning trying to make sure the apartment was clean. She was coming home from spending Christmas with her family. I had just finished making the sign. On one side of the 1ft x 3½ ft piece of poster board had her name on it. On the other it said WILL YOU MARRY ME?At 1:15pm, I had just gotten out of the shower and dressed when I called the airline to make sure her plane was on time. I was planning on leaving around 1:45 PM. That would give me enough time to get to the airport and prepare for the “BIG QUESTION”. When the airline said her plane was early and was arriving at 2:09pm. I freaked out! I had to hurry to make it to the airport on time. With my Heart racing I jumped into my truck and headed to the airport. When I got there, (yea I’m sure you can guess,) no parking… It took me a few minutes however I was able to find a place in the back of the parking garage. I walked very rapidly towards the terminals.I finally made it inside, and headed towards terminal B. I was stopped at the security check because I of course set off the detector. I made sure everything was out of my pockets. (Except for the ring) I took my buckle off and still set it off. I finally said to the security girl, “I didn’t really want to take this out.” I slowly pulled the ring box out of my pants. She asked me if she could see it, so I showed her. She was begging me to please propose to my girlfriend in front of the metal detectors so she could see.I kindly refused. (Not my idea of romantic.)After what seemed to be a conversation that lasted forever, (probably only 2 minutes) I almost broke out into a run towards the gates. I was 2:05pm when I arrived at hers. There were only two families there. My first thought was “was I at the right gate?” Eventually a few more families arrived. The tension was building. It was around 2:15pm when I called my mother to try to calm my nerves. I knew at that point that her plane would probably be landing close to the original ETA. I talked with her for a few minutes then all of a sudden I saw the plane heading towards the gate dock. My heart started racing a mile a minute. I hung up with my mother and took place on the side of the airline’s gate-desk, which faced the door where everyone would be coming out of.I was about 15 feet from the door. My heart was pounding. The door opened and one of the flight’s crewmembers came out and picked up the microphone to announce the arrival of the flight. I couldn’t even feel my heart it was beating so fast. All I could feel was a pressure in my chest. The first passenger came out, then another. Families were uniting, people were hugging. A few more passengers came out. Then there she was, just as beautiful as the first time I saw her. Her eyes lit up when she saw me. She had a happy but confused look on her face, for it was the first time she had see me in my Black felt cowboy hat, tight wranglers and my cowboy boots.Being that Sara is from Minnesota, I had always joked with her about picking up her friends at the airport dressed like that so they could experience a Texas cowboy welcome. I think what also confused her is that I was holding a sign with her name on it. I guess she thought that I was just trying to be funny. As she got closer, she was about 8 feet away when I turned the sign around which said WILL YOU MARRY ME?
I took my hat off and slowly dropped down to one knee. My hands were shaking almost uncontrollably. I took out the ring and said… “I love you Sara, will you marry me? I could hear amazement from all directions around me, some were saying, “Oh my God.” Some were saying that they wish they had a camera. Sara’s eyes were opened wider than I had ever seen them. She started a combination of laughing and crying and said “Oh my God yes, yes! I placed the ring on her finger and rose to hug her. We embraced. As we were hugging she asked me, “Is this for real?” I responded “yes honey, this is for real.”
Shawn Galloway Houston Texas
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