Happy Birthday

One year ago today, Mike proposed to me. Even though I knew he got the ring, he still managed to surprise me....especially since he did it on HIS birthday.

We went out for dinner to celebrate his birthday. He wanted to take me to Finley O'Mahony's....the place where we met (I'll call it a restaurant - but it's really a bar). :-)

We got there and it was closed for a private Christmas party - I've never seen Mike look so disappointed. I thought it was because he was craving their fabulous buffalo chicken sliders. Little did I know that he had planned to stand in the same place where we met a little over a year before, and ask me to marry him.

I tried to comfort him and said we could come back the next night instead to celebrate his birthday if he really wanted...he thought about it....but then decided we should just try another place.

So we went to dinner somewhere else. I thought it was a little strange that he didn't eat much - but I chalked it up to the fact that he had his heart set on those delicous sliders!

After dinner, we drove home. On the way, Mike said he had brought my camera but forgot to have the waitress take our picture. He said he knew how much I loved taking pictures of special occasions and felt bad that he forgotten the camera in his coat pocket. So he offered for us to stop on the way home to take a picture. Keep in mind it was freezing cold outside and he wanted us to stop close to home along the river to get a shot of the city skyline behind us....and yet, I still had no idea.

We stopped along the river and found a perfect spot for a picture. We set up the self-timer on a ledge and quickly snapped a picture. As I turned to look at him, he kneeled down on his knee. I wish I could remember exactly what he said - I know there was an "I love you" and "will you be my wife" in there - but I can't remember in what order, or what else he said. I do remember my heart feeling like it was going to beat out of my chest, and me saying "are you serious?! really?!". I was so shocked even though I knew that moment was coming sometime soon.

The other thing I remember is going home and feeling so happy I couldn't sleep. I thought about our wedding and babies and what we'd look like when we're 80. And how nothing has ever felt so absolutely right and the way it was supposed to be.

We've grown even closer in the last year. And in just one month we'll be married. Beyond words, I am so thankful to have Mike in my life. He balances me when I can't see the other side, lifts me when I need lifted, argues with me when we need to argue, hugs and kisses me when I need hugged and kissed, and takes care of me in more ways than he will ever know.

So Happy Birthday, honey - every year this day will remind me of one of the best days I've ever had and just how lucky I am to wish you Happy Birthday every year.