The Surprise

It was such a long week preparing for tomorrow's event. My boss wanted everything to be perfect as his client made certain specifications. I was exhausted from putting it all together, although it was fun making the arrangements because the client told my boss to pick his top event planner to put this one together. The unusual but exciting part of it was that the person picked to plan the event was allowed to pick their own favorite things. I felt so honored that my boss chose me.
My shift was almost over as I put the finishing touches to the center pieces.

I'm so glad it's Friday! I've been looking forward to tonight for a month now. The singles group at church has a monthly outing and my boyfriend Cameron has a connection through work that got us seats for the championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens.
We are seated in the first section at the 50 yard line.

Cameron texted me and said he was running late and might not make it there until halftime because one of his patients had not given birth to her baby yet, but he said she was dilated to 10 and was being called into the room. She's his last patient for the day. He asked me if I would ride to the game with Treena and Jake and he could take me home after the game.

Our singles group is so much fun because a lot of us are coupled up so we get a chance to hang around with people in the same stage of life. Treena and Jake were happy to give me a ride. We had a good turn out for the game. There were 16 of us, well 15 for now until Cameron shows up.

The stadium was pretty full and the pre- game shenanigans were about to start. All the cheerleaders came running out with the mascots, the band was playing, and the fans were cheering. I've never been this close to the front before.

The mascots started shooting things into the stands and people were jumping up and down hoping that the mascots and cheerleaders would throw something to them. They made an announcement they were going to pick somebody from the stands to come down and throw the football into a net they brought out and if they were able to get it in then they would win a T-shirt.

Treena said that we should all start jumping up and down because then the chances of one of us getting picked might be better. So we all started jumping up and down and yelling "pick me" and one of the mascots pointed to me and waved for me to come down to the front.

Oh my gosh this is so exciting! I can't believe that Cameron is not here to watch me throw a football. I'm pretty good at it, he and I like to play catch a lot. He used to play football in high school and college.

The Seattle Seahawks mascot started motioning for everyone to do a drum roll. The noise in the stands was incredible, I can imagine what the football players must feel like when they make a good play and all the fans start going crazy.

I was given three tries. The first time I missed, it was a little bit embarrassing, but I'm glad I had a chance to try two more times. The next time I made it and all the cheerleaders, the band and spectators were celebrating the victory with me.
That was such a great experience. Then the mascot reached over and handed me a T-shirt.

The announcer said that I had to wear the T-shirt for the rest of the night. I don't even know if the T-shirt is my size. He told me to open up the T-shirt so the camera could zero in on it. As I started to unroll the T-shirt, the mascot got down on one knee. I thought he was just bending down to get on my level. But then he took off his head piece and there inside was Cameron!

"Omygosh Cameron! what are you doing in there?"
He told me to open up the T-shirt and it said "will you marry me."

I couldn't believe it, he and I have been dating for 3 1/2 years and I knew he was so busy with his internship at work and was getting ready to graduate and receive his OB/GYN license. I definitely wasn't expecting this!

As he was down on one knee he said, " Lizzy, before I met you I never believed that "love at first sight" could be a thing. When I saw you walk into the singles group September 23, 2018, I knew that I wanted to get to know you. Your presence, the way you carried yourself, your smile and the way you laughed attracted me to you. I still had some more schooling to do and I had told myself that I did not want to be distracted by anyone so that I could stay focused. You became my best friend, my confidant, my cheerleader, my encourager, and you've been so patient with me. You've never put any pressure on me to spend time with you when I needed to study or just needed a break. You were always just thankful for any amount of time that we could spend together. I am so grateful for you and I want you to be in my life forever. Lizzy Rose, will you make me the happiest man in this stadium and answer the question on the t-shirt, will you marry me?"
There was another drum roll going on and with Joyful tears I said yes!

The place erupted again with claps and cheers and whistles as we went back to our seats.

I honestly don't remember anything about the actual game that night but I will never forget the feelings I had when Cameron took off the mask.

As we drove home, Cameron told me that his family hired the company that I work for to put a banquet together for our engagement party. He said the engagement party is tomorrow and that his parents and my parents have been planning it for a couple months now. And because he wanted it to be perfect with all of my favorite things, they asked my boss if I would plan it.