Best day of my life.

October 17, 2009 topped my list of all time best days of my life. No question about it. Up until that day, there had been many occasions in my life that had merited such a classification – and I hope there will be many more.

I was prepared for October 17th to be one of the best days of my life, but for a whole different reason than why it actually came to be. Jon had surprised me with a hot air balloon ride for my birthday present, and we finally had perfect weather on that day for lift-off. I couldn’t have been more excited! I had watched those hot air balloons take off from Stillwater for months, imagining how amazing it would be to be up there. I had even not-so-subtly hinted to Jon that we should do that sometime – his response was “Yeah right” and changed the subject. So imagine my surprise when I got my birthday present.

I’ll be honest – the thought had crossed my mind that it would be pretty dang awesome to be proposed to in a balloon. Though we had talked about our future and knew we would spend our lives together, the closest that we got to actually discussing an engagement was a boat (my way of referring to a ring). I guess it seemed less taboo to ask “When are you going to buy me a boat?” while attempting to cure my curiosity. So, the thought had crossed my mind at first, and I had plenty of other people suggest the same thing might happen. Nevertheless, as weeks went by until the weather cooperated, Jon’s demeanor remained unchanged – no unusual behavior, no unexplained absences, no apparent nervousness…no good reason to suspect anything was going to happen. I didn’t want to feel any sort of expectation or disappointment, so I let myself forget that it was even a possibility. The balloon ride was for my birthday, and that was that. Plus we were going to be in a basket with 6 strangers – how romantic can that get?

We arrived at Aamodt’s Apple Farm early to pick some apples before our flight. We then signed the paperwork and began watching them set up the balloons. It was then that I found out that we were upgraded to a private balloon – they overbooked the group balloon. Looking back, that should have been a sure sign of what was to come. Yet I remained clueless, thinking we were lucky to be the randomly picked couple to get our own balloon. Jon got to help fill our balloon and get it standing, and we were soon drifting up into the air. It was so beautiful, overlooking the river and the changing colors in the trees. Our pilot brought us down to just inches above a lake, joking that he often dunks his passengers in the summertime. I had nice boots on, so he restrained. It was surreal to hover over the lake like that, in nothing more than a basket. It was cozy – barely enough room for the 3 of us – and though it was only waist high, I felt no fear leaning over to look below.

Once we had risen to around 1500 feet, Jon asked our pilot to take our picture. To my amazement, Jon then got down on one knee and pulled a little box out of his jacket! My hands flew to my face as my jaw dropped, and I believe I asked, “Oh my gosh – what are you doing?!” in excitement. He proceeded to tell me how much he loved me and wanted to spend his life with me, and I don’t think there are words adequate enough to describe how I felt in that moment. To have the person I love most in the world proclaim that he wants nothing more than to be with me the rest of our lives was the most amazing feeling. The setting was breath-taking, the proposal was beautiful, the moment was captured on camera…it was perfect. By far the best day of my life.

I spent the rest of the trip grinning from ear to ear, staring at my wonderful man, my mind already spinning with thoughts on our upcoming life together. I had to put the ring back in the box for the rest of the trip, since it was too big and I couldn’t control my excitement. As we approached our landing, the owner of the yard where our pilot had chosen to attempt our landing shouted up to us, “Did she say yes?!” Our landing crew had spilled the beans, and before we knew it, people driving by were honking and telling us congrats. Back at the starting point, we were met by the passengers of the group balloon, all with huge smiles on their faces, asking us what was new. It seemed everyone knew! We enjoyed some champagne with the crew and then headed to downtown Stillwater for dinner.

I used to worry that I was never going to find the man of my dreams. I hadn’t met him in college, or through work, or as a friend of a friend...none of the ways I had seen friends meet their men of their dreams. And I was not the type to put myself out there. I tried Match.com on two different occasions – the first time around I gave up after having met several wrong guys and was dumped by a semi-decent one on my birthday. (He was so wrong for me I’m glad he ended things). I was about to give up on Match.com a second time when received a wink from Jon. I couldn’t be more thankful that I stayed with it as long as I did, because there is no way Jon and I would have crossed paths otherwise. And he is truly the man of my dreams. He makes me happier than I have ever been, he’s caring and supportive, and he can make me laugh when I need it the most.

Patience is a virtue, that is for sure.