Blog: Five Year Anniversary

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Five Year Anniversary - Friday, November 25, 2011
As of today, after a five-year relationship, Priscilla is now my ex-girlfriend. Unfortunately for her, that's because she's now my fiancée, which means that she's stuck with me for another five years, and another, until the end of our days. Muahaha.

I woke up this morning before dawn to have breakfast at Priscilla's house and take her to the Long Beach cruise terminal. She of course had no idea what we were going to do today or that I had been planning a second trip to Avalon on Catalina Island for months. I'd booked a one-way trip to Avalon by helicopter, and after a quick weigh-in and safety video at the Island Express office at the cruise terminal, it was off to Avalon on a calm, 15-minute ride.

After we landed, we took a shuttle into town and took a walk up a residential street and found an amphitheater-shaped terrace half enclosed by the backs of some nice houses. The terrace was composed of high stone walls and grass. The area is probably the most serene and secluded place two blocks from the main part of town.

Next, we walked down to the mini man-made "beach" next to the pier, and I brilliantly decided to stand too close to the water and got my jeans and shoes soaked when the tide suddenly came in. I'd brought a towel, so we sat in the sun for an hour trying to dry me off. However, socks don't dry well in partly-cloudy November weather. I had to go without socks for the rest of the day. Serves me right, I guess.

After resting on the beach, we took a stroll on the pier and found a company taking signups for a 50-minute scenic bus tour. Our guide, an older lady named Becky, took us around the island and shared some interesting facts with us. For instance, 99% of the residents rent their homes from the Island Conservancy. There's a 15-year waiting list to bring a car onto the island, and a gallon of gas runs for $7. The only export good out of Catalina is rock from the quarry.

Instead of going to a restaurant for lunch, we got a rotisserie chicken, chips and ginger ale from the local Vons store for $9- less than what we would've paid per person at a restaurant.

After the late lunch, we walked through the town and up the main road to the entrance to the Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Garden, but we didn't want to pay the $7/person to get in, so we started heading back. I wanted to take a detour and go on a 1.75 mile hike up a mountain and propose at the top, but Priscilla's feet were hurting by that time due to all the walking and her uncomfortable shoes. Still, I managed to coax her into going up about halfway, which during the whole time she was probably hating me. At the point where we stopped, we could start to see the town at the bottom of the valley (a semi-nice view), and the sun was starting to go down, so I decided that that was the right moment to propose.

Over the course of the day, I had let her read segments of "The Book" in which I handwrote 100 things that I appreciate about her. The final segment transitioned into a corny "proposal speech" and she started crying just reading it. I told her to hurry up and get to the last page, and when she did, she was met simply with:

Will you take the next step with me?

Will you marry me?


And two checkboxes- one for "Yes" and the other for "Of course!". I also said something corny and did the one-knee thing. She was totally crying at this point but managed to say yes. I then pretended like I didn't have a ring, which she said was fine, but then I fished it out of my backpack. She loved it. And the rest of the way back to town, her feet mysteriously stopped hurting. Love conquers all, I guess.

Aside from taking the ferry back to the mainland, we ended up doing completely different things today than the first time we visited Avalon, which was totally unintentional. I'm happy with how the day turned out and wouldn't change anything about it. Well, except maybe the part about having wet shoes the whole day. ;)