My Forever Sunset....My proposal story!

I happen to be visiting Maverick, aka, Craig Blow, in the Bahamas for a few days back in 2002 while he was serving as the Army’s Liaison Officer for the OPBAT Counter Drug Mission in Nassau. He would go to work in the morning while I hung on the beach until he retuned from work every day. It was my kind of vacation, sun by day, romanced by night! On this particular morning, I woke up to a note in the kitchen saying, “Be ready out front at 4p.m.- Wear tennis shoes and comfortable clothes-Can’t wait to see you this afternoon!- love, Craig.”  Well, I hate surprises and not being in control of things so my mind was everywhere, but I submitted to the process! How bad could it be after all, I was in the middle of paradise!  I obeyed what the note suggested and  waited  outside the condo complex  with tennis shoes on and an anxious mind to follow. Exactly at 4 p.m. , a taxi cab drove up with Craig in it to pick me up. Off we went to God knows where!

The first question out my mouth was, ‘Where are we going?”  He answered with his tan self,  “You’ll see!”  So, I sat back and we made our way through the busy streets of Nassau until we ended up at a Horse ranch near the beach.  I was excited! I loved horseback riding! ‘Really, we going horseback riding?” I asked. “Yes!’ he said with a beaming smile. I was a happy girl! As we made our way into the ranch, we were greeted by this couple who appeared to be more than accommodating to helping us. We saddled up the horses and I mounted a beautiful tan stallion. “Are we the only ones?” I asked the guide as I looked around to notice we were the only ones there.  He replied, “Must be your lucky day because no one else is riding this afternoon.” I didn’t think anything about it because I could not wait to see the sunset on the beach, so we made our way along the beautiful shore line. We stopped the horses and just took in the view before us. The waves were gently pounding the shore and the water was a crystal blue color. The sunset was absolutely stunning.   It was like looking into a scene on a post card! It was so peaceful to be sitting there atop a horse just enjoying the moment. Life was good, but little did I know, life was going to get better quickly!

All of a sudden Craig decided to dismount his horse and walked over to the side of mine.   I was still sitting on the horse and he began these beautiful words to me, “ Kim, I brought you here today, not to just enjoy this beautiful sunset but to ask you an important question too.” My heart started beating very fast and I just knew where this was going. He reached to grab the back pack on his shoulders and opened up the bag. He unwrapped a bag  and revealed a beautiful handmade woven bag. He reached inside the bag and  as he began to pull out this ring box, all these  beautiful red and pink rose petals fell  to the ground. This guy was good! He could have written a book on the perfect proposal!  He opened up the ring box and an amazing diamond ring in the shape of a Marquis  glared back at me with some bling! I was speechless!  Craig continued to declare his love for me, but honestly, I can’t remember what he said because I was still in shock over the ring. Forgive me Craig!  Hello, you show a girl some bling and all words become white noise!-lol! 

At any rate, I do remember him telling me that he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me! The whole time, unannounced to me, we were being videotaped. Our guide was in on the proposal plans!  I had been duped, but in a good way! The reason why there was no one at the ranch except us was because Craig rented out the whole place exclusively for us! Can you believe it? I mean who does that? My hubby did!!!

At any rate, the evening didn’t stop there, it got better and better.  As if that was possible, right? We make our way back from the shore line on the horses to the ranch. I was on cloud nine! Between the proposal, the ring, the horse, and the scenery, I was out of my element!   I felt like a princess in a movie. Once we got back to the ranch, another surprise awaited me, a white stretched limousine was parked outside. There was a driver standing there with a bouquet of gorgeous roses to give to me from Craig! I could not believe that Craig had done all of this just for me! Once inside the limo,  there was a bottle of Champaign for us to celebrate with.   We then drove to a local restaurant that was located on a gorgeous part of the island where we ate a delectable Lobster and steak dinner! Needless to say, I had the best night of my life! Less than 3 months later, we were married in the Bahamas.