Our Engagement Weekend

Friday, December 18, 2009
I bought Jeremy hockey tickets for Christmas and had given them to him in the middle of November(ish). He had had a bad day at work so I gave him the tickets as a Merry Christmas / Happy Birthday / Happy Anniversary / Hope-You-Have-a-Better-Day-Tomorrow gift. The tickets were for December 19th for an Edmonton Oiler / Washington Capitals game. Those two teams are his favourite and I was really excited to give them to him.

So we planned to go up to Calgary on the Friday before the game, stay at a family friend's house, and then head to Edmonton on Saturday for the game and after the game, stay at a cousin's house before heading back to Medicine Hat on Sunday.

I had to work on Friday morning so Jeremy let me know via BBM when he was leaving to come get me so that I could quickly make it to my parent's house to change and shower and get ready for the weekend.

We left Tilley later than planned but made our way to Calgary. Jeremy was pretty quiet the whole way and I was tired so we didn't say much which wasn't unusual for us.

I told Jeremy to make a CD for our trip so he made a compilation of about 14 songs and brought it with him. We listened to Ke$ha's "Tik Tok", Something Corporate's "Konstantine", and - among others - Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling." (Jeremy later told me that through that whole song, he only sang one line: "Tonight's gonna be a good night")

We got to the city and really had no plans. Jeremy had mentioned that he wanted to go to this department store downtown to check it out. I didn't really have anything planned so I just kind of followed. We got downtown and we ended up getting closer and closer to the  Calgary Tower. I didn't know what our final destination was so I just sat in the passenger seat waiting to see where we'd end up. Jeremy parked in the parkade attached to the Calgary Tower and he basically said, "Well, we're here, we might as well go up. You want to?"

I said, "Sure, I haven't been here since I was like 5 or something. It's been a long time!"

We got into the elevator on the left and shot up to the top (it felt like we were going really fast). We got out on to the top and immediately walked right to the glass-bottom floor. After trying to get used to it for a few minutes, I finally stood on it and looked down. It's a little weird looking down through the floor at the ground that is 525 feet above the ground.

Anyway, we walked around the top. We were the only people there so it was nice and quiet. We checked out more of downtown, Canada Olympic Park, the Pengrowth Saddledome, Chinook Centre, and more. It was great being able to see the city in a way that not many get to experience or even think about.

Jeremy saw this as the perfect opportunity... we were on the opposite side of the tower than the glass floor - near the Saddledome. He began to get down on one knee. I was still gazing out the window in wonder and then... the elevator door opens up and out come a group of screaming Asian girls gasping and giggling about the glass floor beneath them.

The moment had gone. Jeremy quickly shifted his weight into a nearby chair and hoped that I hadn't noticed because if I did, it would have "looked really weird."

I was oblivious but was having a good time anyway. We walked around the top a few times and more and more people arrived at the top. There wasn't another time where it was just the two of us on the top of the tower so as soon as Jeremy saw that there was no one waiting for the elevator to go down, he suggested that we go down and out to supper.

We got into the right elevator and I started to take a picture of the sign that was on the back wall. Jeremy looked at me and asked, "Rachelle, you know I love you right?"

"Yeeaaahh," I managed to spread out. My heart was literally racing. At this point, I thought one of two things: either he was going to jump up and down in the elevator which would have freaked me out... or that he was going to propose!

Then as he looked away, he just said, "Okay, good."

There was a long pause.

I thought, 'Okay, he's not going to jump... or propose.'

Then he pulled out a red, wooden box and said, "You wanna get married?"

Not even seeing the ring, I nodded fast and managed to say, "Uh-huh!" in between gasping for air. I had a hard time actually getting it out! (That could have been from the proposal or from the fast-moving elevator, I'm not sure which - could have been both.) When I opened the ring box, I saw the perfect diamond engagement ring. We had actually picked it out together but he later told me that he didn't buy it. The whole experience was a huge surprise to me. I wasn't expecting a proposal that weekend at all! We laughed and hugged and then we walked out of the elevator as an engaged couple.

We started texting and calling all of our family and friends that we could think of. I had told Jeremy on the way to Calgary that my phone was going to die and he thought it was hilarious because he knew I'd be on it a lot later that night.

We went out for supper at Joey Tomato's and had a very filling supper and then headed to Jeremy's mom's friend's house. We arrived and chatted with her for a while before finally trying to fall asleep.

It was a full but amazing day!


Saturday, December 19, 2009
We woke up the next morning and we had breakfast, packed up our things and made our way to Edmonton. We were dropping off some things at West Edmonton Mall for another friend so we decided to go there first, shop around a bit, and then meet my cousins for supper before heading to the game. We were fortunate that the roads weren't too bad (there were some bad weather patches but for the most part, it was good). We were also lucky to have met the friend just outside the door to the mall. We had gotten there at the same time so instead of hauling things throughout the mall and her having to take them back to her car, we were able to exchange right at the vehicles and go into the mall empty-handed.

We shopped around for a bit but neither of us are big "shoppers" so we mostly wandered around. We checked out Galaxyland, the Roller Coasters (picture) the Sea Lion Show (from the bridge), the Water Park (from the window), Mini-Golf and, of course, the "Ice Palace" Skating Rink. There were so many people... almost too many people. That can make things frustrating.

We had been in contact with my cousins and had decided to meet at Chili's for supper. It turned out that my cousins were going to the same game so we were able to eat and travel to Rexall Place for the game together. They told us all about the benefits of having "Club Seats" and the perks that came with them. We were able to go down and watch the Oilers go out for warm up, we got a picture in front of the Oilers' dressing room door, we had our own consessions and lounge areas, etc. It was such a different and amazing experience and I'm so glad that we were able to do that together.

We watched the game and, unfortuantely, the Oilers lost to the Capitals but Jeremy was able to see his favourite player (Mike Green, Washing Capitals #52) play. I was so glad that I could see him that happy. It was just so good to share that with him.

We took a picture after the game of us in front of the rink. This is where our seats were. They were so good.

We also got the security guard to take a picture of us in front of the Oilers' dressing room door. It was the end to an incredible night!

After the game, we travelled back to my cousin's house, chatted with them for a while and then finally got to bed.


Sunday, December 20, 2009

I slept in in the morning a bit and we all had these cinnamon bites for breakfast (I'm going to have to get that recipe!!) We talked some more before they left for church and we left for Medicine Hat.

The roads weren't as good as they were on the way up but Jeremy is a great driver so we made it without any troubles.

We stopped in Tilley at my parents' house and talked with them a bit also before leaving to go home. They were really excited for us and we're so blessed to have the support of our families!

Rachelle