My absolute favorite summer evening activity is to take a trip out to the Berkshires. This region in MA is the summer retreat of the Boston Pops Orchestra, where they perform outdoors at Tanglewood. Laying out under the stars hearing the orchestra play beautiful classical pieces is so relaxing and peaceful...and oh so romantic! It was my secret dream to get engaged out in Tanglewood. Well, secret until the summer of 2006 when I blurted it out to some friends who came to Tanglewood with me that year. Sigh, me and my big mouth.
Fast forward 2 years. I had met Mr. Latte by then and things were getting serious. I had always wanted to take him to Tanglewood, but he was just never in Boston at the right time. Early that summer, some friends and I made plans to go to a Tanglewood concert before the summer wound down. We picked a Saturday night in late August and bought our tickets. I had asked Mr. Latte to come along, but he had a prior work commitment so he had to stay in CA that weekend. I made him promise to take me one day in the future.
That summer was busy, busy, busy! One highlight was the wedding of my little brother. While out in Dallas for the wedding, someone I had just met mentioned that she had heard that I loved Tanglewood. Eh? I thought it was a strange fact to know about me, but I let it go and didn't think too much of it...or did I???
The summer was quickly coming to a close and I began to accept the fact that we weren't going to be engaged that summer. I had already seen Mr. Latte twice during those summer months, and we didn't have any set plans to see each other again until the fall. The Tanglewood weekend was coming up, and although I still thought about the strange comment made in Dallas, I didn't allow myself to get worked up over it. I knew that Mr. Latte was out of town for a work retreat and wouldn't be able to fly out that weekend.
While chatting with Mr. Latte the day before our Tanglewood outing, he mentioned that he wouldn't be accessible later that night because of a scheduled work event. Hmm...I thought it was strange, but believable. Later that night, before going to bed, I called Mr. Latte's phone to leave him a voicemail...OK FINE. I really called to see if his phone would ring, or go straight to voicemail. We all know that if a phone goes straight to voicemail, it means that it's OFF. And we only turn off our phones when we're on an airplane. So yes, I was doing some investigative work. And YES, his phone went straight to voicemail. So I immediately logged onto jetblue.com (i love "jetting") to check out the flight schedules for that night, secretly hoping that he was on the red-eye coming out to surprise me.
The next morning, my friends and I drove over to the Berkshires and hung out in the area before the concert. We checked out some museums and ate lunch...and the entire time, Mr. Latte called and texted me telling me about his day. Hmm...maybe he really is in CA?!? I tried to get a read from my friends but they were acting normal. Except for that one time when they immediately stopped talking when I walked over to them. Hmm...maybe he really is here?!?
A couple of hours before the concert was to start, we headed out over to the field to save our spots on the lawn. We read magazines, snacked a little bit, and (I) kept my eyes and ears WIDE open for any suspicious behavior. As time passed, however, I began to let go of all hope that Mr. Latte would be surprising me with a proposal that day. And that's when the frustration and impatience set in.
While waiting for my friend to use the bathroom, I called Mr. Latte and took out my frustrations on him. I don't remember what I said to him, but I'm sure it was along the lines of how I was sick and tired of waiting for him to propose, and reminding him that I needed an adequate engagement period to plan our wedding. Not the nicest things to say, but I was definitely fired up. My attemps to keep my expectations low for that day had failed miserably and I was tired and cranky from walking around all day. And I may have (inadvertently) hung up on Mr. Latte when my friend finally walked out of the bathroom.
She told me that another friend had just arrived, and that we needed to help her carry her bags. When we got there, I started to pick up some bags when Mr. Latte called once again. I was still pretty angry and started to walk away from my friends. When I got to a big tree, I turned around and saw Mr. Latte walking towards me!
(peek-a-boo! mr. latte coming around the tree)
I was shocked!!! I had been on the lookout for him all day...and when I had finally resigned myself to the fact that he wasn't going to be there, POOF, THERE HE WAS! I was pretty speechless as he walked me over to a more private area...I think I kept saying "Why are you here?!?" over and over again.
("why are you here?!?" x10)
The next moments are a complete blur. Mr. Latte said some nice things, and although I don't remember what those nice things actually were, I do remember him repeating the same phrases (I think he was nervous!). He finally got down on one knee, reached into his pocket, took out a ring box and opened it to reveal...a purple plastic ring! A WHA? We had joked for a long time that he would get me a ring pop for the proposal, but when a ring pop wouldn't fit in the box, he went with a plastic ring. Lovely. What was lovelier, however, was the ring in the 2nd box he pulled out of his pocket. :)
(wish i had a tape recorder that day...)
(mr. latte down on one knee)
By this time, my brain had stopped working. I must've said YES to his proposal because he smiled and was really happy. And we must've walked back over to our friends because we have pictures of it (and of the entire proposal...thanks to our paparazzi friends!). Once my brain started functioning again, I realized that my dream proposal was a reality, and we enjoyed listening to the beautiful music while laying out under the stars. Pure bliss.
(see...brain? off. legs? on.)
(oh tanglewood, how i love thee)
Apparently, my friends and family were in on Mr. Latte's secret since the beginning of the summer and had helped in orchestrating the event. A big HUG and THANK YOU to them and an even bigger one to Mr. Latte!
(we're engaged!)
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