The Proposal
June 1, 2002
Harrington Beach State Park
Belgium, Wisconsin
Shannon's Version
I was sure that this day would never come. It seemed as though Robert was purposely holding out on me! I awoke this morning to the sound of Robert walking in the door bringing breakfast. He just had a new haircut, which was VERY strange considering it typically takes WEEKS to convince him he needs to go to the barber shop! He had planned a day at the beach , and had told me all week that we were going to take photos of each other for this website. I figured, okay, but why so urgent? Still, I went along with his plan. He had packed a cooler with water and all of our cameras and 5 rolls of film in a book bag. His only request was that he wanted me to wear a beach hat. So, I did.
We drove north of Milwaukee to a park on the lake shore. We walked along the wooded path to Lake Michigan. There were people scattered along the beach, but not nearly what you would expect for a "perfect" June day. It was about 90 degrees out lakeside and not a grey cloud in the sky. Robert began to set up all the camera equipment as I began to formulate where the pictures would look best. (Later we found that my "eye" for the perfect picture angle was also the perfect place to have shadows in all the pictures!) I asked Robert to go ahead and pose for the camera and the photo shoot began. I started with pictures of just Robert because he wanted plenty of himself to choose from if any turned out badly. He then asked me to pose with him. I put the camera on timer and we posed for about three pictures. As I walked to set the camera again for a timed picture, Robert began to fumble in his pocket and says "Hold on sec, I need to ask you something" He continued:
"I wanted to take you home to do this, but realized we just didn't have the time or money, so I brought you closest I could to beach."
He pulled out of his pocket a beautiful diamond ring and began to place it on my right finger. I then became very apparent to me just how nervous he was and I kindly directed his motion to my left hand. He asked me to marry him and of course, I said yes. My breath was taken away at that very moment...
We finished up our photo shoot and packed up our things. Robert wanted to quickly process the film so we dropped it by the local drug store for one hour processing. He then took me to Barnes and Noble to get a pretty album to put all the pictures from June 1st in. We then ventured to downtown Milwaukee to Riverfest and ate a romantic dinner on the Milwaukee River. We drank wonderful champagne and toasted to our future together. After we finished our dinner the waiter brought up a chocolate raspberry dessert with "congrats" written on the plate with strawberry syrup.
Now, it's later in the evening. I'm sun burnt and suffering horrific allergies.... yet, I'm now an engaged woman.
Shannon Kelley June 1, 2002 10:23pm
My Engagement Ring
Robert's Version
Many people new Shannon and I were practically engaged before I handed her the ring, but the ring made it official and here is my recap of this day, the day I officially proposed to Shannon Kelley to be my wife.
But before we get to June 1st, let's backup a little bit. As some of you know, Shannon and I met in New York City. This would have been my first choice to propose to Shannon, right on the park bench were we kissed by the lagoon, but as fate has it, traveling to NYC, since September 11th, puts a scare in both of us, so I decided against it. My second choice would have been to fly us down to South Carolina and stay at the beach. Again as many of you know, Shannon's first home is the beaches of South Carolina. I would have loved to proposed to her under the moonlight on the beach. Again as fate has it, with her clinicals, we didn't have an opportunity to fly down at the appropriate time that I wanted to propose to her. So this brings us back to a Wisconsin proposal...
Since I only have one chance at a proposal, I had to make it right. Every girl dreams of a romantic proposal, so I had my work cut out for me. I also wanted to propose to her in a traditional style, but how? I had some ideas, such as cooking a nice dinner, and serving her desert, such as a cheesecake, with a "Will You Marry Me?" note under it... or I was going to tie a ribbon with the ring around Jylmay (cat) and have him go up to Shannon... but both of these were good ideas, but, I still wanted something more special.. So I went back to the beach idea....
Since Shannon and I have been planning the wedding even before we were officially engaged, I came up with an Idea that we should go to a beach and make some pictures for this Website. As since the wedding is taking place near a beach the pictures should look like we were at a South Carolina Beach. She bought the idea, so my plan was in motion. On Memorial Day weekend, the weather was terrible, with the only good day being Memorial Day, and because I promised to myself, I would not propose to her on a holiday. Later in the week the weather panned out, Saturday June 1st, 2002 would be 90 degrees and Sunny. A perfect day to go to the beach and propose to the one I love!!!!
I woke up early, and as Shannon's suggested, I went and got my hair cut for the pictures.. I had to make it, like I was interested in getting my picture taken too!! I put the ring in my backpack with my camera equipment. We decided to go to Harrington Beach Park, just north of Milwaukee. Its a pretty secluded beach, nice sand, and kind of looks like an ocean type of beach... just perfect.
After setting up the camera and putting the ring in my pocket, and doing this while trying not to be nervous is very hard and I was extremely nervous. We took a few shots of me, then her, then some of us together. After a picture together, standing right in front of one another, I knew this was my moment. I told her "to wait a minute, I tricked you in coming to this beach, because this was the only way I could get you to a beach like your home, like Myrtle Beach just like you love so much... I want you to be my wife.." I then kneeled down on one knee, pulled the ring out of my pocket and said "Shannon, will you marry me?" She said "YES!!!!".. and as nervous as I was, I tried to put the ring on her right hand, but she very calmly corrected me and put on the correct finger... We then kissed... and that was one of my most happiest moments of my life... The rest of the day just a celebration of our engagement, including a nice dinner near the Milwaukee River, where they gave us a nice Chocolate Raspberry torte with "congrats" written on the plate... A nice finishing touch to a wonderful day.... Shannon is going to be my wife and I couldn't be happier...
Robert Levandowski June 1st,2002 11:15pm
What a day......