“Every winter for as long as Heather and I have been together, I have done a fabulous job of avoiding taking her ice skating. Not to be malicous, I just have never been ice skating before and the thought of my clumsy self on ice skates frightened me! Well, not only were we enagaed on an ice rink, I have now signed myself up for a lifetime of ice skating on December 23rd!
I wanted the expericne of our engagement to be straight out of an ABC FAMILY CHRISTMAS movie and so I needed it to happen in a special place; and what’s more special and more ABC FAMILY CHRISTMAS movie than an ice rink? Heather is a total sucker for an ABC FAMILY CHRISTMAS movie…well, who am I kidding…so am I! So this occasion was going to be as much for me as it was going to be for her.
The proposal arrangements started as early as the summer leading up to Christmas. Tammy, Heather’s mother, had given me her mother’s, Heather’s Nana’s, wedding ring. It didn’t have a rock on it so it was sent down to Tucson, AZ where Tresa, Heather’s aunt, took the ring over to a family jeweler where they were able to fit the perfect emeralds and diamond on it. By the time I got her ring back in early December, I had thought of several ways of proposing to Heather but still hadn’t narrowed down the perfect proposal.
The proposal arrangements started as early as the summer leading up to Christmas. Tammy, Heather’s mother, had given me her mother’s, Heather’s Nana’s, wedding ring. It didn’t have a rock on it so it was sent down to Tucson, AZ where Tresa, Heather’s aunt, took the ring over to a family jeweler where they were able to fit the perfect emeralds and diamond on it. By the time I got her ring back in early December, I had thought of several ways of proposing to Heather but still hadn’t narrowed down the perfect proposal.
One propsal idea involved a night out in our beloved Downtown San Jose. I was going to take her on a walk through Christmas in The Park, which is San Jose’s yearly Christmas festival. Christmas trees from several organizations throught San Jose are displayed, vendors sell hot cocoa and there is even a fake snow machine…..sounds perfect right?? Nope. Next idea involved a night out dancing. Heather and I would hit the dance floor and while we cut a rug, I would spin Heather and as she spun I would drop to one knee. I would be on the floor, ring in an extended hand and I would propose there on the dance floor…..perfect right?? Nope.
Finally, Christmas time arrived and we all gathered at Tammy’s as we do most Holidays. I had a ring that was burning a hole in my pocket and I have not come up with the perfect proposal yet. Then, while thinking of what a cheesy ABC FAMILY CHRISTMAS MOVIE would do, it hit me, ICE SKATING! I would use a similar approach as the dancing proposal: I would fake falling down, which I thought would be the easy part considering that I had never ice skated before. I knew she was a pro so I had to make sure she would be holding my hand as I took a dive. Cole, heather’s older brother had downloaded a song for me that was to play as I proposed, “Making Memories of us” by Keith Urban…if you have ever heard the song, about now you are smiling to yourself thinking, “I love that song.”
Very nonchalantly I suggested to Heather that we go ice skating this Christmas while we visited her mom in Sacramento. Her brother and his girlfriend would be in town from LA and I thought it would be perfect if we all went ice skating, “after all” I told her, “what would be more ABC FAMILY CHRISTMAS MOVIE than ice skating during Christmas time?” All she could do is smile and agree šSunday, December 23rd was a cold and rainy day. The ice rink I had in mind was in Old Folsom, which is about 20 minutes from Tammy’s house in Lincoln They had built a rink around a huge Christmas tree which was set in the Folsom downtown area. Perfect, I thought to myself. Well almost perfect, they were calling for rain all day Sunday in the Sacramento area. We frantically started to call other rinks in the are in order to stay out of the rain, but Heather was hell bent on going to the outdoor ice skating rink…rain or not. How could you blame her, it had been 4 years after and not once had I taken her ice skating, she was going to get the most out of this seemingly one time opportunity…little did she know it would be the first of a lifetime of ice skating trips. So, as a group we decided, “OK, that’s where we are going then.”
As we drove to Folsom, I sat in the back seat directly behind Heather as she drove; I didn’t want her to see how terrified I was. Heather’s brother and his girlfiend rode with us, and as they all joked throughout our car ride, I just sat there staring outside the passenger window. My stomach was in knots and my palms were sweaty. When we arrived in Folsom, I told myself it was “show time”. As a musician who is very shy, I find myself in front of people all the time, so I fight my nerves all the time, “I can do this,” I told myself.
As we all exchanged our warm, cozy shoes for ice skates, the rain started. There we were, the four of us, yeah, only four of us….no one is crazy enough to ice skate in the cold rain at night in December!! After a few times around the rink I began to get the hang of this whole ice skating thing, which was kind of working against me because my dive was probably going look unnatural, but it was raining the entire time were out there, I did NOT want to hit cold, wet ice!
I gave Heather’s brother the nod, which meant he was to go to the DJ to have him play our song. Keith Urban came on that’s when I started to tremble all over from the nerves….and probably a little bit from the fact that we were soaked from the rain and we were ice skating outdoors in December!! I grabbed Heather’s hand and as I did she smiled and told me how much she liked the song……at that moment I thought to myself, “Perfect. This moment right now, is perfect.” Heather’s mom was set up outside the rink, camera in hand and ready to capture the whole thing. On the second time around the huge Christmas tree which sat in the middle of the ice rink we approached the spot where Heather’s mom was set up and as we did I remembered the advice Brian, Heather’s father, gave me when I called him to ask for his blessing, “Danny, when you go to take your dive, tuck in your elbows. I played hockey and your elbows will take a beating.” I don’t know if you know much about ice skating in the cold rain in December in Northern California, but falling down on cold ice with collected pools of cold rain water is something you try really hard to avoid, even if it means throwing someone else down in order to land on them!
As I took my dive and went down I forgot the most important part of my plan….to let go of Heather’s hand. She came tumbling down with me. I called out for Heather’s brother to help Heather up since I needed to remain on the ground if this was going to work, but Heather being the great, loving, helpful self she is, was insisting that she help me up, which is what you do if you are a strong skater–you help the weaker skater up first. After Heather’s brother got the hint of my several requests, he skated over and helped her up. With me still on the cold, wet ice, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small black ring box. As Heaather was still laughing from the fall and still insisting to help me up, she dropped her eyes on what was in my hands. She asked, “What are you doing?” At hearing her question I opened the box, for her to see what was inside it, thinking that maybe it was too dark and she couldn’t see what I was holding After I opened it, gain she asked, “What are you doing?” At this point I’m asking myself, “Yeah, guy what ARE you doing? If she doesn’t know by now…” All this planning put into this proposal and the one thing I didn’t put together was what I was going to say! Once she could see what I was doing, all I could muster was, “Will you marry me?” And as “Making Memories of Us” still played, she said “Yes.”
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