Answered Prayers

              It was a chilly Saturday morning a year ago. I had been suspecting this was coming for a few weeks now, but I just didn’t know when it would happen. My parents could tell you that I paced around the house for at least a week before then. I just knew he would ask today! But what if he didn’t? And how would he do it? And when? I probably walked a hole in the floor with all the wondering I had about today. Hunter asked if I wanted to go to Pier Park on Panama City Beach and of course my mind started reeling after that. I knew he would do it somewhere special, somewhere that meant a lot to the both of us. That’s Hunter and it’s one of the many things I love about him. We had said “I love you” for the first time on the PCB pier, so that’s why I questioned that this would be the day!

               So, on the morning of the 31st, my mom and I picked up Hunter and headed to the beach. My mom wanted to spend some time with her mother, so that’s why she went with us. Plus her being there adds a lot to the story 🙂 We arrived at my grandmother’s house and weren’t there very long before Hunter and I left for the beach.

               Let me just pause here and give you some insight into my mind at this moment. I totally had this figured out in my mind. I know that some girls would just want to be surprised (and don’t get me wrong, I did), but I just knew he would ask me today, at SUNSET on the beach. So, because of that I wasn’t in a huge hurry to leave and head to Pier Park. I figured we had hours before Hunter had anything planned.

              Ok, back to the story…while at my grandmother’s house still, I stepped out of the room for a bit. My mom took that time to hand the keys over to Hunter so that he could drive. I didn’t really think much of it when I came back into the room, because I was already on cloud nine. (For someone who thought she had everything figured out, I was missing a lot of key details. Because I figured he would wait until sunset, I didn’t think much of anything at this point.) Before leaving my grandmother’s house, I asked Hunter if he wanted to go to Kohl’s first. We were going shopping at Pier Park all day anyway, so it shouldn’t have been a problem. However, he suggested that we not do that first off. Me, being completely oblivious asks, “Why? We’re going shopping anyway. And Kohl’s is on our way there, so it would just make more sense to go there first.” Hunter was adamant about going to the beach though. So, I just let it go and proceeded to play music in the car until we got closer to the beach. About the time we arrived at Pier Park, I suggested we park in the Target parking lot since it was closer to all the stores we like the most anyway. Hunter didn’t like that idea, and again I asked “Why?”. He said he’d rather park closer to the beach. So, I’ll admit I got a little frustrated and said, “Fine. Park wherever you want to park.” Apparently he didn’t like any of my ideas this morning 🙂

             You’d think I’d be picking up on all these hints by now, but nope! It’s all going right over my head! So, we park right by the beach and the PIER (another hint!). All the while I was wondering, I don’t know why we’re parking all the way out here. All of our favorite stores are all the way on the other side of the mall. We get out of the car and start walking towards the crosswalk to the other side of the road where all the stores were. We get to the crosswalk and I turn towards the road, while he turns and pulls me towards the pier. So I said, “Why are we going on the pier?” (Really Allison?) He just calmly replies, “I just thought it would be nice day to walk out here since we haven’t been in awhile.” And I’m just thinking, Oh that’s so sweet! (Ok, most people would’ve picked up on this by now). We walked a little ways down the pier, and I’m completely oblivious to the fact that Hunter has just spotted his two friends Will and Lucas (who I’ve heard about, but never met at this point). Hunter didn’t know that I had never seen them, so he casually says, “I wonder if there are any jellyfish in the water today!”, and pulls me over to the side to look. (The last time we were on the pier, we saw a ton of them.) And me getting really excited and not seeing the big picture says, “Oooh yeah! Let’s look!” While I’m looking for jellyfish, Hunter is moving us past his friends so I wouldn’t see them. I’m still looking, so in order to get me moving along Hunter says that it’s too cold for jellyfish. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know but it kept me moving.

              We walk about 3 quarters of the way down the pier and we start talking about which bench we were sitting on when we first said we loved each other. When we finally reached THE bench, Hunter stops and we reminisce about that day for a bit. Then he hugs me (here’s the big picture: My back is to the beach where Will and Lucas are walking towards us. Hunter is motioning for them to walk faster while he’s hugging me, because he’s ready to ask me!). I’m just thinking we’re having a romantic moment in front of our bench (which we were, but the hug held two purposes). When he draws back, he gets really serious when he starts talking. I’m trying to listen and then these two guys walk up right beside us and start filming us! That obviously distracted me and I’m wondering who these two random strangers are that are both holding their phones up taking pictures! Then, Hunter drops to one knee…and it all comes together in that one instant. HE’S PROPOSING RIGHT NOW!! All my attention goes to him as he asks the one question that all girls wait their whole life for…”Allison, will you marry me?” And then he pulls out the most gorgeous and perfect ring (I guess all those Pinterest hints paid off!). I’ve told myself for years that I would not cry, but that was all for naught because I definitely teared up. Of course I said YES!

              After about 30 minutes of calling all of our family, Hunter says “Now we can go shopping…for our engagement photo outfits!”

              I really thought I had it all figured out and I that I had ruined the surprise for myself. And he thought I had it figured out too! Little did I know that just about everything would go over my head and fall into place to be the perfect proposal. It was one of the best days of our lives and I can’t help but think that Hunter has definitely been an answer to my prayers.