Shane & Jeff

 …. Will you marry me… ?   Maybe.. yes… That is how it went, but let me rewind to the day before. October 3, 2009 (Los Angeles) – We are on our way to the airport after picking up Tine from a wedding. “Everyone got their passport?” Jeff cringes in his seat and blurts out a big “F”. I forgot to pack it. Normally it’s in my suitcase but it was cleaned out from a previous trip. So, I’m scrambling to find someone to go get my passport and meet me at LAX, but Gary was in SD and my parents were in Vegas. Jim was home and ready to go, but he had no key to my place. So Jim drove to my place anyways and was ready to break the window to get it. At this time, Tine was calling to see how much it would cost to change our flight. Mind you I was very nervous already. The passport must have slipped my mind considering I had another particular item in my pocket that I was focusing more on. So we arrived at the airport and found nobody in line at V Australia. We were plenty early and were a bit confused. So we continued to check in as I was trying to figure out how I get my passport to the airport. At first, I was not able to check in because they switched my flight. After some searching, they said they put me on a Delta flight and never informed me. Once that was taken care of, we were then told that our seats have been given away. Before we could make a gesture, they said we can put you on tomorrow’s flight and will compensate you $800 EACH for changing. We looked at each other with puzzled faces, but the misfortune of me not having my passport became a fortune. Instead of paying to change our flight because of my missing passport, we were going to get paid to switch to the next day. The manager then proceeded and gave us each envelopes, which we thought were our tickets for the next day. To our surprise, we found eight $100 bills in each. This was only the beginning. In order to keep us all seated together, they had to upgrade us to Business Class. This was not your normal business class. It was our own SUITE. So we left the airport lucky as can be with $800 each and gitty about flying Business Class all the way to Australia. October 4, 2009 (Los Angeles) – After a nervous night’s sleep (mind you, I still had the ring), we started our way to the airport. On the way, we decided to get dinner at a Chinese restaurant. At the end of the meal we got our usual fortune cookies and we each shared ours messages. Mrs. Wen stated something about a close family friend soon getting married. Mine mentioned something about a new rewarding proposition. Shane’s message however was very unique. “You will soon receive pleasant news of a personal nature”. For whatever reason, Shane decided to keep this fortune, not knowing how pleasant the news would be. October 6, 2009 (Sydney, Australia) – After a relaxing 14-hour flight, stretched out in Business Class beds we finally landed in Australia. We walked around the city and visited a few key landmarks like the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. As we reach the end of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, we decide to walk up the pylon. Shane is completely exhausted after walking across the bridge and has no idea why we would pay to go up. When we get to the top, I make a quick stop at the bathroom to shake off some nerves and get ready for the most memorable moment of my life. We begin by taking pictures of both the bridge and opera house and Tine and I find the best angle to capture the moment. Suddenly other visitors disappear and we have the whole area to ourselves. With a confused look, Tine whispers to me, “Are you going to do it?” I take a deep breath and prepare my stance. Shane and I take a picture with the Sydney Harbor Bridge behind us and then I begin to recite a poem that I wrote. Laughing in embarrassment, Shane starts to listen to the words and realizes that this is the moment she has been waiting for. Tine continues to take pictures to ensure that she captures the moment perfectly. I finish my poem with the following verse… ... I’m going to get down ... On one knee, … and simply ask, … will you marry me? Her first response was “maybe”, but then she replies with a happy “yes”. I proceed to put the ring on her finger and we embrace with cheer. As we all celebrate this special moment, Shane remembers her fortune cookie message and pulls it out and smiles. She can’t believe her fortune has come true. With the shiny ring on her finger, we enjoyed the rest of our vacation in Australia and had the time of our life. We emailed our family and setup a website to show them pictures of the occasion. We’re so thankful for Tine being there to capture the moment and for our families embracing our engagement. Shane and I are excited for the union of our families and the future we are about to begin.