Our Story- Miranda’s Version
In May 2021 I received an undeliverable letter notification in my mailbox that was not for me.. I attempted to take it to the address listed, but the house number did not exist. Before throwing it out, I decided to search for the name on my neighborhood Facebook page. I found him and sent a message with a picture of the slip and asked where I could drop it off. He let me know he was out of town for his brother’s wedding, but his roommate was home so I could swing by & leave it with him. He later sent me another message thanking me and said he’d like to bring me a bottle of wine when he got back to town.
Then almost two weeks had passed and he never reached back out. During this time I had (obviously) Facebook stalked him and thought he was cute and around my age, but wasn’t sure if he was single. On Memorial Day I was hanging out with Lauren (my MOH) and she convinced me to message him again and ask what happened to that bottle of wine. He got back to me quickly with an apology and asked if I preferred red or white and if he could bring it over that Saturday. I told him I’d prefer to meet somewhere public so we planned to meet at The Grove at 7pm that Saturday, June 5th.
Our “I’m not sure if this is a date” shared bottle of wine turned into a 3 hour dinner of non-stop talking and laughing. We traded numbers and started texting daily. Unfortunately he had to be in California for a few weeks, but we stayed in contact. When he got back it was July 2nd and I invited him over to meet Charlie, my dog, and they fell in love immediately. His friends were having a 4th of July get together at their house the next day and he invited me to come. Even though it was outside my comfort zone, I decided to go and I’m so glad I did! I immediately felt comfortable with all his friends and had a great time. As I was leaving that night, we had our first kiss, which was interrupted by fireworks causing us to burst out laughing. I think that was the moment we both knew this was special.
Prologue:
My forgetfulness was definitely a key factor in how we came to be in a relationship. If I hadn't forgotten to buy her a bottle of wine for returning my mail, I wouldn't have taken her on our very first date to The Grove (she didn't want to give me her address since there was a possibility of being a serial killer). We immediately hit it off and spent 3 hours drinking wine, telling stories, interviewing each other, and laughing the night away.
Location:
Fast forward to the planning. As many of you know, our family loves wine and every time Miranda & I talked or visited with Pops & Gail we would discuss "improving" Miranda's pallet by trying out new/fun wines. It became a trend with our family and Miranda that we would take her to different wineries/vineyards for fun and in doing so I knew that a wine vineyard was the place I wanted to "pop the question".
I received help from multiple family members on picking out vineyards for the trip. Everyone was extremely supportive and excited about this! One vineyard stood out to me; it had a separate deck that overlooked Willamette Valley. I immediately knew this was the winery & location I wanted to propose. After contacting the winery and melting a few of the staff's hearts with the story of how we met; they were extremely accommodating in making sure I was set up for success.
The Ring:
I have never purchased jewelry before so this was an adventure to say the least. Miranda works from home so how was I supposed to find out her ring size? One of the ring shops let me borrow a metal ring sizer gauge. I then had to wait until she was asleep to pull out this massive metal icicle that I had been hiding, out of my work bag, then to grab her college alumni ring and measure her finger size. Then I rushed to put the ring gauge back into my work bag and pretend I was not up to anything conspicuous.
Shopping for an engagement ring can be a bit stressful, but when I saw this ring I immediately knew it was the one. Phew!
Location for proposal: Check!
Ring for proposal: Check!
Now how in the heck and I supposed to keep this all a secret and also keep this ring hidden for a few months?!
The Proposal:
Finally it was time for our trip and I think that she already knows I am going to propose. She also almost found the ring multiple times! We are about to board our flight to Portland for our weekend wine trip with my family and the flight attendant says they have to check my bag...It has the ring in it! I had to play it cool and calmly say I need to bring my bag on the plane with me; they refused and said I have to check it since there is no more space. Cold sweat and 3.5 hour flight we finally land in Portland. Where is my suitcase?! We waited and waited... her suitcase came, but not mine. Finally, after a few more minutes my suitcase showed up... Miranda is looking at me all weirded out since I may have been a little too excited to see my suitcase. Play it cool Mitch!
I couldn't trust leaving the ring in my luggage just in case Miranda needed to get something out of it so I carried the ring with me the entire trip; swapping pockets and making sure she didn't see the ring. This was a VERY bad idea since I just wanted to get it over with and ask her at every place we went to. We went to some incredible places so this was very difficult to keep it together. Tulip farms, hiking through waterfalls, bookstores...they were all very tempting, but I held it in and stuck to the plan.
The day of, we picked the proposal vineyard as the second location since we all know Miranda can get a bit "saucy" after the second winery. I played it off to Miranda that the second vineyard doesn't offer food so my sister Monique and her family are bringing everyone lunch. In order to eat our food we have to take it to this area away from the tasting room and it's a like a 3 minute walk through some trees.
We all start walking to this designated area for "lunch", but Miranda is the only person that thinks that is the only reason we are going to this random spot on the vineyard. Miranda & I are walking in front of my entire family, my right hand is clenching the ring box in my right pocket...slowest walk of my life. We get to the overlook and walk up the stairs; Miranda is struck with the pretty views and immediately puts her glass of wine on the deck wall to start taking photos. While she is distracted I look back to my family as they are all waiting in anticipation...Here we go!
I walk over to her and grab her hands...I had written and practiced a speech for months...it all went out the window and I shot from the hip. I get down on one knee and I ask her...response: "Absolutely!!" She said that and I totally forgot to pull out the ring, so I pulled out the ring and placed it on her finger. Everything in the world disappeared at that moment except for me and her.