Nine years ago...

St. Patrick's Day is almost upon us. I have never celebrated in Savannah, Chicago, or any other city with green rivers and green beer. I barely even remember to wear green.


But one March 17th, many years ago, is one I will never forget... and it has absolutely nothing to do with St. Patty's day.

Nine years ago, I said yes. On March 17th, 2002, I became a fiancee. Steve surprised me with a creative and thoughtful proposal, asking me to become his wife.

We spent two days at Disney World in Orlando. The first evening we were on our own, enjoying the sights and watching the Epcot night show. The following day, Steve's family met us at The Magic Kingdom for another magical day. I was hoping for a proposal, but the time came to leave and I was still without a ring. So I let the wish pass... again.

On the drive back to Atlanta, we had plans to eat dinner with a friend. On our way there, Steve wanted to stop by the beach. We drove onto the sand and took a brief walk along the ocean. As I paused to wipe my feet with a towel, Steve approached me with an object in his hand. Looking closer, I noticed it was a bottle. A bottle with a message inside.

Steve urged me to read the message. At first I argued, thinking it was a silly souvenir or some kind of "candid camera" joke. But he convinced me to read it. As I skimmed the parchment-like paper, recognition began to dawn on me. This poem, a tale of a young woman and man, sounded awfully familiar. And sure enough, it was a poem about us. About our date at a pizza parlor, our 3-year relationship, and finally, about our future. It took but a moment to realize what the poem meant. I looked over at Steve, down on a knee in the sand.

"Are you kidding me?!?", I exclaimed in astonishment.

He asked me to make a promise. A promise to become his wife. A promise to live my life next to him. To eventually become the mother of his children.

Obviously, I said YES!

As we left the beach, I was already making plans for a weekend away. I was disheartened that we were only a few hours away from our apartments with work looming the next morning. I wanted to stop time and enjoy my engagement moment. As we drove towards Steve's friends' house (or so I was told), I saw interesting signs. Signs for Amelia Island. We crossed a bridge. Signs for the Ritz Carlton. We turned towards those signs every time. We weren't headed towards Jacksonville! I looked to the driver's seat and noticed a distinct grin on Steve's face. We weren't going home! He had one more night of vacation planned for us. He had already cleared the extra day off work with my boss. He had already made dinner reservations. He already packed my swimsuit to make sure we could relax in the pool and hot tub that evening. This man knew me so well, and he wasn't going to deny me an extended break from reality to soak in the idea that I was getting married!

Thus, our official story began. We married 10-1/2 months later. Now we've been married for eight years. He's still my best friend. And our favorite little girl is about to turn three.

I'm a lucky girl.