Our Engagement Story

Alright, alright we will tell the story....

If you just want the short version: Over Labor Day weekend, Eric surprised me and asked me to marry him on his grandparents boat, on a lake in Minnesota, after I found a bottle with a love message in it from him.

And if you prefer details here is the Real Story:

Eric and I were about to end a wonderful three day weekend with his family over Labor Day weekend. I had been on the longest bike ride of my life with the girls (close to 4 hours, but I Loved every second of it), and Eric had been waiting for me to get back. Earlier that day, he asked me if I'd like to go fishing one last time that evening. So when I got back he said we still had time to go fish for a while before dinner.

We got his grandpa's boat out on the lake and Eric asked me if I wanted to grab a pole and throw a line out while he drove the boat. I was tired from the long bike ride, so I told him I'd rather sit and just enjoy the last time out on the lake. He seemed a little disappointed...since his original plan was for me to somehow catch the bottle on my hook, lure it in, and read his love message. So Eric started stalling, trying to think how he would pull off plan B: distract me, throw the bottle overboard and have me notice it so he didn't have to say, "Oh Michelle look at that bottle, we should pick it up." Thankfully, because he is so lucky, and I am so oblivious he did not have to do that.

So plan B: Eric said we should race across the lake before sunset and while we did this, I should pick out my favorite house on the shore. Now that I am distracted, Eric quickly and nervously throws the bottle overboard with the message in it. I heard a Loud ‘Clank’ and thought we ran over something so I asked Eric what the noise was. He said it was just his hand that hit the windshield. Really it was the bottle hitting the side of the boat!! Eric then circled around and stopped the boat so that the bottle was in clear sight just behind him. Now he was really getting nervous, how would he get me to notice the bottle without lamely pointing it out? He mentions how clear the water was, so I start looking, and how could I miss this big champagne bottle bobbing right in front of me?!? I started thinking who would litter that big glass bottle in the lake? You aren't even supposed to have glass on the beach, its dangerous! Then started feeling guilty for not taking initiative to pick it up, and thought my mom would make me pick that bottle up if she were here. So I said to Eric,” Don’t you think we should pick that bottle up?” Oh yes, Eric was relieved!!

I got the fishing net and scooped the bottle out of the water. I then proceeded to pretend like we just caught a BIG ONE, and started waving the fishing net in the air in front of Eric. While I was fighting to keep this violently strong fish in the net, I was also talking like his grandpa Bob had the day before, when he got excited from catching fish. Eric was just staring at me like what is she doing with my bottle! So I then put the bottle down and when I looked at it I saw there was a message in it!!!

I started yelling, “Oh my gosh Eric!!! There is a message in this bottle!!! I have ALWAYS wanted to find a message in a bottle!!!” He was very excited too. He realized his plan B has worked, and I was completely oblivious and he was just loving it! So he opened it and said you read it. When I unrolled it I saw a long list starting with ‘I like......’ filling up the whole page. I was disappointed and said, “Ah it’s just somebody’s love note to someone!” I was disappointed because I was actually hoping it was some kind of S.O.S. or treasure map.... Eric laughed at my disappointment and told me to read it to him. I started reading the note, and it wasn’t until the 7^th line when I read “I like when you call me Mr.” Suddenly I thought, that’s weird, I call Eric sometimes... I turned to tell Eric and he was down on his knee with the ring and I yelled, “Oh my gosh you have got to be kidding me!!”

Eric calmed me down from yelling exclamations like “NO way!” because I was so surprised, said very sweet things to me asked me to marry him and I said yes.

There are also so many things that happened in the weeks, days, and hours before this story. And many people were involved in helping this all come together and still stay a surprise. So, I just want to say thank you again, and I LOVED the team effort and often smile and laugh when I think of what was going on behind the scenes and why this person said this, or why that person did that, haha it’s just great.

Thanks, we love you.