March 10, 2008

Some people love surprises and others don’t. After recent events, I would have to say that I am one of those people who love surprises. This past week was full of them, and I liked every one! In fact, the biggest surprise of my life happened on Friday night, but we’ll get to that later.

My week of surprises started on my birthday as I woke up early to run some errands before class. My roommate had decorated the apartment for my birthday, and it was so thoughtful! I woke up in kind of a bad mood because I didn’t get much sleep the night before, but this made a wonderful start to my day. It’s so nice to have such a wonderful friend!

The next surprise came after work that day when I went to get into my car. I reached in my pocket for the keys, but they were no where to be found. As I frantically searched my bag, I noticed a slip of paper under my windshield. It said, “I have what you’re missing, call this number.” At first the message scared me a little bit, and then I realized someone had found my keys on the ground and taken the effort to pick them up and leave me a note.

I called the number and spoke to a wonderful man named Andrew. He said he found my keys in the parking lot and thought I might need them. He offered to bring the keys to me, but I insisted on picking them up. My roommate let me borrow her car, and after thanking him profusely, I left thinking how considerate his actions were. While most people would have kept walking, he decided to take a few extra minutes to help someone whom he’d never even met. I don’t know what your definition of generosity is, but his actions have to come close to it.

Those events made my birthday week even more special, and as I left for vacation on Thursday afternoon, I was thinking about what a wonderful week I’d had.

I don’t normally take vacations in the middle of the semester, but Kyle’s family was planning its first family vacation to Branson, Mo., and he invited me to come. I was a little nervous because even though Kyle and I have been dating for almost 3 ½ years, I’ve never been on a trip with his entire family.

It ended up being the most wonderful weekend of my life!

On Friday night, Kyle took me to a beautiful place outside of town that had the prettiest log cabins I’ve ever seen. After looking at a few of them, we came to a bridge that was decorated with white lights. Kyle suggested we get out of the car and walk across it. As we walked and talked he said all kinds of sweet things to me and then he said he had a surprise. Before I knew it, he was down on his knee proposing to me!

I couldn’t believe it was happening, but I was so happy! After asking if he was serious, I said yes and he slipped the ring on my finger. It was a perfect moment, and I loved every bit of it. We spent the rest of the night telling both of our families all about the proposal and taking countless pictures. You would think I’d be tired of the story by now, but I love re-living it!

We haven’t decided when our wedding will be, but I’ll keep you posted!

	Isn’t Kimberly sweet?! This is a picture of me with my birthday decorations.
	As soon as we got back to the cabin on Friday night, Kyle’s sister took this picture of us. Don’t we make a cute couple?!
	Isn’t it beautiful! I told Kyle it was too much, but he said I was worth it.
	The only bad part about a surprise proposal is I didn’t have a camera. So the next night, we went back to take some pictures. This is totally staged, but I think it’s probably how I looked when he proposed. I was so surprised!