The Engagment

So I'm engaged! This whole past week has been spent in Chicago, spending time with Savannah's (and now I guess my) family. One day was set aside for us to spend a romantic day in the city. I didn't have much of a plan. All I had was a description Savannah gave me a couple months ago of her perfect day. She wanted to eat at a diner (we love greasy spoons), go to a farmer's market, and spend the rest of the day on the beach. Seeing how we were in the city, the diner to eat at was obvious. Lou Mithchell's is regarded as the best diner in all of the Midwest and arguably, the world.


Breakfast was delicious. I had a spinach and feta omelet and Savannah had a Greek sausage omelet. If you go to eat there, don't worry about going home hungry. They give you an orange and plum before your meal comes, a skillet loaded with good food as an an entree, then a small dish of vanilla ice cream for dessert. Ice cream for breakfast. I know that's not a full sentence, but it just needed to be reiterated. What would Wilford Brimley think?


We left the diner and started walking northeast. We knew we wanted to end up at the beach, but we had no clue what to do in the mean time. I knew we were going to miss out on her farmer's market to make her perfect day, but I figured 2 out of 3 things would have to work. If you know me at all, you know I hate touristy kitchy junk, but for some reason I wanted to go to the Skydeck in the Sears Tower. It doesn't get any more touristy than that. We started walking toward the Sears and before us I see a farmer's market is at the base of the Sears. What are the chances of that? I took that as a sign from the God that this was meant to be the day I asked Savannah to be my wife.

The last thing to do was to head to the beach. On the way, we were getting pretty hot and dehydrated. So we stopped by a small pub to cool off(another favorite thing of ours to do.) I had a few sips of my beer before managing to spill Guinness all over my shorts. I was too nervous and anxious to concentrate on something as simple as putting the rim of a glass to my mouth. We walked to the east towards the beach from the pub. Somehow, I convinced Savannah to walk out onto the beach fully clothed. I knew my rouse couldn't last much longer, so I handed my camera to a random guy on the beach, whispered to him I was about to propose and asked him to take as many pictures as he could over the next few minutes. I didn't know I handed the camera to Stevie Wonder until later that night. This is one of a few usable pictures from that special moment. Regardless, the memories are with me forever. I did get down on one knee soon after this picture was taken (before I get any angry emails) and I asked Savannah to be my wife. She got choked up and said yes. The whole ordeal is more like a series of snapshots rather than a continuous story. I remember getting down on one knee, not being able to get into my pocket fast enough to find the ring, hugging Savannah with both of us on knees in the sand, and a beach full of people clapping, cheering, and pumping their fists in the air. The public attention was not intended, I was hoping to find a private spot on the beach, but anyone on a public beach in Chicago in good weather knows that's just not an option. It turned out to make the moment just a little more special. Within 10 minutes we were both on our cell phones talking to our parents (a definite sing of the times) and I was flooding her with all the stories and stresses of the past month of planning. It was an incredible day that could not have possibly been improved in any way.