The Day I (Eventually) Said Yes

Saturday, January 24. Jared picked me up at about 7:30 AM to go on a trip. He told me to expect about a 4 hour drive, but left the location a surprise. Eventually, I figured out that we were going to the Outer Banks. We had put that location on our to-do list, but didn't really plan on going there anytime soon. It had been really cold the past week and was supposed to be warmer Saturday, so we were ready for some outside fun.

The first thing we did when we got to the Outer Banks was visit the Bodie Lighthouse and visitor's center. Basically, we walked through the small visitor's center, walked around the lighthouse, took a few pictures, and that was it. Next, we were off to Kitty Hawk, the home of flight, to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial. This place was cool. They have monuments marking where the plane took off (the monorail they used to slide the plan on is still there) and the 3 locations where it landed. Ok, moving on. Next, we went to the Currituck Lighthouse. This lighthouse was closed for the winter, but we were able to sneak in (well...there wasn't much sneaking involved since the gate was unlocked) and walk around the grounds. The groundskeeper or whoever he was that lives there told us about a wildlife center just a short walk from the lighthouse, so we went there next. The woman working there told us that we should come back at sunset because you can sit right on the water in a gazebo and watch the sunset over the sound. (Remember, we're on the east coast, so the sun doesn't set over the ocean.) We thought that sounded pretty fun. We had about an hour before the sun would start setting, so we drove a short way to the beach on the ocean side and walked around for a bit. Jared didn't mind the brisk temperature, but I was freezing so we didn't stay very long. We went back to the sound and took a seat at a gazebo on the water. But first, I snagged this awesome picture of the bridge/walkway.


It was beautiful. It was a cloudy day, so we kept waiting for the sun to peek out from behind the clouds. It was pretty close to disappearing when I finally got up and told Jared I was going to take a picture. So I walked to the edge of the gazebo closest to the horizon and took a few pictures. When I turned around, I saw Jared just a couple feet behind me, on one knee. Jared says I did a double take from his face to the ring and back to his face. I just stood there in absolute shock/surprise/confusion. And then we had a conversation that went like this:

Jared: "Jenn, will you marry me?"
Jenn: "Are you serious?"
Jared: "Yes."
Jenn: "Are you serious?"
Jared: "Yes!"
Jenn: "Are you serious?"
Jared: "YES! I wouldn't joke about this!"
Jenn: "Yes!"

Then we hugged. But rather than soaking in the moment, my mind just kept spinning. 'Was this for real? I feel like I'm being pranked. He's such a jokester, but would he joke about this? Maybe he is joking. Maybe he just wanted to see what I would say so he would be more confident asking me later. Oh gosh, I can't believe I said yes to a fake question. I feel so dumb.' So then we had another conversation that went like this:

Jenn: "Are you serious?"
Jared: "Yes, I'm serious."
Jenn: "Are you serious?"
Jared: "I don't know how else to tell you that I am serious."

Finally, I believed him (sort of) and we took some pictures to commemorate the moment.



Then, we starting our drive back to Raleigh, looking for a place to eat on the way. The Outer Banks thrives with tourists in the summer, but it's pretty dead in the winter, so lots of the restaurants were closed. We finally found a seafood restaurant called Mako Mike's and ate there. While the decor was...odd (think cruise ship/children's play area/80s interior decorating), it had a comfy, vacationy (touristy) feel to it and the crab legs were delicious.

So...we're getting married June 6 in Dallas. And now you are all up to date and in the know.