So I thought that I’d write down exactly what happened last Friday, so that I can relive every moment of it, over and over again. It was truly the happiest day of my life!!

It all started Thursday and part of Friday. Thursday Sean started complaining that his stomach was slightly “off” (although later, I think that he might have been telling the truth a little…nerves!). Friday morning we worked at the pool together from 6am-1pm. As the shift progressed, Sean again told me his belly was feeling worse and worse. I was getting worried about him, because his belly had been upset for so long. We were supposed to work at the ambulance from 2-4 that afternoon, for a standby. A couple of weeks ago, Sean said Ben (our boss) asked us if we could do this standby for his dad’s “Mountain Climbing Club” who would be hiking at Indian Hill. It sounded kind of confusing to me, but I totally believed it, because I was more than happy to help Ben out. Plus, I love hiking! So I was excited to possibly have some time outdoors. It also sounded a little fishy. Ben told Sean and I that it was a big favor, and how it would work was that if anyone in the hiking club needed help, they would call Ben on his cell phone, who would in turn call Sean and I on our phone. But Sean played off the fact that he was confused as well, so I went along with it.

So back to the pool…we were finished with our shift and were leaving the pool around 1:10. Sean told me his belly was really really not feeling well…I was asking him all sorts of questions about how he was feeling, and gave him tons of advice on how to make his belly feel better… but Sean then asked me “how mad would you be if I cancelled on our shift this afternoon?” I told him I absolutely would not be mad, I was just worried about him! But I was hoping that his belly would feel better by work, or be willing to tough it out. I rushed home, and was sprinting around getting my uniform ready, and scarfing down some lunch. I was about to walk out the door around 1:40 when Sean texted me saying he just started dry heaving, and asked if I could call Ben to see if he had anyone else who could drive for me. I was still sprinting around, I wasn’t late for that shift though! I called Ben, and he said he would call me back when he figured something out. I got to work, started doing my rig check. At 2 Ben called back and said that Kyle would be able to drive for me. I thought it was veryyyy convienient that Kyle just happened to be available to work, but I was just happy I got to do the standby. I was texting Sean, asking him lots of questions about how he was feeling, and soon he said he was going to try to sleep for a bit.

So then from about 2-3:40, I was just plowing away at some homework, kind of hoping I’d get to take a call on the trails so I’d get to go outside. But then when Ben called Kyle at 3:40 (20 minutes before the end of our shift!) and said there was somebody at the top of the trail who needed checked out, I was kinda annoyed that I’d be getting out late. So Kyle and I got to Indian Hill, and were met by this creepy guy who asked if we had a second. So I thought that he was our patient, but apparently he just wanted to chat about cross country skiing. So I told him that we had someone to check out at the top of the hill. I also thought it was slightly odd that there were only two cars there, but I figured that maybe everyone else just left, except the injured guy. We took the med bag (thankfully Kyle was kind enough to carry it) and made our way allll the way up to the top of the hill, to a clearing. I saw two men standing at the top, one wearing an ambulance Condor jacket, and the other one in dress clothes. I saw the one in dress clothes take off his jacket and place it on the ground (I thought he was putting it on top of a cold patient laying on the ground!). I then recognized Tyler as being the one in the Condor jacket, but it made sense in my mind because I figured he just decided to first respond to the trail, since he lives nearby. Plus he likes doing that!

But then….. I recognized Sean as being the one in dress clothes (he was so handsome by the way)…. And it clicked… From then on, it was kind of a blur. I was so happy, and surprised!!! Sean had a mini speech, and then he got down on one knee…pulled out a little black box, and asked me to marry him. And of course I said yes!!! It felt like a dream, I can’t even describe how happy I was, and how I am right now! The ring was exactly what I wanted, it’s so perfect.

And I’m amazed I did not suspect anything! I guess my entire family knew, everyone at the base knew… Sean had been such a gentleman and went to talk to my parents two weeks ago, and asked permission. What a southern gentleman! And I had proof that I did not suspect a thing. I had only showered that morning at 4:45am before work at the rec, I had let my hair air-dry and it looked awful, and my nails were short and awful because of clinicals. But I honestly did not care, I was too entirely happy. Oh, and apparently Kyle has everything videotaped, from when we left the base, until we were about to hike back down the trail. He and Tyler were in on everything, Kyle was actually waiting at Sean’s apartment already in uniform for Ben to call him after I called Ben to let him know Sean was “sick”. And now I am so extremely excited about everything! We are planning on our wedding date being in May 2014.  I am so excited to spend the rest of forever with Sean! 

So I'm guessing that, after you've read Jessica's description of everything that happened on this wonderful day, you've got a pretty good picture of the proposal from her view. Here's what happened on my end. The first part of this is the planning stages. The proposal day begins with the paragraph that starts with “The day of…”

The planning started around late October/early November. I went out one day to look at rings while Jess was in class. I had walked into Kay Jewelers at Eastview Mall just to look around. The guy asked me what she wanted. Jess and I had looked at rings online and she had given me an idea of what she wanted. I described it exactly how she had described it to me: "White Gold, round cut and a thin band (with or without diamond accents around it)." We walked over to another area of the store and he pulled out a ring. That was it. That was the ring. I sat there in shock for a few seconds thinking, "no... there's no way. This can't be it...." But it was. THAT was the perfect ring. To make sure, I looked at a few others that were similar and none of them stood out. I thought about it for 20 or 30 minutes and I decided that it was too perfect for me to not buy it. So I did. 

I immediately went to Perinton Ambulance (where Jess and I both work and where we met). I went to Ben, my boss, and I said, "Ben, let's chat." I had asked him for a personal favor a few weeks prior, but had never told him what that personal favor was. We chatted about it and he agreed to help me out. We set a date. Perfect. Jess is off that day and she'll probably want a couple of easy hours of work. Then we set the back story. The Adirondack Mountain Club is doing a training exercise at Indian Hill that day (which happens to be where Jess and I had out first date) and they want an ambulance on standby. Even better. Ben said he would try to get a fake e-mail to send to us. But first, I have to convince Jess to do the standby. This proved even easier than I thought it would be.

A couple of days after Ben and I talked, I said to Jess, "hey, Ben asked me if you and I would cover a standby for him. It's close to the end of November. I'm not exactly sure when and where it is yet though." She asked a few questions about it, but I played dumb and told her that I didn't know the details of the standby, just that we were asked to cover it, if at all possible. I told her that Ben thought it would be something that her and I would enjoy doing since it would be an outdoor standby. Jess agreed to do it, so long as it was on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. After a week or so, I told her that it was on November 30th from 1200-1400. This ended up being switched to 1400-1600 due to some scheduling conflicts explained later in this.

The second weekend in November, I went to the mountains with Jess and her family. I thought this would be a great time to talk to her parents. I do, after all, need their permission... We went to the mountains as planned and had a great time. I just couldn’t find a good time to pull them aside and chat with them. I needed to figure out something else.... and fast! As some of you know, I had a very busy November. Three out of four of the weekends, I was out of town. I decided to try and e-mail her parents just to set up a time. I did this on November 19th and they actually said that I could come over that night if I wanted to.

The chat was easy. Jess was at work at the Rec, so I didn't have to worry about her being there. I walked in, nerves causing my stomach to churn. Mr. and Mrs. Nemeth met me at the door. We joked about a few things, chatted about some other things and there was a pause. They both looked at me inquiringly. It's now or never. "I came over to ask permission" were the exact words that came out of my mouth. Smiles spread across both of their faces and her mom asked me if I was a Southern Gentleman. I kinda laughed it off, saying "I guess you could say that." Before I could start any of the speech I had prepared, Mrs. Nemeth simply said, "Well, yes." I think I sat there for a few seconds trying to take in what had just happened. I couldn't believe that it was really THAT easy. And I told them so. "Wow, you guys made that a lot easier on me than I thought it would be..." They asked me a few more questions, we joked and laughed about a few more things and I left. Talk about being excited! I couldn't believe this was actually happening. The next week and a half went about as slowly as slow gets. It seemed to drag. I was getting more and more nervous as the days passed. This was something that Jess and I had talked about for a bit, but it was actually happening. I was actually going to propose! 

The day of... I managed to actually sleep the night before. Not sure how, but I did. Jess and I had to work together that morning at the Rec Center. For those that don't know, we're both lifeguards there. We worked 0600-1300. During the shift, I was telling Jess how my belly just wasn't right- like something was wrong with it. I had started with this "complaint" the night before to make it more believable. I knew it would be easy to convince her that I was having stomach issues since I have them fairly frequently. So that day, Jess was asking me questions about our "standby." I had to figure out how to continue to play stupid. Ben had sent us e-mails apologizing for a change in the times for the standby and had explained that the standby would have to be worked from the base. I had made sure that everybody working that day knew what was happening and wouldn't ask questions about it. Jess was trying to figure out how everything was going to work and I told her that I wasn't completely sure and that I would have to talk to Ben one more time before we got there. She went with it. By the time we left the Rec to go to our respective homes and get ready for our standby, my feigned illness was coming along quite well. I was feeling quite nauseated and wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the standby. Jess seemed worried, but continued to go with it. We went our separate ways. 

I called my buddy Kyle on the way home. He was a fairly large part in this planning process. He hopped into his car and met me at my place. We went over all the last minute planning and I gave him my camera to record everything. Around 1340, I put my next move out on the table. Text message to Jess: "I just started dry heaving. I need you to call Ben and tell him I can't work." Hook, Line and Sinker. Ben texts me to let me know he received the phone call.  He waited a few minutes and called Jess back to let her know that Kyle would cover the driver portion, but that he would be late. Kyle left my apartment around 1405 and went screaming into Perinton Ambulance.

Now to get ready. I cut my nails (quite poorly since I was shaking a bit from nerves), shaved and showered. I grabbed my already pressed white button down and black shoes and headed south. I stopped by the dry cleaners to pick up my pants and by Dunkin Donuts to get my other buddy Tyler and I some Hot Chocolates to keep us warm (it was about 29 degrees that day) while we were waiting for them to arrive for this call they were going to get. I headed to Tyler's and got dressed.

Tyler will tell you I wore a hole in his floor from the pacing. I don't know that I can deny that. We left his house around 1530 and walked toward the Hill. Indian Hill is where Jess and I had our first date. It's a big hill with some nice trails to hike on. We made it to the base of the hill and called Ben around 1540. Ben called Kyle and had them sent. From where I was going to be proposing, Tyler and I were able to see the ambulance base. While we were watching, I was drinking my hot chocolate to help stay warm. I didn’t realize how nervous I was until I had finished my entire hot chocolate in about 2 minutes. We watched and waited to see the ambulance pull out so that we would have some kind of warning. We never did. Kyle had sent be a text that said “coming,” but I thought that meant they were leaving the base. The next thing I knew, Tyler was like “THEY’RE HERE!” I looked over to see Jessica’s bright yellow jacket through some tree branches. I took off my winter coat and got ready.

I had an entire speech planned out. I was ready. I had rehearsed it hundreds of times in my head. As Jess walked into the clearing… gone. It left me. Come on Sean… think. What were you going to say? Meanwhile, Jess still hasn’t recognized me because she thinks I’m in bed at home. The look on her face was priceless. She paused about halfway between the clearing and where I was standing at the top of the hill. It had hit her. She kept walking toward me, smile on her face but looking like she was ready to cry. I don’t remember exactly what I said to her besides admitting to her that I had forgotten my speech… haha. I reached into my pocket and fumbled trying to get the ring out of it. I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. I don’t think I’m going to even try to describe the emotion that I felt when she said yes. It was like the best feeling in the world… to absolutely KNOW that I was going to get to spend the rest of my life with this girl that I love more than anything in the world.

Jess didn’t seem to believe it. It was kinda funny actually. She kept saying, “wait, really?!?!?!?” I explained to her how everything had worked out and I broke the news that her and Kyle weren’t actually getting paid for a standby since there wasn’t actually a standby. She pretended to be mad, but I could tell she didn’t care. We walked down the hill hand in hand. The feel of the ring on her finger was great! And it looked beautiful.

Her and Kyle got back in the ambulance and went back to the base. Tyler and I walked back to his house (I’m pretty sure I danced most of the way back). I picked up my car and headed to the base, where we were swarmed with congratulations and hugs.

I can’t describe how excited I am for this. Jess means more than the world to me and I can’t wait to spend the rest of forever with her. Thanks for reading!