Meghann's Version

I thought that Jaakan was going to ask me to marry him the first week of December while we were in Chicago visiting our friends Val and Jason. As it turned out, I was close. He had wanted to, but had a hard time finding the right moment. Jaakan proposed to me the next weekend. The 5th, I think, it was a Saturday. He had been acting funny all week, to the point that I was pretty sure where he was headed. He’d been asking me all week what our exact plans were, down to the minute for the weekend. We had a couple of Holiday functions, plus we were putting up our Christmas tree, a big undertaking in a tiny apartment. So I was completely suspicious as to why he was so insistent and kept answering ‘no reason’ when I wanted to know what was up; suspicious until I ran into his friend John Turner’s mom. She mentioned how excited John was to come to town and hang out with Jaakan that weekend, our very busy weekend.
I had the whole thing figured out! Little did I know that Jaakan had no idea that John was coming to visit. Jaakan slyly used that as a cover and for the rest of the week John’s calls masked his odd behavior.
We had a great day putting up our tree and watching Christmas movies. We were going to a Christmas concert that evening, the one he had been asking all week if I was sure that we were going to. We had a good time. The only part that was weird was when he insisted we leave the get together afterwards and get dinner immediately. He suggested Chinese takeout from our favorite neighborhood restaurant. I said yeah, maybe, but what about something else. He got all crazy for a minute, kind of shouting no! We have to get Chinese food! Then covering up saying that we didn’t get to go to Chinatown the previous weekend. Well, okay, no problem. While we waited for the takeout we walked around Bronson Park downtown and looked at all the Christmas lights they put up. The sky was clear, dark blue with such visible stars and crazy cold and windy. Our walk was a marathon walk through the park, but we stopped to see everything. When we were frozen, we went to pick up the takeout and go home. Jaakan asked me to wait a minute or two in my apartment while he got dinner ready so we could enjoy the tree. No joke, I now had absolutely NO idea that he was going to propose. It is totally normal for Jaakan to set up a nice, romantic dinner. (Yes, I am very lucky!) So when he said take your time, I want everything to look nice, it didn’t faze me a bit. A few minutes later I went upstairs to a beautiful candle lit Chinese dinner in front of our fantastic Christmas tree. After we had eaten, Jaakan brought out desert, chocolates and two fortune cookies on a plate. I changed my mind as I was reaching for one of the cookies and took the other. I opened it, read it, and sat there with my mouth open for about three minutes. Literally that long, debating if it was real or not, this fortune that read will you marry me? So professional. So I asked, probably pretty slowly, is this real? That’s when he broke his cookie open and showed me the message, the answer is yes.
I think I followed with holy sh**. Very elegant. Followed by a pronounced YES! It was cool.

Jaakan's Version

I knew how I was going to propose to Meg long before I ever knew when or if I would. We were in college and dating and the thought of getting married was a long way off in my mind. But, fortune cookies have always been a theme for us. In high school when we were just friends, I used to get them at lunch and she and I would often joke about the fortunes I would get in those cafeteria fortune cookies. When I graduated from high school she got me a fortune cookie themed gift and the trend continued into college. So, when we started dating at Michigan State, the idea came to me that if we ever got married, that is how I would propose. That idea came to me several years ago, and a lot can happen in that length of time, so my cookie idea sat in the back of my mind waiting for the time to be right. I had other opportunities to ask in different ways, but nothing ever fit like this one.
I had settled in my mind to ask her at Christmas time. Christmas is a great time for secrets. I often get a little elaborate when getting her gifts so if I acted a little funny I could blame it on that. I took the week off work to help my Dad get the house ready for Christmas (we have an eleven foot tall Christmas tree) and to spend some time relaxing with Meghann. We started out the Week by going to Chicago to shop, see the windows at Marshall Fields, and see the tree in Daley Plaza. That Saturday was the fifth of December and I knew Meghann might suspect something as it was our anniversary. If you think about it; Christmas time in Chicago, snow falling, street performers playing Christmas carols, the lights on the tree, I bend down and ask, and we celebrate in a quiet little coffee shop over some hot chocolate. It could have worked, but I liked my cookie idea so I let Meghann suspect and the weekend passed without any asking. We had fun anyway.
Meghann knew that sooner or later I would ask her; we both knew it was coming but I really wanted her to feel that rush and surprise when it actually happened. I wanted the night to feel special but not out of the ordinary so that when it went from a good date to the rest or our lives she would be shocked. The plan was set for Saturday night, but I had to make sure we were having Chinese food that night. Now, Meghann always wants to eat Chinese food, but I wanted her to really want it so I sabotaged our attempts for takeout all week, as I had the previous week. I woke up early on Saturday morning and cleaned the apartment, and got things generally ready for tree decorating. We spent the day watching Christmas movies and decorating our tree. We finished with enough time to get the apartment cleaned up but not enough time to eat before the going out to here aunts Christmas concert, convenient? The concert was very nice and I even managed to enjoy a minute or two of it even though my mind was swirling with the possiblilites of what was to come.
As the concert ended I asked Meghann if she wanted to get some Chinese takeout on the way home, although she may tell you that I insisted on it, it was very casual and I she was very excited about the idea I can tell you, as we had not had Chinese in over two weeks. We called in our order and stopped off at Bronson Park to walk through the Christmas lights, it was snowing, people were taking carriage rides around the park, and we were walking hand in hand remembering how we had come to the park at Christmas when we had first started dating. It was nice. When we got home, I told Meghann I was going to get dinner ready and she needed to stop by her apartment to do a few things. I got upstairs and started racing, I put down a tabletop on the floor, plated our dinner, added flowers the table, lit candles, lit up the Christmas tree, started the music and arranged a plate of chocolates around two very special cookies in the center that would serve as dessert. Meghann came upstairs just as I was putting the final touches on and the dinner was set. I thought I might be too nervous to eat but sitting on the floor listening to the music with the snow falling outside across the table from the woman I was going to ask to be my wife, I became very relaxed. I can remember few times I have been happier than sitting at that table waiting.
When the time for dessert came I held up the plate with the two cookies and gave her the choice between either one. She reached for one, and then the other, cracked it open and the entire world stopped moving. Even the candles which had been dancing throughout dinner, slowed. She sat staring at the fortune and I knew she had picked the right one. She asked me if it was real, and I cracked open my cookie and showed her that it read “the answer is yes.” It is hard to describe what a moment like that feels like, but I imagine everyone who has been there knows. Meghann had a hint of tears in her eyes, when she nodded her head yes before she could find the words to say it. Anyone who knows Meghann knows that excitement builds way down inside her before it comes bursting out in all directions and that is what happened next. It all happened so fast after that, we told our families and visited friends and there were tears, and laughter and more than one “it’s about time!” And the one question everyone always asked was “how did you get that fortune into that cookie?” The same way I knew she would pick the right one…magic.