A Moment Like This

I have written each blog thus far from the same exact spot in our kitchen. We have an island in the middle of the room with two bar stools; I always sit on the left, directly across from the refrigerator. Our refrigerator, mind you, is a true work of art. Covered in magnets galore featuring all the most important people, places, and things in our world: Justin Bieber, the boys from One Direction, various Disney properties, Titanic, Slytherin (mine) and Hufflepuff (Melissa’s) houses, St. Louis, Céline Dion, and Britney Spears. Despite all these important pieces of pop culture there is one magnet from which all the others are displayed around: our Splash Mountain proposal photo. You’ve seen the picture, but do you know the story?

The weekend before Melissa came out to visit me, Garrett (1/3 of the triplets) had a couple of soccer games down south of Temecula near San Diego. In between the two games we had a several hours of time and in addition to filling it with lunch at Applebee’s, we went to a Michael’s crafts and such store that was in the same shopping plaza. It was here that I purchased the three pack of white foam boards, one of which would later become the pivotal piece from our now iconic photo, and a black Sharpie pen. Following the second game we went back home to Temecula and I immediately began work on the sign.

I knew all along what it had to say, LilCutesville will you marry me? LilCutesville rather than Melissa because that is her social media handle for everything and, honestly, using her proper name would have made it generic. It had to be perfect and my time was finite because I had to pick her up at the airport the next morning. I remember sitting at the kitchen island in my California home working on that sign all night long. First drawing several prototypes on a 7×11 standard white piece of paper, of course snapchatting each font possibility to the triplets and Joseph to get their feedback, then finally, once it was decided which looked best, I slowly wrote it on the board, all before finally coloring it in with the Sharpie pen. I was so excited about the end result, but I had to make sure it remained well hidden for the next couple of days, so the surprise wasn’t ruined. Well, suffice it to say, great success!

The day had arrived. It was Thursday, May 12, 2016 and that morning Joseph, Evan, and Rachel were all to meet Melissa and I at my California home in Temecula, so the five of us could ride up to Disneyland Resort together. I remember that Joseph and Rachel rode up together and were rather late in their arrival, so Melissa and I sat with Evan at the island in the kitchen talking the morning away. Once Joseph and Rachel finally graced us with their presence, I stole Joseph away upstairs, so I could give him the sign for our inevitable Splash Mountain photo.

I had been to Disney with Joseph enough to know that he could always be counted upon to bring a bookbag. Joseph, amongst many, really hates when I use the term bookbag rather than backpack. It typically elicits such a rise out of people that I cannot even fathom using anything else at this point, so bookbag it is. Joseph took the sign from me and slid it into the back of his bookbag where it fit absolutely perfectly. I remember being relieved at how ideally it fit inside without any notice from the outside. This perfect fit more than made up for his tardiness. He gave me a good luck, you got this hug and then we went back downstairs to join the other three, and soon thereafter, we were all in my car headed to the Disneyland Resort.

We began our fun-filled day in Disney California Adventure, the second of the two parks at Disneyland Resort, the first being the original Disney park, Disneyland. We started off by going directly to the Radiator Springs Racers Fast Pass distributor, so we could ensure we were able to ride that phenomenal ride based off the Disney/Pixar movie Cars later that day. It was a success; the five of us each got one. After riding several rides we decided it was time for lunch. Well, as luck would have it, one of my favorite places to dine in the park, The Cove Bar was without much of a wait, so we decided to go here.

While the five of us waited in line, I received a text from Jenna saying that she had arrived in the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure and would be heading to meet us in the park soon. I informed her that we should have a table by the time she arrived and all would continue to be perfect, or at least that’s what I thought…

While the five of us stood there in line, Rachel was messing around with the items in her bookbag when she pulled out a Dasani bottled water, or rather, a Dasani bottle because as she would then inform us, there was not water inside, but rather, vodka. This revelation set me off like a time bomb.

It is an automatic expulsion from the resort to be caught bringing in your own alcohol. I was in absolute disbelief that she would have done this given the severity of the day. This wasn’t just some random trip to Disney. I was going to be proposing to my future wife later! I immediately lit into her, sharing my strong distaste for her crass behavior, but she tried to brush it off like it was no big deal, telling me she didn’t intend to bring it in, it was merely left in her bookbag from when she went to the casino some time before. I found this excuse to be as repulsive as her behavior. I didn’t want this debacle to overshadow the day, so I decided to drop the conversation, but I definitely didn’t drop my resentment. I instantly sent Jenna a text telling her what just happened, so she would be brought up to speed on the tension at the table. This moment altered the next several hours because everyone seemed to have a different feeling towards it.

Melissa and I, being the non-drinking, Disney-loving people we are, were absolutely pissed. No doubt about it, had Melissa known what the night was to bring, her anger would only of been magnified. Jenna and Evan just wanted to have a fun-filled day without any tension and while they were both surprised by Rachel’s actions, they thought it best to not allow it to overshadow everything else and spent much of the time playing peacekeepers. Rachel was the culprit who put us in this scenario and her continued act that this was not a big deal only served to amplify my anger. Joseph, who I felt should have fallen into the same category as Jenna and Evan, seemed to lean more towards the Rachel end of the spectrum. He didn’t seem to think it was nearly as big of a deal as I did and thought I should just let it go because it wasn’t the end of the world. As one can imagine, his response did not sit well with me.

We somehow managed to get through this lunch unscathed and still intact, knowing myself, I am sure I didn’t eat much. Whenever I get stressed I cannot eat whatsoever. The very sight of food makes me nauseous and I was at a peak-stress point on this one.

Following lunch it was nearing time for our ride on Radiator Springs Racers, but Jenna was without a Fast Pass. This just could not be, so she and I went to the Disney Guest Services crew and explained our ride predicament. These people are the most helpful and knowledgable Cast Members in the park and they gave us this special pass that would allow for the six of us to ride at our designated time together, dream come true. We rode the ride and took what was our first group photo of the day, which despite the turbulence in our friendships, turned out surprisingly great.

I remember being a real ass to Joseph throughout the course of the daylight hours following the lunch fiasco. I was just so pissed that Rachel brought that vodka in and he acted like I was overreacting. Like I said, if this were just any other Disney day, I would have maybe agreed with him, however, everyone amongst us, aside from Melissa, knew I would be proposing later! Why would anyone do something that could have potentially jeopardized that moment? The selfishness Rachel put on display was beyond my comprehension. I just couldn’t bring myself to see any other point of view on the issue. Even now, two years later, I still very much feel the same way.

We collectively decided to use the restrooms in Disney California Adventure prior to exiting the park, so Joseph, Evan, and I went our way and the ladies went theirs. After each of us took care of our business and we were standing there at the row of sinks washing our hands, Joseph tried his hand at diffusing the situation.

To his credit, this is something he has always been rather skilled with. He is the Mickey Mouse to my Donald Duck. I can go from Ben to Bitch in an instant and almost instantly he can put me in my place with his levelheaded understanding of any given situation. While I have a tendency to overreact to certain things, he has the opposite tendency, in that that he usually doesn’t react at all. This often drives me absolutely insane, but it brings great balance to the force and, ultimately, our friendship. I knew long before this day that at my wedding I wanted him standing by my side as my Best Man.

After Joseph’s peace talk we left Disney California Adventure and walked across Main Entrance Plaza to Disneyland park where the real magic was only hours away. We spent the remaining afternoon riding several of the dark rides as those are Melissa’s favorite and one that wasn’t so much her favorite: Space Mountain, but hey, we got another great picture out of it, so it was all good.

I remember having Fast Passes for Splash Mountain that allowed us to ride one time between 9:30 and 10:30 in the evening. Typically, there is zero wait for it at night, but given the all-importance of that ride to my master plans, I wasn’t going to chance it.

We were all fairly starving around 8:30 p.m., so we decided to go have dinner at the Plaza Inn on Mainstreet, USA. This is another one of my favorite places to eat at the resort. I remember getting the friend chicken dinner because it had my favorites: mashed potatoes and green beans. Given that this meal was the last I would have before I proposed, I was so unbelievably nervous, I couldn’t even finish the mashed potatoes and green beans that I coveted so dearly. I also remember losing my appetite because Joseph had directed our dinner conversation to a subject matter that I have absolutely zero tolerance for: blood.

Under no circumstances can I handle blood in any form. Even writing about it now makes my body temperature skyrocket, leaving me feeling light-headed. I cannot talk about it, cannot see it in movies, and definitely cannot see it in real life. I don’t know what it is, but blood is my ultimate kryptonite. It shuts me down. In retrospect, I suppose this was a fitting pseudo revenge from Joseph for me being a complete and total dick to him earlier, but damn, it did not help my pre-proposal nerves.

It was nearly our Fast Pass time. We all set off for Critter Country wading through the dense crowds that lined Mainstreet in preparation for the evenings fireworks show. Once we arrived in Frontier Land we were able to walk at our own pace rather than the cattle herding we had just escaped. When we arrived at Splash Mountain it was as it always was at night, empty. The six of us walked through the line straight up to the loading dock for the logs.

Melissa hates Splash Mountain because the drop is just too much for her, but being the good sport that she is, she rides it every time. She put up a wee-bit of a fight about riding in the front, but eventually we convinced her, you’ll be the first person to get it over with we told her and apparently, that worked. She took the front seat; I got in behind her, then Joseph with the sign holding bookbag right behind me, followed by Jenna, Rachel, and Evan.

Our log left the station and we careened through the jovial story of Br’er Rabbit as he outwits Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear at every drop and turn. The moment could not have possibly of been any more perfect. This was an indoor/outdoor ride and from 9:30 to nearly 10:00 the fireworks light up the sky above Disneyland park, so as our log casually flowed through the flume, we enjoyed the sight of some of the most perfect fireworks ever put on display. Everything was just perfect.

The moment we had all been waiting all day for had finally come as our log slowly etched up the conveyor belt to the main drop. Joseph hurriedly got the sign from his bookbag and handed it to me all the while an unsuspecting Melissa wallowed in the front. This fifty-foot plunge was the reason she hated the ride. In the little amount of light I had in that rising tunnel I had to ensure I was not holding the sign upside down or covering any letters. The pressure was on. My heart felt like it was going to blast straight out of my chest. Just as our log came over the horizon, we began our descent down the flume. We had all ridden this masterpiece enough to know this was the moment the picture was going to be taken and we also knew we only had one shot, so we had to make it count.

I flashed my signature smile and held out the sign to my right, being oh-so-very careful to ensure that I wasn’t covering up a single thing. I had already briefed everyone on flashing their signature smiles, so I knew we were all good because though Melissa wouldn’t be flashing hers, I knew that whatever face she ended up making, it was going to be just perfect.

Following the drop there is still another couple minutes of ride time and the suspense was murdering my heart. Once the wall of water subsided from around our log at the bottom of the plunge, I quickly handed back the sign to Joseph, so he could return it inside his bookbag, ensuring Melissa would suspect nothing till the photo display room. Our log rose up the platform into the station and when we all got the green light to climb out, each of us did so in such a hurry – minus Melissa. She was so traumatized by the drop on this particular occasion that she essentially crawled out of the log, leaving her Minnie ears behind as a souvenir to whomever entered after her. We didn’t notice she left the ears behind till it was too late. The five of us were so excited to get to the photo room that we were paying little attention to anything else at the time.

Once we reached the room, Joseph gave me the Heart of the Ocean replica necklace – just like the one Rose received in Titanic, the two rings that Danielle, the triplets’ mom made us, and the Diet Coke bottle with the lyrics A Moment Like This scrolled across. I kept all these items hidden behind my back as we all waited for Melissa to join the rest of us in the photo room.

I’m sure it was the same pace the photo displays always change, but in that moment, I felt like we were all waiting forever for that picture to populate. Then just as soon as Melissa entered the room the photo debuted up on the screen.

“What’s this? What’s this?” She asked repeatedly, obviously stunned. I then dove straight into the bridge from Britney Spears #1 smash, “Oops!…I Did It Again.”

Melissa, before we go, there’s something I want you to have.

Without missing a beat, but through cascading tears, she followed it up with, “Oh, it’s beautiful, but wait a minute, isn’t this?”

“Yeah, yes it is.”

“But I thought the old lady dropped it into the ocean in the end.”

“Well baby, I went down and got it for you.”

“Ah, you shouldn’t have.”

And then we gave one another the biggest hug. After pulling back from our embrace I put the black ring on my finger and the white one on hers. I was super nervous in the moment and obviously know in retrospect I should have placed hers on first, but I was so fearful I was going to drop something or somehow mess up. I then handed her the “A Moment Like This” Diet Coke bottle. We hugged again and she continued to cry. It truly was a moment unlike any other.

All the while this exchange was happening, Evan was videoing the entire thing. He perfectly captured every detail of this magic moment, even getting a close up shot of our proposal image on the screen. Every detail of this video was perfect. I enjoy going back and watching it from time to time and thank goodness we have it to look back on. In the moment, I had zero idea that there were hoards of people who had gathered to view their own Splash Mountain photos, but you can certainly hear them on his video and hearing their reactions to our proposal makes everything seem a little more magical to me.

Well, as special as everything that had just happened was, it was really only a precursor to the moment that finally brought tears to my eyes.

We went down to the booth to purchase our pictures and the Cast Member was beyond excited to finally see us, “I’ve been waiting for you guys to get down here! I have someone on the phone who want to talk to you!” He then handed us the phone and within an instant, I was in tears.

“Hi-ya guys! It’s me, Mickey Mouse!”

“And me, Minnnie Mouse!”

I was overwhelmed with the perfection of everything that just happened and taking a phone call from two of the most important figures in pop culture history was more than I was able to handle. The tears streaming down my face felt like there was no ending to them. Mickey and Minnie congratulated us on our engagement and wished us a lifetime of happiness together and told us we should really consider having cheesecake at our wedding because you can’t ever go wrong with cheese. Thinking about it now, I almost feel like we let them down by having Bobby’s Frozen Custard, but then again, I’m sure they would have loved it.

Once we handed the phone back to the gentleman and purchased our photos and frames we noticed that the last person standing alongside us was Jenna. The other three thought we would want some time to ourselves and went to go ride once more, Jenna obviously knew us better. If everyone was off riding the ride, who was going to take our first post-engagement pictures?

I really have to give credit to Jenna. Since meeting her at Macy’s Mission Viejo, she has remained one of my (our) best friends. Her friendship truly knows no bounds and it did not surprise me to see her still standing there because she had been a key figure in the setup to this moment in time. Week’s prior, Jenna and I came to Disneyland and rode Splash Mountain several times with the sole intent of imitating the photo, seeing what seat placements would work best and such. The preparation on that day made certain the perfection on this day.

My phone had several text messages from everyone who knew what would be happening that evening, all of them longing for some sort of news about whether or not it had gone down and if so, how perfect was the moment? As soon as I was able, I text out the photos Jenna took of Melissa and I to quench everyone’s thirst for information. Needless to say, my phone did not let up all night – especially after I added the Splash Mountain photo to social media. It was crazy how many people were out there wherever they were all across the country, anticipating news of our moment. It just added to the overall perfection of the night.

Once the other three returned from riding the most perfect ride ever a couple more times, we all exchanged one large group hug. Despite all of the animosity earlier in the day, we finished the night in pure bliss. Jenna, Joseph, Evan, and Rachel, thank you all for making our moment so special. Each one of you added an ingredient to that day that ended up making one of my most delicious memories, so again, thank you.

So much time, effort, energy, thought, wisdom, and guidance went in to ensuring that every aspect of my proposal was perfect that it truly created a moment like no other and to each and every single person that assisted me before and celebrated with us after, thank you for being a friend. You all really are the best!

Well, I know this entry was a bit longer than usual, but I do hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I loved reliving it. Feel free to leave a comment below and as always, remember, you are simply the best!