Our Happily Ever After: The Tale of a Newly Engaged, Middle-Aged, Disney-Loving Couple at Walt Disney World

The proposal itself was the biggest shock of my life. As I said, Charlie and I have been together for ten years now, and have both had previous marriages that ended quite badly, so even though we had talked about marriage previously, I was fully convinced that he was too terrified to ever do it again! Neither of us has any religious beliefs particularly, so I had come to terms in my head with the fact that we probably would never get married. And then the following happens, and he astonishes the life out of me. Just goes to show, you can never trust a man to do what you expect him to!

We were in the second week of our trip, in New York. There was snow on the ground, and we were visiting Central Park. Charlie had said that he wanted to go to Strawberry Fields, the memorial place for John Lennon, but as we walked towards it, it was barriered-off from the public due to falling branches (the snow had arrived a bit early and had badly damaged a lot of trees in the park). We were able to walk around the perimeter of the area, and as we approached a nearby bench, Charlie went over to it and began to wipe snow off it with a gloved hand. I assumed we were having a sit down for a minute, so waited till the bench was clear of snow and delicately sat on a dry bit. He began ferreting in his bag again, so I just sat there and looked 'round at the beautiful views, all snowy and pretty. Suddenly, completely out of the blue, he asked me if I wanted a sweet. I said okay, and held out my hand. He placed a lilac-colored M&M into it, which had my name printed on it! I looked at it for a second, then smiled and said, “Ooh, look, it’s got my name on it!” At which point he put a pale pink one into my hand, which had the words ‘marry me’ printed on it. I stared at it for a moment, not entirely sure what I was seeing. I looked at him, then back at the M&Ms. I looked at him again, and he placed a beautiful, pale pink, crystal ring box in my hand, containing a white gold ring with a huge pink sapphire and diamonds. He looked at me with hope, I began to cry, and after asking him, “If I said no, can I still keep the ring,” eventually managed to say, “YES!”

Fast forward another week, when we arrived at Old Key West for the second half of our vacation. Upon checking in, we were given a package of leaflets, information, maps, plus our Key to the World cards. Then, the cast member checking us in began plying us with badges, “We’re Celebrating!”, “Happy Birthday!”, and “Happy Anniversary!” Then I told him we had just got engaged, so he happily shoved another couple at us, “Just Engaged!” Phew!

Engaged at the top of the Empire State Building!
After two days, I still wasn't used to the idea of the surprise engagement! - photo by Silvercat