Peter wrote his side of the Proposal in his column But I Digress at the time. This is my take on that great but slightly insane day.<\/p>\n
In the beginning of September 2000, we went to Disney World to celebrate Ariel\u2019s birthday. We set it up so Ariel didn\u2019t know we were going. We went to the Book Store and talked about how much fun it would be to go to Disney and bought one of the current Birbaum guides. We then went to a local diner and poured through the book talking about the things we would like to do. Ariel was quite animated in this conversation of \u201cwhat if\u201d. Peter said, \u201cLet\u2019s go now.\u201d Ariel thought he was kidding but in the trunk of the car were the suitcases and I pulled out the plane tickets making it a reality. Once in Orlando Shana, who Ariel hadn\u2019t really seen the entire summer because Shana was at college in Boston and had gotten a summer job, met us much to Ariel\u2019s glee.<\/p>\n
I knew that Peter\u2019s sister and her husband would be there at the same time and we had arranged a time to surprise Peter at the Adventurers club. What I didn\u2019t know was that the evening at the Adventurers Club had bigger surprises in store. <\/p>\n
Did I have an inkling that there might be a proposal that weekend? Yes, I did but I figured that it was probably going to be at King Stephen\u2019s castle where we had lunch reservations on the next to the last day we were going to be there. <\/p>\n
I got a call from Beth that we needed to move the time of the meet up a bit because she and her husband were tired. I told Peter that I wanted to go to the club early because I was feeling a but fatigued and wanted to have energy for the next day. I didn\u2019t catch on until later why all the color went out of Peter\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
We had dinner at the Wilderness Lodge and then proceeded to Pleasure Island. We made beeline for the Adventurers Club. We walked in and were greeted by a man in a grass skirt who we knew as the character of Fletcher Hodges having seen the character played by various actors over the years. He greeted us to the club and asked about our adventures. Peter asked him a question that I didn\u2019t hear but I was talking to Ariel at the time while heading to the bar for a Kongaloosh (great drink and I miss it a lot). Peter vanished for a bit but I figured that he was off to the restroom. We lined up and trooped in for the Radio Broadcast since we had missed the Welcome Party. We sat towards the front so Ariel could see and laughed our way through the sketch.<\/p>\n
Now at the Adventurers Club being picked on or picked out is not unusual. Everyone seems to get some personal treatment during their time at the club. So we were leaving the Radio Play and shuffling back into the Salon. There was a British Raj Colonel that was a rod puppet who was over the main room fireplace. Usually, when the crowd was exiting back from the Library to the Main Salon the Colonel would be messing with the crowd. I was making my way across the Salon when I found myself in conversation with the Colonel. Which started with the phrase, \u201cMy, you are a talk drink of water.\u201d And went from there. I just figured that it was my turn to be targeted but as he continued to talk to me it slowly dawned on me that he was proposing for Peter. Peter was right at my arm and on cue pulled out a blue box and opened it. It was happening. He was asking me to marry him. The world stopped and sped up all at the same time. I said yes very quietly to Peter and then said it louder so all the room could hear my response. There was much cheering and shouts of congratulations from a room of mostly total strangers.<\/p>\n
Beth and her husband showed up somewhere in all this and got to see the proposal. The girls were all smiles and I was, according to reports, glowing. The club gave us some t-shirts to commemorate the day and a bottle of the good stuff to celebrate with our friends. Later I was introduced to two of the actors who had done the lion\u2019s share of the proposal work. Turns out they were Peter David fans who were more than happy to help. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship that continues to this day. <\/p>\n
The next day we were in the Magic Kingdom on our way to lunch and I overheard two people who recognized us from the night before. \u201cThose are the two that got engaged last night at the club!\u201d The proposal became legendary at the club and lead to a whole engagement package being created for the club. But we were the first to enlist the whole club into helping.<\/p>\n
I am so grateful to all the people who helped make that magical night what it was.<\/p>\n