Spoiler Alert: California was on FIRE!
Imagine this... Traveling from the East Coast to beautiful Sunny California. You are planning a beautiful surprise proposal and what better place than the beautiful Big Sur Coast Line! You'll be traveling, visiting the great Central Coast and, when she least expects it, you will pop the big question! What can possibly go wrong?
Well for starters... worldwide pandemic. (Disclosure: We planned this socially distanced proposal following all California laws and safety guidelines.) He didn't want to wait to propose until all this was over, because who really knows when things will get back to "normal", but he still wanted to make it special. So, we got to work! We started planning the absolute most perfect surprise. They'd be heading out to dinner but they'd make a quick stop to an amazing spot he had heard about. (I know sounds fishy, but it works!) They'd get off their car, go to the cliff that overlooks the coastline, he'd get down on one knee and you know the rest. In the meantime, I would be a tourist with a camera and when the signal happened (cuz there's always a signal), I'd get into action! Now this all did happen, but there was something we did not account for.....
California was on FIRE!!!!!! And when I say California was on fire, I don't mean like the vibe was fire, I mean literally on fire. As many of you know, California has been having some horrible, very destructive, very sad wildfire seasons, and this year was no different. Multiple parts of California were affected, and many many brave firefighters were courageously fighting these, risking their lives, for our safety. This particular time, Salinas, Big Sur, Santa Cruz, San Jose all had huge, uncontrolled fires. The smoke in the air was thick, the air quality was horrible, and you honestly could not see the horizon. Out of all the things you account for that can possibly go wrong in a proposal, this was not one of them. Either way, we found out it was safe to head out there and so we continued with our plans.
Boy was it worth it! The smoke did not allow us to get pictures of our beautiful coast line or the precious mountains, but that did not change the fact that these lovebirds were now engaged and they were loving it! The laughs, the tears, the joy. To be honest, I have never seen two people celebrate their engagement more than these two!
Lesson: You may do everything you can to plan the perfect day, year, proposal, anything really, but sometimes crappy things that are out of our control will happen. But, make the most of it! As long as you have your loved ones with you, there is always reason to celebrate. (Disclaimer: I am a believer in crying when you need to cry, but that's topic for a different time!)
