(Paul writing here) It’s a long story. Well, kind of. Grab a coffee and get comfy. Here it goes…
I had been keeping Sara in waiting for quite some time. We had bought a house together and timing was now more than ever, perfect. If not, well-overdue. Every year we disappear north to Hamilton Island where we sail, sleep and just relax and we had our holiday planned. It holds a really special place in our hearts, so there was no better place or time to ask her.
The resort we were staying at had something called a beach drop off. It’s where they pick you up in a boat and drop you off on a remote section of a national part island with no-one else within a cooee. When they drop you off they had earlier setup a marquee, complete with beers and accompaniments. The perfect opportunity. The perfect location.
Since I had make Sara wait so long, I didn’t want to do wrong and to make it as special as I could. It was a such covert operation to make sure that the super detective (Sara) didn’t clue on. Asking parents, Carrying a giant ringbox on holidays is not an easy task.
As with all tradition, I thought it really important to ask Hamid and Carmen for Sara’s hand. The trouble was, we were selling our houses at the time, unboxing our new house and trying to work in between, so finding time was a real challenge.
We had a building and pest set for the Wednesday morning, so I promised Sara that after work we would do the big final clean at her house together. I came up with a subterfuge and told Sara that my friend Rob really needed to talk to me and that I would go visit him at Sunnybank after work – One beer and then to the house to clean. All the while knowing that I would visit Hamid and Carmen. Sara was okay but a 12 hour day at work to hear that I was off to beer it with my mate.
At 4:30 I called Carmen and asked if was okay to come over and then I called Hamid’s work to see what time he finished and they told me 5:30. Great. If all goes to plan. I can ask, hang for a little bit and be back home by 6:30 before Sara really noticed I was not there.
So off to the Sunnybank tavern I went to have a quiet beer to steel my nerves and head over. At 5:20 off I went and knocked on the door to be met by a curious Carmen wondering why I was there. Both Carmen and Hamid are always happy and welcoming whenever you visit, so we sat down and offered me a beer whilst we chatted. She asked me why I was there and I told her that we should wait for Hamid. Knowing that he would be home soon. But Hamid was at work catching up on things not knowing we were waiting for him.
Timeline looked like this.
5:30pm… Arrive. Beer
6pm .. Chat politely
6:30pm.. waiting.. Text Sara. Apologise
7pm .. Another beer.
7:10pm phone call to Sara
7:30pm Hamid arrives
7:32pm Hamid realises I don’t have a beer and immediately gets me one along with cheese.
7:45pm Still preparing cheese and food.
7:50pm Small Talk
7:55pm Formally ask to Marry Sara on the coming Friday.
Yay! They said yes.
For me, it was a great relief and a moment I treasure.
Carmen said yes straight away, though Hamid took about 30 seconds sitting in silence before he said anything. So celebrations all round!!
But I had a 25 minute drive home and I was in deep-deep trouble. As far as Sara knew. I was drinking with my mate all the while she was scrubbing walls and vacuuming. She had finished the clean by 8pm and told me not to bother helping as she was already done.
So on the morning we departed, I was trying to keep my cool. I had been storing the ring ‘securely’ underneath the seat of my car. Though time was running out for me to successfully bring it from outside to the suitcase.
I sat in my car for 10 minutes trying to figure it out all the while Sara was watching me from the window wondering what on earth I was doing. I did manage to sneak the box up and after some slight interrogation from Sara thought I was in the clear.
Then we got into our Uber to go to the airport and the driver, who wouldn’t stop talking and upon finding out that we weren’t married. Spent 5 minutes (literally) telling Sara how much he believes I am going to ask her to marry me on the holiday. It became so awkward that I literally had to ask him to stop. To which he kept quiet for around 1 minute before starting up again. It was the longest airport ride of my life.
At 4:30am I was terribly, terribly alert and there was no chance of sleep. Sara was on her first day of holiday after her first year of starting the practice and no real time off…she was in heaven.
We went to breakfast and came back to get ready for our beach drop off. We only had one beach bag though. How could I have been so clumsy. I needed to stash this giant ring box which does not fit into a pocket without many questions being asked.
The only chance I had was as we were getting ready, for me to become captain of the beach bag, put the ring in it and never let it out of my grasp or sight.
So.
1. Step one.
Acquire bag early. Get my gear in it.
2. Step two.
Get everything possibly off Sara and put it in the bag.
3. Step three.
Ask Sara to drive the golf buggy to the boat. If custody of the bag was lost, there was no chance of getting it back off her.
4. Step four.
At the dock. Hand sunscreen and everything to Sara she needs so she wouldn’t take or look in the bag.
5. Step five.
Look relaxed. Try to look relaxed. Be cool.
At this point we’re all smiles and chatting with the staff waiting for the boat. I put the bag down next to me and Sara had a quick thought. Zinc! She wanted to put on zinc. So in a flash, she quickly grabbed the bag and was rummaging for it at the bottom of the bag .. where. the. ring was. I almost died and grabbed the bag back off her as fast as possible letting her know that I can get it for her and trying to look cool and relaxed at the same time. She thought I was odd but let it go. Phew.
So we catch the boat. We’re off. The weather is amazing. Everything is crystal clear.
We arrive to our beach and see a small marquee awaiting us complete with snacks and Coronas that the staff had dropped off earlier.
Game plan time.
– Have a beer, read book.
– Ask to go for a swim
– Just before we go for a swim go on one knee
This is where it went a little unstuck.
At the swim part of the game plan, Sara saw a Shark swimming on the shore about 2ft from the edge and it was about 2ft long. It actually was quite cute.
Sara saw it and thought. I must swim with it, so as I was getting the ring box out of the bag, Sara ran off down the beach, throwing off her sundress (she had togs on underneath) and jumped in the water with the Shark. I was left standing there going what just happened ?! and ran off down the beach after her.
The shark didn’t really want to be cuddled so it swam off quickly which left Sara and I on the beach so we decided just to go for a swim. In the shark infested water.
As we sat on the edge of the water together, Sara was picking up tiny pieces of Coral and pretending they were diamonds and saying, ‘I could have a ring just like this one’. Not really picking up on any of elevated heart rates but I just smiled back.
We got back to the shade of our marquee to which Sara promptly plonked herself into the deep chair, picked up her book, grabbed a beer and started reading.
I will have to wait a little longer to ask.
After 5 minutes I asked her to go for a walk. She looked at me quizzically and said ‘I just sat down reading my book, no’.
Another 5 minutes went by. The longest 5 minutes of me staring at my Soduku and thinking the boat will be back to pick us up shortly and what if I haven’t asked her yet, or asking her as the boat pulls up.
I asked her again ‘Let’s go for a walk’, and she somewhat exasperatedly agrees. Her holiday. All she wants to do is read her book and relax.
Go for a walk up the beach, when we walk back, near the marquee, ask her to wait whilst I quickly go ahead, get the ring. Ask.
Off we go and as we reach the top of this nice rock outcrop that gave us a wonderful view of the island surrounds, I was thinking what am I doing. This is THE place to propose. But the ring was 400 metres away.
It was just at that point that Sara turned to me telling me she wanted to explore the forest in a bit and I took that as my chance to get my thongs to protect my feet. (I never really wear shoes or thongs on holiday, especially at the beach), so again she thought I was odd as I raced off up the beach to get the ring.
Puffed after the first leg of the run, I now have to figure out how to carry the box without Sara noticing it, so I stuck it in a hat of all things, turned around and started running back.
After a quick 800m sand round trip and the fact that I was asking the love of my life to marry me, my heart was pretty much close to exploding from chest.
I don’t remember what words I said.
I don’t really remember too much in detail.
I remember awkwardly curtsying to get to one knee and asking Sara, I remember her saying yes and I remember quite a lot of tears.
We then went back to the marquee to call our family and we’re greeted by the hotel boat to pick us up and the entire resort-staff at Qualia crew congratulating us.
The secret was kept and she had no idea. We were in our most favourite place, with the most perfect weather, in the perfect time of our lives, and for me with the perfect person. I could not have hoped for it to go better than it did.
