Mission Accomplished

I learned a new trade this weekend--spying, sneaking, stealth mode, paparazzi maybe even--all synonymous for what I spent Saturday doing. 

Let me back it up a few weeks and start from the beginning. 

My best friend, Melissa, has been dating Ian for almost 3 years now--so needless to say, THE question has been coming, it's been lingering and when he texted me 2 weeks ago telling me he needed to talk to me, I knew this was it! It was coming! 

He shared all of his plans with me and got the ball rolling, this was really happening and it was all so perfect and so Melissa. 

Fast forward to Saturday.

Mary Claire and I get on the road at 11:00 so we can meet Ian at this park in Pascagoula where he's planning to do it and find hiding spots for us.  

Hiding spots? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we were asked to secretively take pictures of him proposing! If you've never been asked to do this, be glad. It's the most nerve racking thing because you have this lingering feeling of knowing that you are going to get caught, especially when Melissa Craig is involved (you can't get much past her)! Even more so, especially when you want to keep it a complete and total secret because you want to surprise your best friend with these pictures for an engagement gift. 

So any who, we're to Hattiesburg and I get a phone call from Ian--(here's a little bit of how our conversation went, somewhat)--"well, I have some news"

oh no. 

"I should have done this earlier but I went to the park to check everything out and it so happens that they are having some sort of old car show there this weekend so there are a ton of people around and there's a huge porter potty right where I was planning to do it."

oh no.

"So here's the new plan--there's this park in Mobile that she's always wanted to go to and I want to do it there. I am going now to look around and see how the hiding spots are and check everything out."

oh no.

"Okay Ian, that sounds great! Call me back when we have a solid plan and we will do whatever you need us to do!"--cue the freak out in the car. Needless to say, we got there as quickly as we could so we could have a solid plan and get the job done. 

Can I just say that "mishaps" is maybe the--best way to describe our afternoon planning/scheming at the park. First things first, we walk into this unknown park with both of our cameras, mine with the big ole' long lens and while looking for a good spot, Mary Claire gets approached by a mom asking her if we are trying to take pictures of her children (I mean, we didn't think we looked like pedophiles but what do we know?) After we told her what we were really there to do, she decided to hop on the bandwagon and help us out--even to the point of getting down on one knee in front of Mary Claire to see if I could get a good shot from my spot. Then, one of the homeless men that was lounging on the surrounding benches, let's call him camo pants, asks me if Mary Claire and I are taking pictures of each other (which we were since we were seeing where we should tell Ian to sit, etc.) and when I told him the story, his only reply was "well good, because that would be creepy if y'all were"

oh, okay thanks man!

After we find our spots, we are now trying to see if we can see one another from "the bench" that we decided was the perfect one for the best pictures with the best hiding spots for us

Here's a few outtakes from our practice:

she thought that the cones would distract them from looking to that side

 we even took cones from the construction work and put them on the bench we had for them to make sure no one sat there--can you say hardcore?

and off to CVS we go--why CVS? Because we had no where else to get ready in this unknown town. Yep, we hopped into the employee bathroom where we curled our hair, changed our clothes, and freshened up our make up and before we knew it, Ian was texting saying he was on his way to pick up Melissa. We grabbed a double espresso drink and we were out the door. 

When we got back to the park, we saw a police man parked and we decided to go ahead and break the ice and let him know what we were doing so he didn't think we were being creepy since we had already been accused once! Well, twice. When we made it over to the bench there was a nice older gentlemen sitting right next to the bench we had "reserved" and started talking with him, telling him what we were doing, and asked him if he would guard the bench--showed him a picture of Ian and Melissa and basically asked him if anyone sat there to nicely shoo them away. We were covering all of our bases. 

To our spots we go. Mine--behind a big green electrical box. Mary Claire's--behind a tree about 5 feet away from the bench we were directing Ian to. We get the text--10 minutes away, or so we thought. 

The longest 10--in all reality, 40 minutes of our lives--thanks Ian for being so timely ;) 

  Just ask Mary Claire and I to see the texts between us while we were waiting for them to arrive the next time you see us. Now that it's all over and done with, there's quite a lot to laugh about.  

But while waiting, I get asked ask by camo pants from earlier (the one who indirectly called us creepy) and for the first time, pulled the "Sorry, I'm married" comment while holding up my left hand.  Bless it. Not only did that happen, 2 more times I was approached and asked if I wanted to go out to dinner and then go out on the town. Mary Claire, over on the other side of the park finds out she's more than likely sitting in dog poo and she had no idea. Let's not forget that Ian's last words to me were "well I'm still somewhat confused on the exact spot so just be on the lookout"

oh no. 

And then it happened, I saw them. I texted Mary Claire and we got into position. I was shaking, miserably. As soon as they got near the bench, I started snapping away--this girl got about 300 shots (some of just Melissa because I was shaking so bad, some of the ground, you know, a bit of everything) for them to choose from but, let's just say we were in fact victorious and
got THE PICTURES! 

 You've never seen two girls sprinting as fast as Mary Claire and I to get to the car unseen by the love birds. Not even 5 minutes in the car and I get "the call" from Melissa (aka, we were UNSEEN) telling me the whole story and me, telling her that I'm going to kill Ian for not doing it in Brandon so I could come over and see the ring and give her the biggest hug in the world. Everything was falling into place, she had no idea we were there, watching the entire process happening which also meant she had no clue we were about to be at the restaurant she and Ian were heading to--along with her family and all of his family and my handsome man and Grant--all of the people who love them most of all! 

I'll let the pictures share the rest of the night with you all

 Walking into the Original Oyster House looking pretty surprised to me

I think this is the sweetest of Melissa and her Dad

 All of Ian's crew--was so excited to finally meet all of you and can't wait for many more opportunities to get to know you all!

 this ring, breath taking. 

 Melissa's crew

 The best people a girl could have in their life. 

 So, as I mentioned earlier, everyone was directed to NOT tell Melissa that Mary Claire and I took pictures of the actual moment. Thankfully, we were 100% sure that she had no idea and I knew that we were about to pull off the best gift of all time. Sunday night when they got back in to town she and Ian stopped by for us to give her a little happy--let's just say there were tears, a lot of laughing while telling our side of that day, and hugging. It was a sweet, sweet moment. 

I am so incredibly happy for these two!! I am so thankful for their friendship with Jason and I and how encouraging and loving they are. But, I am even more thankful for the friendship Melissa and I have had for over a decade that has lasted, grown, and strengthened over the years. God is so good and His provision for us through something as special as friendships is sometimes a bit overwhelming--I am so thankful! Let the planning and celebrating begin! 

To Melissa and Ian!