New Years Eve Marriage Proposal in 80s Onsies
There's no better place to start than The Proposal. It was a cold night. A cold, fingers-blue, snot freezing inside your nose cold night, but it was New Year's Eve 2014 and nothing was stopping us from our night of silliness with friends night skiing up in northern Michigan.
I knew Tim had had a ring since AUGUST and I had been patiently waiting. By all means there was no rush to start the engagement process, it was just hard knowing he had the ring. He kept saying “Sometime before 2014, just be patient."
Well Tim had been saying that for 5 months now, and with only hours to spare before 2014, I had an idea something was bound to happen.
New Years Eve, 2013
Our lift ticket at Boyne Mountain in Northern Michigan ran from 4:30pm - 9pm, and with the sub-zero temperatures outside, that was plenty of skiing.No night skiing is complete without a stop at the bar at the base of the hill for a drink... or 3. Because it was so cold outside the bar seemed like a much better option than actually skiing down the bill. Let me tell you, nine 20-somethings entering the bar on NYE dressed in 1980s Ski Onsies certainly made a scene in this small slope-side establishment.
This group is always ready for a good time. With the influx of free drinks from patrons and bartenders alike, this neon-clad crowd started getting a little rowdier than normal. For everyone, this is what NYE was all about.... for Tim, what a nightmare! How was he supposed to get nine people out of the bar and out to bear the negative 14 degree Fahrenheit windchills to hit the slopes? His dream proposal was at the top of a mountain, not over a fireball shot!
Getting up the mountain
Tim's "spontaneous" spirit and leadership qualities inspired the group to want to go back out a ski a few more runs. He was SO inspiring that all of the boys decided to not only hit the slopes, but shirtless. Ski down the mountain in snow pants only. Frostbite anyone?
After redressing there are about 15 minutes left on our lift ticket before all of the chairlifts close. "One last run" Tim declares and pushes all the the girls on one chairlift leaving all of the boys behind.
Little did I know at the time, Tim used the chairlift ride with the boys to let them in on the secret and to teach them how to use the camera equipment. After meeting up at the top of the mountain the boys declare a race. A race to the bottom of the hill for the last run.
The Race
A race?! Could this night get any better?? I love races! Here I am at the top of the mountain smack talking all the boys about who is going to win the race (glamours; lady-like; romantic, I know).Then, Tim comes up out of no where and tells me to take off my skiis."Tim, how can I race with no skis on?! "He didn't reply. He just kept looking at me.
The Proposal
His eye contact said it all. "Are we doing this now?" - I asked. "Yup!" - He confidently replied, non-nonchalant at best.
Tim took my hand and led me to the side of the run.
Before we were dating, we were working in Washington State and he jokingly pointed to a mountain and said "Finney, one day I'm gonna marry you on that mountain!"
Sure, I laughed and gave him the "okkkayyy Diemer". We weren’t even dating. Yet here we were 2 years later, on the top of a mountain.
In his proposal Tim recalled that moment,
"Finney, in Washington I told you I was going to marry you on a mountain, in Wisconsin I took you to a mountain for our first date, and here in Michigan I just have to ask you one thing..."
Do I have to take my gloves off?
Tim knelt down in the snow, fumbled pulling the ring out of a pocket in his gloves, and I'm pretty sure he said "will you marry me?" Who knows, I blacked out. It was so emotional, it was -14 windchill, our friends were screaming, the people on the chairlift were screaming, ski patrol thought we were up to no good and were trying to scoot us down the hill....Haha I do however, remember that when he held up the ring my response was "do I have to take my gloves off?"
Ok, not the most romantic thing I've ever said. Once I screamed at the ski patrol "WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!" they were a little embarrassed about trying to damper our fun and went on down the hill after saying "congratulations". They were just doing their job.
Watch the video below to see the events from the entire weekend. Full proposal starts at 2:35. Hilarious reactions telling people over the phone at 4:05.