As I mentioned in my previous post, I am paying tribute to the wonderful and crazy man that I am married to for the next few posts. I guess I am copying Ray Branton who wrote a sincere and beautiful post about his wife on their blog (The Brantons). Maybe I am trying to one-up him, especially since he has whooped me twice this year in fantasy basketball. Thanks for nothing Ray! (Are you reading this? Amy, tell your husband I just bad mouthed him on the internet. Thanks.)
Anyhoo, because it is Valentines Day, I thought it would only be appropriate to post an e-mail that Chris sent out to our friends after he proposed to me four years ago while I was living in Korea, and he was finishing up his duty in Iraq. Not only is Chris Watson crafty, and athletic, and easily-confused, he's also a great little writer. Enjoy!
Chris's writing is in black, and I have inserted my own comments in red.
"Hey guys,
The deed has been done. I proposed to Jihae and surprised the crap out of her. It went very well.
The Setup:
I had her (and many others) thinking that I would not be leaving Iraq until the 15th of May, but I actually left on the 1st of May and made the trip to Korea.
The Trip There:
I was somehow able to email her at every stop (which ended up being at least once every 7 or 8 hours...more than I usually email when I am stationary), keeping her even more clueless. I arrived in Korea on the 3rd (Tuesday) and upon arrival, the stewardess came over the loud speaker and said "it's a beautiful day in Seoul, the temperature is 21 degrees (celcius) and the time is currently 3:55...no, 2:55....no, sorry...it's 3:55" (this comes into play later on). So I exited the aircraft and rented a cell phone (which will also come into play later on). I then turned on to stealth mode. Luckily, my extensive training from the Marine Corps paid off and I was able to go undetected to my hotel room.
The first night and the plan:
I spent the night drinking heavily in realization of what was going to take place in the morning. (He has a drinking problem.) Just kidding. (Me too.) I actually stayed in my hotel room and watched movies till 1:30 a.m. Unfortunately, I was supposed to call Jihae in the morning for our weekly call at 5:30, and I was planning to wake up at 4 to have ample time to prepare....that didn't happen. I slept through my alarm and woke up at 8!!! Which happens to be the same time Jihae leaves for work in the morning. I missed my opportunity to go through with my original plan.
Redemption:
After getting up, I took a shower, thinking of the humor in my sleeping in on, what many would say, was one of the most important days of my life. (After 4 years, I still don't see the humour in that) After finishing washing up, I noticed that one of the clocks in my hotel room said it was only 7a.m. I thought back to the confused stewardess and thought it would be worth a try to see if Jihae was still in her apartment. She was....and she was pissed that I forgot to call on the one day that we got to talk the entire week, plus I had been telling her that I had some "pretty important" stuff to talk about. As soon as I called, I told her I had to go and I would call her back in 10 minutes...probably making her more pissed off. (Definitely more pissed off.) I ran out of my hotel room and went for a little "sprint" to her apartment. (I will give props to Chris for this. It was a 15 minute sprint, and a good portion of it was uphill.) I snuck into her apartment (again...the Marine training) and went up to her roof where I called her house phone (no caller ID) and began our "weekly conversation". We talked about the converstaion I had with her father the week prior and some of our future plans. The converstaion with her dad was a really big deal for us, so that was awesome. I then said that I needed to get some stuff off my chest. I told her that there was a lot of deception in relationships and that recently, I had been doing a lot of deceiving in our relationship. I think she thought I was gonna dump her (again)...awesome. (No, not awesome. Not even a little bit.) At the peak of the conversation, I hung up the phone (leaving her more beyond words can describe pissed)...and then knocked on her door. No answer. I then opened the door and entered her apartment. I heard her in her room (probably throwing things from being so angry) (Yup! I threw the phone against the wall!) and then knocked on her bedroom door (Jihae has a roommate and she thought it was her), when she opened the door, Chris Watson was standing there waiting. I popped the question and she just kinda stood there for about five minutes, giving me some interesting looks of surprise. I then explained to her that she needed to answer yes or no, because I was feeling a little bit uncomfortable and vulnerable. (I didn't not answer because I was thinking about my answer. I was just in shock. But I am glad he finally got to feel a little bit uncomfortable and vulnerable for the first time!) She said o.k. and now I am trapped...please help. Just kidding.
Anyways, I am gonna be back in Arizona on Sunday (in time for the second round of the playoffs!) (Oh how things have changed! The Suns will probably not make it to any round of the playoffs this year... Let's get a great draft pick!...) and will start looking for a job and getting settled in for the long run. No date is set, but we will keep you guys all posted. Take care and God bless!!
Chris"
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