From The Current Mr. Goodman

Kawai's side of the story:

The plan to propose really began with me wanting to buy a ring months before I thought I would actually drop the question. I knew ring shopping was something that could potentially be stressful so I wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible. Thanks to some less-than-subtle hints from Mel and Jess, I knew exactly what I was looking for and after threatening to burn down only one jeweler’s store I had what I thought was the perfect ring for Jodi.

I guess it pretty much goes without saying that once I had the ring, my original plan to wait until Christmas time went right out the door. Having a diamond ring in my possession and trying to keep it secret was probably about the equivalent of asking a child to keep a secret about what they want for Christmas. I didn’t stand a chance. So I started looking at earlier times for my plans. I knew I was going to be traveling for the last two weekends of November and the first Weekend of December so that left me with either the upcoming Friday or something very close Christmas. In spite of my own best efforts to talk myself out of it, I decided that I was gonna go for it on Friday.

I knew that I wanted it to be a total surprise so I immediately contacted Jess and Mel to enlist their help. Jess suggested the idea of planning a triple date and that seemed just about perfect to me. I asked Jodi if she would care to go to dinner that night just as an additional way of throwing her off. A couple hours later she mentioned the idea of a triple date instead and I readily agreed.

Even with the fake date planned I still wanted to mess with Jodi’s head a little more so I started thinking of what else I could do. I had just ordered a purse that I knew she wanted and I began to think it would be funny to get her thinking I was going to propose and then just give her the purse. I know, it’s a little messed up but there was no way she would be too upset about the fact that I was randomly giving her a purse, right?

With my mind made up and a decent plan intact I called Jodi’s dad and asked to meet with him Thursday morning. Thankfully, he didn’t put up too much resistance to me asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage. He offered some advice and told me just how special Jodi is to Bonnie and him. I could appreciate that considering how special I felt she was. I was glad to have the blessing of Jodi’s parents and everything was working out just as I planned it.

When Friday rolled around I was something of a wreck. I like to think that I was never nervous or scared about the idea of marrying Jodi because I had decided pretty early on that there was no one I would rather spend the rest of forever with. I have never been more certain about how I felt about someone and the thought of us getting married made me happier than I can explain. Even knowing that, I couldn’t help but toss and turn the whole night before and then bite my cheek all during the day leading up to the proposal. I really didn’t think that Jodi would say no but there was just a lingering feeling of, “what if…”

My mom was possibly the most excited person in the world that day next to me. She gave me a huge hug before I left for school and told me how happy she was and how she couldn’t wait for the evening. It made me extremely happy to know that both of my parents thought so highly of Jodi and wanted nothing more than for things to work out between us. Their approval has always been important to me and I don’t think either of them has ever approved of anything I have done as much as they approved of this.

There were at least a dozen times during the day when I told myself that there was no way I was going to go through with the plan. Perhaps nothing made me question it as much as the possibility that I was going to be gone all of the following week on an interview fly-out to D.C., but there was also the worry that she’d be tired from shopping at H&M or worn out from a bad day at school. Thankfully, Mel and Jess and Bryant all did their best to keep my head in the game. For the record, this may have been the longest day in the history of the world.

By the time I headed up to see Jodi I had gotten over all of my doubts and was just excited. I still couldn’t manage to listen to music and preferred to just allow myself to think during the drive. When I pulled up to her apartment I said a silent prayer, put the ring in my pocket and marched to the door.

As soon as I saw Jodi I felt a calming reassurance that nothing would make me happier than to be married to her for eternity. I did my best to stay calm as I talked to her about shopping and her day at school and began to look for an opportunity to talk to her about more important stuff (difficult to imagine what could be more important than the opening day of H&M Utah). I told her that I needed a drink and she went to do some laundry and I decided to seize the moment. I asked her to come out of the laundry room and explained that I wanted to do something that I had originally planned on putting off until Christmas. She started to get a suspicious smile on her face and I let it sink in for a moment before pulling out the purse. I never really noticed any disappointment on her face so if there was any she hid it well behind her excitement over the gift. She told me repeatedly how I was too good to her and that I couldn’t just keep giving her gifts like this for no reason.

At this, I will take a brief moment to explain that there could never be a better reason for my behavior than my love for Jodi. If there ever was a reason for someone to try to be the very best they could be all the time, it was this. I love Jodi with all my heart and fully believe that she deserves nothing less than the very best that I have to offer. She was and is the most wonderful thing in my life and I was determined to make her believe it every day.

So, thinking of this, I dropped to one knee and asked the girl that surpasses all of my dreams, to marry me. Thankfully she didn’t hesitate at all because I don’t think I could breathe from the time I hit my knee to the moment she threw her arms around me and said yes.