The plan was for Lauren and Ken to go to San Antonio to visit Lauren’s parents for Thanksgiving. All of Lauren’s immediate family would be there.

As far as Lauren knew Ken purchased flights for Ken to depart from Toronto at 6:00pm on Wednesday, November 27^th, 2013 and for Lauren to depart Portland at 3:35pm. We would both meet in San Antonio at 11:35 that evening and be picked up by her parents.

This is where the story takes a detour.

THE LONG STORY

Ken purchased Lauren’s flight from Portland, Oregon to San Antonio, Texas. He then purchased his ticket from Toronto to San Antonio, but making a covert stopover in Portland for a few hours. The plan was to use the short time in Portland to propose to Lauren prior to flying with her to San Antonio. Timing was imperative. Ken was to land in Portland at 12:35pm. And the flight from Portland to San Antonio was to depart at 3:35…a 3 hour window.

The ring and the roses were purchased and ready. With the help of Lauren’s cousin Laura and Lauren’s co-worker Gloria, Ken decided to use Cathedral Park as the location to propose. After much scouting with the help of Laura and Josh (Laura’s husband), the perfect spot was selected. Throughout their relationship, Ken and Lauren had a specific quote they’d bring up at random times. The idea was to spell out this quote on log rounds one word at a time leading from the top of the steps at Cathedral park to the bottom under the bridge.

The challenge throughout would be to get Lauren to come to the park without becoming suspicious. All signs pointed to Ken proposing at some point on this Thanksgiving day trip, so there was a great possibility of Lauren suspecting something.

To get Lauren to come to Cathedral park – a 30 minute drive from her place of employment – a scheme was hatched to have her employer get involved. With the assistance of Laura, a chocolate company in the area close to Cathedral Park was located. The name of the company was Moonstruck Chocolate. The idea was to schedule a fake meeting between the packaging company Lauren works for and Moonstruck Chocolate. Ken contacted Gloria, Lauren’s co-worker, and together they concocted the idea that Gloria and Lauren would be asked to meet with Moonstruck Chocolate at their facility, near Cathedral Park. The idea was that Moonstruck Chocolate had an interest in having Lauren’s company do the packaging for their chocolate. Moonstruck Chocolate, as far as Lauren would know, could be a potential new client.

Upon contacting Gloria, she took it upon herself to get her boss Mark involved. He would send a request to have Gloria and Lauren meet with Moonstruck on Wednesday, November 27th at 1pm just prior to Lauren’s trip to San Antonio. The email from Mark included a trail of emails between Moonstruck and Mark insisting on the meeting between the two companies. Gloria would strongly insist that she drive and that Lauren bring her luggage with her so that immediately after the meeting, Gloria would drop her off at the airport. Although Lauren was concerned about the timing of the meeting, her flight departure time, and the fact that it was the busiest travel day in America, she conceded to Gloria’s plan. In reality, Gloria was to drive to the general vicinity of Moonstruck and then park her car, taking a detour through Cathedral park where Ken would propose to Lauren…all to Lauren’s surprise. But, due to various circumstances, that is not exactly what happened.

Road Bump

Ken’s flight from Toronto was to have a layover in Chicago prior to landing in Portland. After boarding the flight in Chicago, Ken texted Lauren’s cousin Laura with the good news that his flight looked to be on time. After a few moments the pilot came on the intercom with some bad news. He informed the passengers that there had been an issue with the plane which had already been rectified. However, due to this there would have to be extended testing performed which meant the aircraft was being pulled from use. All passengers were asked to exit the aircraft. Devastating news which meant the plans would have to be adjusted. Ken contacted Laura with the disappointing news. And, alternate plans for the proposal were now being considered. As Ken re-entered the airport an announcement came over the intercom instructing all passengers off the flight going to Portland to cross the walkway to the immediate next gate. An aircraft was to land shortly. And, this new aircraft would be directed to Portland, Oregon set to land at 2:22pm. This would give Ken about an hour between landing in Portland and departing for San Antonio. The only option with this would be to propose to Lauren in the airport or on the flight. Not the ideal situation.

Fight or Flight

As Ken considered the priorities, and what was most important, he decided that a surprise and well-organized proposal was of high import. Thus, Ken made an attempt to call the airline company to see if there were any options. Upon telling his story, the customer service representative informed Ken there were no other flights flying from Portland to San Antonio that day with their airline. Ken pressed them and was informed that there was another flight at 6pm with another airline going from Portland to San Antonio. The new plan was to attempt to push back Lauren’s and Ken’s flight from Portland to San Antonio by a few hours allowing Ken to still go ahead with the proposal at Cathedral park – a ½ hour trip from the airport. The representative stated they would move Ken’s flight from the original 3:35pm departure to the new one at 6pm at no charge. However, since there was no delay with Lauren’s, Ken would be charged $700 to change it at this late stage in the game. The representative also made clear that she was not able to confirm at the present time whether there were available seats on the 6pm flight. After some conversation (with phone battery dying, Ken’s Portland flight boarding, and proposal in the air) a manager was able to confirm 2 seats on the 6pm flight with another airline, all expenses paid and no additional charge to Ken or Lauren. Miracle.

All Sorted Out

Ken contacted Laura as well as Gloria. The plan was now to take place 2 hours later than originally scheduled. This meant Gloria would have to move back the Moonstruck meeting as well. After speaking with Laura, Ken planned to contact Lauren to inform her of her flight change from 3:35pm to 6pm. As far as Lauren knew, Ken was still in Canada as his flight, as far as she knew, was to depart Toronto at 6pm. Ken headed toward the restroom to hide the fact that he was at the airport. However, on his way Lauren called. Ken couldn’t quite make it to a restroom, but answered anyhow. She immediately informed Ken of some bad news. She had just moments ago checked her flight information online and discovered that her flight was delayed until 6pm. Ken comforted her with the fact that it was only by a few hours and it should be fine. To make things complicated, Lauren asked Ken if he was in the airport. Of course she could hear the announcements in the background. To Ken’s relief, Lauren assumed he was in the Toronto airport. As a side—from prior experience Lauren was aware of Ken’s preference to arrive at the airport well before the official departure time. However, to be 6 hours early seemed somewhat extreme to her, yet she didn’t push the issue. Ken reassured her that he had to work out a lot of details about the flights since it was Thanksgiving and all. Upon finishing up the conversation Ken boarded the flight to Portland. And, contacted Laura to somehow have Gloria postpone the Moonstruck meeting until 3pm as opposed to the original 1pm. Gloria reported that Lauren informed her of Lauren’s flight delay, but would not meet with Moonstruck beginning any later than 2:30pm. This presented a problem and Ken knew the earliest he could get to Cathedral park would be 3pm. For the benefit of everyone, Ken instructed Laura and Gloria that if it came down to it and Lauren wouldn’t cooperate, Gloria was to reassure Lauren that Ken was involved and to just sit tight.

Enroute from Chicago to Portland

After having a drink on the flight, Ken purchased onboard wifi and contacted Lauren to avoid any suspicions Lauren might have if Ken wasn’t able to be contacted during the flight. Halfway through the flight Ken approached a flight attendant and informed her of his predicament. He was seated in row 25 and the flight was now scheduled to land in Portland around 3pm making the Moonstruck appointment a potential catastrophe. Ken knew that it was imperative to get off the flight as soon as it landed. After telling the flight attendant his story and plan, she stated the best she could do was to look for a seat close to the front of the plane. Ken was moved to a seat in row 10 and managed to be the first person to exit the plane upon approaching the gate at 2:50pm. This after meeting a man who couldn’t stop gushing about his wonderful wife of 33 years. He stated that he regarded marriage as being the best thing that ever happened in his life. Being the first to exit the plane, Ken made his way through the airport to meet Josh and Laura outside waiting for him. He was handed the ring and the roses and updated with what was happening with Gloria and Lauren.

The Real Moonstruck Meeting

As Ken made his way to Portland, Laura and Gloria had to be creative with the originally scheduled staged meeting with Moonstruck Chocolate. Lauren had only agreed to meet at 2:30pm and Ken’s flight was going to land later than that in addition to the ½ hour drive to Cathedral Park. Gloria took the plan to a whole another level. To compensate for the time dilemma she contacted Moonstruck and arranged for an actual meeting after explaining the situation. Moonstruck was more than happy to oblige. And, so the ladies met with Moonstruck Chocolate to discuss business. Moonstruck gave the ladies samples of their chocolate while Lauren attempted to gather information from Moonstruck in relation to their current packaging supplier.

As Laura described what was going on, it was time to contact both Gloria and Lauren separately. Laura sent a text message to Gloria to inform her that they were 10 minutes from Cathedral Park. She then contacted Lauren to inform her that she had the camera Lauren had wanted to take to San Antonio in case Ken proposed to her there.

The Camera

A few days prior, Lauren had asked Laura to take the high quality camera to San Antonio. However, both Ken and Laura had to keep the camera for the actual proposal in Portland. After Lauren’s persistence, it was necessary for Ken to contact Lauren and reassure her that the camera was not needed. It only took him two calls to do that. However, at this point in the story, on their way to Cathedral Park, Laura texted Lauren to tell her she had the camera and was bringing it to where Lauren was having the meeting. Lauren graciously replied by stating it was okay and she’d be fine without it. However, Laura persisted and responded by telling her she was only a few minutes from the general area. Laura told her she would be at Cathedral Park, at North Philadelphia Avenue and North Edison Street. As Lauren “informed” Gloria of the situation, Gloria knew what to do.

The Proposal

As Lauren and Gloria arrived, Lauren called Laura to confirm her location. Laura had walked into the park as planned, forcing Lauren to come down the steps and see the log rounds. After a few moments Ken stepped out from behind a pillar at the bottom of the steps underneath the bridge. Lauren had been facing another direction, but turned her head at the precise moment Ken stepped out and that was that. She made her way down the steps and met Ken at the bottom of the steps. Success!