I Got Engaged!

I knew pretty early in our relationship that I wanted to marry this girl. She genuinely laughed at my jokes. She could hold a conversation. And even though she has no interest in my “dumb dragon show“, she was willing to teach herself a phrase in High Valyrian for me.

Let’s take a step back. Kellan and I met a year and a half ago. I had been single for way too long. I hadn’t had much luck with the ladies, anyway. Suddenly, I had this woman who I could talk with, and it be reciprocal. She knows things. She has opinions. She has a passion for life. She’s optimistic. We both wanted a future together. She didn’t have baggage. And she was willing to date me. It was perfect. I knew I had to lock this down.

I had the plan for the proposal like 6 months earlier, before we had even picked out a ring. The idea was simple. I’d have my friend who is a professional photographer there in advance.  They haven’t met, so my friend would just look like another tourist with a big ass camera. Separately, I was coordinating with her former roommate, to have a bunch of her friends show up. (I didn’t get their permission to show their faces, so just imagine a bunch of her friends were there, too.) I’d come up with a story. “Hey, let’s go walk the dog at Kerry Park”. Once I popped the question, my friend would be there to get all the photos, and her friends would surprise her to celebrate.

Simple. Originally, I wanted to go the Seattle Center, but the only way for the photos to line up with the Space Needle, my friend would have had to have been on the ground at our feet. We scheduled a date and time that worked with everyone’s schedules. Except it was November. In Seattle. So I checked the weather every few hours for a week.

Separately, it’s super duper important for me that her family and friends like me. My biological mother’s family hated my biological father, because, you know, he’s an asshole. I didn’t want that. Her mom speaks Kikuyu. So for months, I was practicing. “Nĩdereda kĩrathimo gĩaku kũhikia mũirĩtu waku.” “I would like your blessing to marry your daughter”. I really wanted to impress them and for them to like me. I was finally feeling confident in my pronunciation, and we scheduled a video call with her family. It was at that point that I learned it would be her aunts as well, so now I had to learn the plural version. “Nĩdereda kĩrathimo kĩanu kũhikia mũirĩtu wanyu.”

The stars aligned for me. They really did. It just so happened that the video call was the morning of the proposal. I got the phrase right on the second try. They welcomed me to their family, and gave us their blessing. Randomly, Kellan decided to redo her hair the day before. In the process, she broke a nail, so the afternoon of the engagement, she “had to” get her nails done. I checked the weather one last time. We were set. I texted my friend “Operation put a ring on it is a go”. I texted her friends. They’d all be there at 4. They’d text when the arrived, then we’d head over. This just happened to line up with the sunset, so I had a great excuse. My friend said that there were very few people at the park, so it would be nice and romantic.

We got there, and it was like a tour bus broke down right in front. Like a hundred people were there. Kellan, Meraxes, and I started walking around. I was looking for an opening with an unobstructed view of the Space Needle. My friend was casually keeping herself lined up with us. But where were Kellan’s friends? I texted them that they could come out. Nothing. I looked around, and finally saw them hiding behind a car across the street. I had sent them some money to get flowers, because if I brought flowers, Kellan would know what was about to happen. They decided to get balloons, also.

Kellan saw the balloons, but didn’t see who was holding them. One of the balloons was a giant engagement ring. “Aww. It looks like someone is going to get engaged.” Wow. That’s cute. Hey, look over there in the opposite direction, you can see the Mountain. Then I waved my arm at her friends. Get. Over. Here.

They started heading over. A spot right in front of the Space Needle opened up. It was time. I got on one knee, and asked her to marry me.

She cried. She knew it was going to happen at some point, but didn’t know it was going to be that day. She wiped the tears of joy from her eyes, and noticed she was surrounded by her friends, with flowers, and balloons, and hugs.

Afterwards, my gift to everyone for coming was to take them to the Space Needle. Kellan had never been there, and it turns out neither had her friends. That turned into a full on photoshoot. One person was using one phone for lighting while taking pictures with the other. It was adorable. Everyone had a great time.

Then we went to dinner. The restaurant let us in half an hour before they were going to close, and let us stay late, so we had the restaurant all to ourselves. It was a perfect evening. Everything worked out wonderfully. Now I’m going to marry my perfect girl.

All photos (c) 2025 Jen Tolle.