The Original, “Perfect” Plan (aka Plan A)
1 - Travel to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
2 - Find a tourist to be an unwitting accomplice.
3 - Get the tourist to take a goofy picture of us, with the American Falls behind us.
4 - Surprise the tourist and Stephanie by proposing.
5 - Hope that the tourist remembers to snap a classic, traditional picture or two.
The Proposal, Plan A
The day started out OK. The flight from Boston to Buffalo was pretty simple. I was a little nervous because I had the ring in my backpack. I didn’t want to lose it. I really didn’t want a TSA agent to find it. I really, really didn’t want Stephanie to find it. I had a perfect plan.
After arriving, I learned that my plan had flaws because my it was based on nostalgic memories. For starters, I remembered September at Niagara Falls to be warm and sunny. Instead it was chilly, dreary, and looked like it could rain at any time. I also recalled throngs of people all of the place. Instead, people were few and far between. With 20/20 hindsight, I wager these two things are interconnected.
In any event, we travelled to Niagara Falls well enough. We walked down the hill to the American Falls. I fished the ring out of my backpack and hid it in my coat pocket. I looked around for a tourist. And I looked a little more. And I looked a lot more. I couldn’t believe it.
There wasn’t a single tourist looking at the American Falls!
The Proposal, Plan B
Plan B was just like Plan A. Except that it featured the Canadian “Horseshoe” Falls in step 3. So off we went to the Canadian Falls.
It’s a walk of about a mile or so between the two Falls. So I had a really long walk during which I had to hide a giant jewelry box in my coat pocket. The jewelry box seemed to get bigger as the walk progressed.
When we finally got to the Canadian Falls, we marveled at the sights and sounds for a second or two. The powerful Horseshoe Falls thundered and sent up a mighty plume of mist that sprinkled on our heads. We snapped a few pictures for fun. I looked for, and found, my tourist accomplice. And then, without warning, my accomplice-to-be fled inside the souvenir place.
Huh?
Then I felt the mist on my head. Except it wasn’t mist. It was rain - a very cold rain.
Plan B was ruined. We ran inside to look at souvenirs and away from the rain.
The Proposal, Plan C and D
At this point, I’m panicking. I still have the ring in my pocket. I’m out of excuses to snap pictures at the waterfalls. Heck, I’m out of waterfalls. I had to think fast because stupid magnets in the gift shops weren’t going to distract us for very long.
So here’s Plan C. Walk back to the car through the park across the way from the Falls. There has to be something picturesque and “perfect” for a proposal. After the rain passes, we begin our walk back to the car.
On the way back, we find a pretty spot under a street lamp. I start to linger, trying to build up the courage to actually propose. And then we both wrinkle our noses.
Exactly why there is rancid, smelly water across the street from Niagara Falls is beyond me. Never mind that. How is there smelly, standing, yucky water across the street from Niagara Falls. This isn’t going to work.
Onwards to Plan D!
I see a flower garden in the distance. Awesome! It’s a rose garden! Wicked awesome! We head there and find a pretty rose.
It turns out that roses die sometime in the summer time. The “pretty” rose turned out to be a disgusting, half-beautiful, half-zombie rose. In fact, the entire freakin’ rose garden was filled with dying flowers. It was a floral necropolis!
This wasn’t going to work.
The Proposal, Plan E
Maybe I can propose in the Hershey Food Store and the Coca-Cola Ice Cream Shoppe?
No. That’s dumb. Besides, Steph wants Dairy Queen.
The Proposal, Plan F
I have a headache and I’m stressed. Stephanie is eating ice cream and she’s really tired. We’re sitting in a little square and I am completely out of time to figure out the “perfect” proposal.
After tossing out stupid ideas involving a Tim Horton’s, a ride on a ferris wheel, and a few other ideas, I have a thought. I’ve been trying to create the picture-perfect, storybook proposal all day. I wanted my story. I needed my story.
I reached into my pocket and just showed her the ring.
I got my story.
