(This is the super-detailed, long version of our engagement! I wrote it out so that we could capture as much of the weekend as possible! It's mainly for us to look back on but I did want to share it with those of you who like the long version of these things. I'll probably add and take away certain things as we read over it a few times ... but I did want to post this for anyone who is interested in the whole story! )
He put a ring on it! (The story of how Nick Keswani asked Alicia Christie to be his wife!)
On Tuesday or Wednesday of last week my supervisor, Kevin, told me that some of the computers was running slow and needed software updates. He said that each update would take a while so IT was planning on updating them one at a time. They were planning on starting with mine on Friday at 4:30. I was scheduled to work until 7:30 but since I use my computer all day, that meant I could go home early. This all sounded a little strange because no one else at work seemed to know about the prolonged computer updates.
4:25pm on Friday rolls around and Kevin comes up to my desk. “Hey, it’s 4:30 - you need to get going!” I laughed and started packing up my things - I’m not going to complain about leaving early! As I walked out, he mentioned, “Oh, they want to be done by 5 so they can go home. I know it’s going to take long than that though so you can go!” I thought the whole thing was weird but that thought was pretty brief - I was just excited to get off work early so I could join Nick to watch the IU game and have game night with friends!
As I got into my car to drive home I saw I had a voicemail from Nick. “ Hey cutie, so I called B Dubs and ESPN Zone and neither have the Big Ten Network - so we can’t watch the game! I’m so bummed. But hey, it’s cold out tonight, let’s go to that cigar shop at Downtown Disney and get cigars!” My heart sank because Nick has been PUMPED for the first IU Basketball game - he had been talking about it for a month! So, being the awesome girlfriend that I try to be, I looked up and called a local bar to ask if they had the Big Ten Network - sure enough, they did! I called and left him a message that we can check out this local place to watch the game, that way he didn’t have to miss it!
Within a few minutes Nick calls back and says “Oh, hey, my friend told me about this new place at Downtown Disney that has a ton of sports channels. He’s from Iowa and he’s watched Big Ten Network there - let’s check that out! And we can stop by that cigar shop on the way.” I liked that idea mainly because Downtown Disney was closer than the bar that was 30 minutes away. I had some time so I stopped by Walgreens to get some chap stick and also decided to get some new eyeshadow - I don’t buy eyeshadow that much but for some reason I wanted to try something different that evening. Nick texted me to say that he was going to wear a new sweater he had bought with me the other day, “could you dress up a little? I like when you dress up for me! :)” My only thought was “Sweet, I just got new eyeshadow! …Crap, I have no cute clothes here for cold weather. They are all up in Indiana.”
When I got home I mentioned to Becca that I had no cute warm sweaters. (trying to hint that I wanted to borrow something of hers…) She got excited and started sorting through her closet for different things. I went into my room to try some stuff on and she brought out this grey dress. “Wear this! With a black blazer and black tights. You’ll look hot!” I stared at the clothes. “We are going to a sport bar to watch basketball, Becca. Don’t you think this is a little much?” “No, my friends went to this place and they said it’s kind of dressy. Besides, it’s better to overdress than underdress!” I tried a few different outfits but with each one, Becca would say “ooooo…. I like the grey dress better” So, because I am a girl and give into girl peer pressure when it comes to outfits, I stepped out wearing the grey dress. To my relief, Nick walked out of his car with the sweater and khakis. My only thought was that we would both be overdressed for the sports bar together.
….little did I know that the entire afternoon had been one giant set-up.
On our way to Downtown Disney I made a joke about the word “love.” I think I was teasing him about a song lyric he sang to me - we did not use “love” and something he sang sounded like he did. His reaction was pretty serious. “You know why I don’t use that word right? I believe it comes with a promise. I want it to be my promise that I’ll choose to love that person forever.” Not that I was thinking at ALL that this evening would be the night of our engagement, but if I did, then that statement would have shot that idea out of the sky. We kept driving and chatting about our day. I think I was freaking out about my bottom tooth that is slightly out of place.
We got to the cigar shop and the Cigar Expert (what do you call those guys?) was showing us some fancy cigars. Cigar Expert was showing me a cigar that was suppose to smell like honey (it smelled like paper) when Nick leaned over and said he forgot his wallet in the car. I sat down at the bar while I waited for him to go get it. The Bar Expert came up to me a few times to ask if I needed anything. I told him that I was waiting for my boyfriend to get back - which was taking a lot longer than I expected. My phone all of the sudden buzzed with a video text. It was Nick! I grabbed my phone and hit “play” - with no luck. The bar was way to loud for me to hear anything - even with my phone pressed up against my ear. I looked at the Cigar Expert with an “I’m sorry!” expression, and walked out. “Did you get stood up?” he yelled. I laughed and said “Well maybe!” Just then my friend Casey called. “Poor timing, Casey,” I thought and hit Ignore on my phone. I kept trying to listen to what Nick was saying and could only hear “Hide and seek … can’t wait to see you…”
My thoughts went into overdrive - I don’t even think I realized what could be happening. (Maybe a more accurate statement is that I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Plus I was convinced Nick would not propose until the spring.) I decided to call Casey to test my theory. She picked up and asked what I was doing - totally acting that she was just curious about my Friday night plans. I then realized she was useless in my investigation and tried to get off the phone to watch the video again. “No no! Wait. I’m actually pulling up to Downtown Disney. I have head phones - want to use them?” This was the moment that the conscious thought started to go through my head: Nick might be proposing tonight!
Casey came up (looking fantastic I might add) and handed me her headphones. The video was Nick, driving away from Downtown Disney, telling me that tonight was going to be a game of hide and go seek. My job was to follow the clues, take lots of pictures, and build a team together with each stop. “I’ll see you at the end - I can’t wait to see you, I’ve been planning this for a long time!” When I looked up Casey had her phone out and told me Nick had just sent her a message for me. I stared at her and put the headphones in her phone. The first clue was Nick in a place where “people celebrate a lot … it’s a bit like utopia here … see you soon!” My first thoughts: This is happening. WHY didn’t I wear cuter shoes?! (They were grey flats. Not horrible, but not fantastic, either.) Yet I was too nervous to say out loud what I thought was going on … so I just laughed, probably squealed a bit, and hugged Casey. I think my only verbal reaction to her was that I wished I had different shoes on. She was grinning too but wouldn’t say anything either. I told her the clue was for Celebration - a township near Disney that is built like a fairytale. A lot of our friends live in Celebration and we love the central “downtown” part of it - it’s a lake with shops and restaurants around it.
As we drove to Celebration, Casey put on some dance music and we car danced the whole way there. I was SO giddy that it was only appropriate that we have a serious car dance session to LMFAO and the Black Eyed Peas. We walked to the Starbucks in Celebration (where Nick was sitting in the video) and found Aaron and Sadee sitting there. Sadee said “Well, heelllllllooo there! What are you doing here??” I explained what was happening - fully aware that they were probably in on it. Sadee smiled and told me that they just so happened to buy an extra drink … a Caramel Maccihito, my favorite drink! Aaron pulled out his phone and said “Oh, look at this text I just got, it’s for you!” Sure enough, it was Nick with the second clue. “Hey cutie - I’m here, across the way from a shipwreck and where you and I saw the birth of twins!” I knew immediately he was at Disney’s Boardwalk. There’s a huge water slide in the shape of a shipwreck. We went there on my birthday and he bought me a pearl from the Pearl Factory. It’s the kind of place where you pick an oyster and whatever is in the oyster is yours. The one I picked has 2 pearls in it and the ladies there kept saying we got twins!
Sadee asked to join Casey and I on our trip to the Boardwalk. As we drove there, Sadee asked all kinds of questions about how I was doing and if this game of hide and seek was normal. I could only laugh and say “well …. no! I don’t know what’s going on!” I was still unable to say what was going on! We drove to the Beach Club and walked over to the Boardwalk (which I later found out was the wrong thing to do) and found my friends, Hannah and Ashleigh. They were sitting there with some food on the table. “Hey, we heard you were hungry! We got some food for you!” I had not eaten much since breakfast and I did mention to Nick on the way out that I was starving. But by this point my thoughts were NOT on food at all. I think I put 4 bites of a kid’s turkey sandwich in my mouth and then Ashleigh pulled out her phone with the final clue: “Hey! It’s the last clue of the night. I’m out by the water and I can see your favorite princess’ castle across the way. We hung out here a bit when you first moved to Orlando!” That meant the Polynesian Resort!
The 5 of us piled in Casey’s truck and started out for the Polynesian. They interviewed me on camera about what was going on and we chatted a bit. “What if we get there and there’s just a sign that says ‘The end!’” That would be the biggest mixed signal ever!” And sweet Sadee asked if they could pray for me before dropping me off. It was at this moment that I was SO thankful Nick knew me so well. He knew that I would have wanted girls around me to “send me off” and to experience such a special event with me. It was SO great to have those girls with me to laugh and be nervous and excited with. They were such a great part of the evening.
I walked into the Polynesian with my heart going about 100 miles an hour with anticipation and excitement. I turned the camera I had to face me to record a few thoughts - and even then I couldn’t form a specific thought! “I think this is it!! Ahhhh I can’t even say it!!” And then this very sincere thought from the Lord came to mind. It felt like he was walking next to me, excited, and whispering to me, “I am so excited to give you to this man! This is my best for you, sweet daughter, this is my best.” With that thought came a sense of peace and deep joy.
Nick was waiting at this spot called Sunset Point. It’s a beautiful look out that overlooks Cinderella’s castle and the lake that surrounds Magic Kingdom. Nick had a blanket and a huge bouquet of flowers. Daisies because he gave me a daisy the morning of our first date and roses because “they are romantic!” he said. He had the area surrounded with candles, a slideshow with memories of us, and flowers. He sat me down next to him and started reading from a book he made: “Nick and Alicia: Our Journey” It went through our story from the beginning, before we were even dating! Part way through he paused and looked at me “I want to tell you something before I read the next part - I love you. I love you so much!” I was sooo excited to tell him the same thing! I have had to keep that between me and the Lord for so long! He went on to read the reasons he loved me and what he has learned about the Lord through me. ( I do need to add that God was so sweet, he was preparing me for this … earlier that week, I read over a very meaningful verse in my life, Isaiah 43:4, with a fresh sense of God’s love for me. Nick’s first thing on that list was that verse and how he had learned a deeper meaning of God’s love for us through me!)
And finally, Nick told me that we took a big step of faith when we started dating but he wanted to take an even bigger one with me now. He asked me to stand up and got down on one knee “Alicia Riesz Christie, will you marry me?” And I can’t remember what happened exactly after that … I think I answered before he finished! “Of course I will! Of course!!” I pulled him to his feet to hug him and made him ask me again! And he pulled out this BEAUTIFUL ring to place on my finger. We could not stop smiling!!!
Casey came out from behind a distant tree (creeper ;) ) to take pictures of us and celebrate with us. After we took some pictures, Nick jumped up and said “I forgot!!” He ran over to an iPod and hit play - “One Less Lonely Girl” by Justin Bieber came on - and all 3 of us starting laughing! He also brought out Disney pins saying “Just engaged!” for us to wear to the party he and the girls had planned for us. We started to make our way to the car to drive to Hannah and Ashleigh’s. We stopped at the hotel front desk so Nick could thank the front desk workers for their help. The girl at the front desk was so excited for us and took out 2 leis made of real flowers - a white one for me and a yellow one for Nick! This couple was checking and and got SO excited for us. Judy, the wife, took pictures of us putting on the leis and wished us the best.
On the way to Hannah and Ashleigh’s, we called our parents to tell them the news. They were SO excited! And I had only teared up until I heard my dad’s voice. There is something about a daughter telling her father that she’s getting married. My dad was so happy and then he said “Oh my gosh, my baby. My baby daughter is getting married! I was just holding her, and now she’s getting married!” I just lost it! And it was so fun to her Nick’s mom on the phone “Welcome to the family!!” Ahhhh that moment made it all the more real! We both just inherited a new family!!
It was amazing to walk into that house and see so many people there waiting to celebrate with us. I keep thinking how amazing it is that Nick and I have only been in Orlando for a few months and there were 20-30 people who were genuinely overjoyed to be with us on the night of our engagement. After a lot of hugs and congrats we were able to share the story with everyone, including the story of how Nick got the ring and why he chose to propose on 11/11/11. (Both of which will be a different post - because this is already obnoxiously long. ) And our friend Kevin started a toast to us - it was so sweet to hear kind words from our friends here and to receive their blessing. After they prayed for us we mingled a bit over cake and champagne.
Nick dropped me off around 1am after we called a few friends to share the news. He told me he had not slept at all the night before and was exhausted! As he should be! But we pretty much exchanged places … because I could NOT sleep once I got home. I watched a show and then laid in bed staring at the ceiling for a few hours before sleeping. We got up early for the last part of the story: a breakfast at the Polynesian Resort, complete with visit from Disney characters Lilo, Stitch (my favorite Disney character!), Pluto, and Mickey! We took pictures with each character and Stitch even took me dancing around the restaurant during a mini parade. (I am unashamed to say I was the oldest one in the parade. Everyone else even close to my age had a kid they were taking pictures of!) It was so fun to sit with Nick and figure out the lies that went into the past few months to get me thrown off of Nick’s plans. I loved hearing how he went and found the ring, how he called my supervisor to ask if I get off work early, how he would not let some of our friends come to a few events of the past week in case they gave something away, how he worked late hours each night to plan the perfect proposal, and how he rallied all of our friends down here to celebrate with us. I am SO blessed to be engaged to Nick Keswani!!
One final story ... when we called my best friend and her husband, Emily and Michael, Michael asked if I could not stop staring at the ring. It was true that if I wasn't talking to someone, I would glance at it - even stare at it. This is all cute and adorable except I was staring at it as I was driving out of the parking lot for church - and hit a car. The driver was pulling out of the parking spot and wasn't paying attention to me going by. I was staring at my ring and was not paying attention to the car backing out. I swear I was only looking for a second! But sure enough, I looked up, screamed, and bumped into his back wheel. Thankfully I wasn't going to fast and neither of us were hurt or even upset about it. It left a dent in his SUV the size of about an apple but the car already had a few bumps in it. My bumper has a little scratch in it as well ... but I stopped caring about the look of my car when the paint starting peeling off a few months ago due to the Florida sun. Moral of the story? Bright things ... like the sun and engagement rings ... are bad for your car.
