Wedding: The Engagement: Surprise!

Saturday, March 4, 2000 – 5:00am – Rude Awakening

At 5:00, Cathryn’s alarm went off, half an hour earlier than she expected.  A few seconds later, the alarm on my cell phone, which had mysteriously been left behind on a shelf next to her bed, starting going off.  By the time she was awake enough to know what time it was, she was a bit miffed at me for waking her up early, and confused about why my phone was there.

Saturday, March 4, 2000 – 5:01am – Surprise Phone Call

Then her phone rang.  Now, the only reason she would expect her phone to ring at that hour would be if the hospital were calling to tell her she didn’t have to come into work.  So she answered the phone in the most professional voice she could muster a minute after waking up.

But I was calling of course, not the hospital.  Instantly, she was lovingly irked at me for waking her up too early.  I explained that I had arranged with the hospital for her to get out of work for the day.  Instead, we were going on a little surprise trip, and that she needed to get dressed and be ready to go in one hour.  “Is this what I think it is?” she asked, her voice two octaves higher, and trembling with excitement.

Shortly after 6:00, I picked her up at her apartment, and we started driving south through downtown Atlanta . . .

Saturday, March 4, 2000 – 6:40am – Hartsfield International Airport

As we drove, Cathryn didn’t know where we were going.  As we got off the interstate at the airport, she wasn’t surprised, but still didn’t know where we were going.  Not until we arrived at our gate did she discover that we were flying to New York.  We grabbed some breakfast in the terminal, and our flight took off on time at 7:30.

Just before 9:30, we were on the ground at LaGuardia, ready to tour the Big Apple.