The Scottish Surprise

In order to tell you about the surprise I received on the Isle of Skye, it helps to have a bit of background. I arrived in Scotland in the spring of 2010 to attend the wedding of a close friend of mine, Annie, who had relocated to Scotland years before. Plus, I would get to visit Scotland, a country that I had always wanted to see firsthand. Originally we planned for me to be in the wedding, but obligations with my job made that impossible.

When I got to the wedding venue, I was amazed. It was the fairytale wedding that almost every little girl dreams of, a huge spacious church with beautiful Catholic accents, wonderful decorations, and gentle music playing in the background. Annie was a gorgeous bride and you could tell that she truly loved her groom. At the reception, I met the groom's half brother Andrew. I hate Grey's anatomy, but Andrew was definitely McDreamy. He was tall, broad shouldered, kind and handsome. Plus, he had a Scottish accent that was gentle. He worked as an architect in London and was thinking about going to law school. We talked for most the night, about our respective lives and realized that we had a lot in common. I definitely liked him, but didn't want to rush into anything, especially because we lived on different continents.

I went back to my hotel room and was watching TV when the phone rang. I answered it and it was Annie! "Love, just shut up and listen, because we only have about two minutes until they force us to turn off our cell phones. I just got a call from Andrew, who was panicking because you left without giving him your phone number. Apparently, you two made a love connection and he didn't want to wait until we came back. So, I gave him the number to your hotel and he is probably going to call you tomorrow. Go out with him! He's a really good guy and you two would be great together. Love you, bye!"

Andrew did call me and we ended up going on a six hour date. It was the best date of my entire life. It's hard to describe it without using that cliched expression of, "We just clicked." We meshed so well together and spent the better part of the week getting to know each other. When the time came to go home, we were both crushed. So we made the drastic decision to enter into a long-distance relationship. Skype, IM, and plane trips saved us. As time progressed, I fell in love with him and the feelings were entirely reciprocated. We dated like this for about eight months when I went to Skye to meet some of his family.

After a fantastic dinner (made by his mother), Andrew said that he wanted to take me to a cliff that had a beautiful view of the island. The view was fantastic and we just stood there, looking over the isle and enjoying the scenery. I didn't notice Andrew was on his knee until he grabbed my hand. I looked down at him and my bottom jaw dropped open like a fish. He said, "Love, being with you is amazing. I didn't know that I could feel this way about anyone. I love you so much. I feel like we could be happy together, forever. Will you marry me?" I was crying at this point, but I said yes and nodded. He stood up and kissed me and we hugged for at least ten minutes. Then, we went back to his family's house and they were in the living room, silent. We walked in and when they saw that we were smiling, they started laughing and screaming. His mother went to her room and gave Andrew an engagement ring that had originally belonged to her mother. Andrew put it on me and we spent the night with his family, laughing, drinking, and celebrating.