Proposal

During a family night on a Sunday in July, my mom told us that we were going to Seattle the following Friday. She said we were going to spend the day together as a family and of course Brent was invited. Brent asked if he could invite his dad, sister-in-law Shelly & nephew Max. He told me his dad had the day off from work and it would be fun to include them on an outing to Seattle. I thought nothing of him inviting them along for the day!

When Friday came along, I ended up driving with Brent’s side (which was all part of the “plan”). My family was going to leave just a little bit after us. When our car got to Seattle, my sister Kacie called and told me they got stuck in traffic and that they would be another 30 or 40 minutes. I was feeling like I should’ve driven with my family since this was a “family day” set up by mom – or so I thought!  

Brent’s dad, Dave, asked “what should we do to pass some time while we’re waiting? Oh you know what! I actually have some VIP passes to the Space Needle from my company because we sponsored something in Seattle a few months ago, let’s go do that!”  He had previously told me about that event his company sponsored in Seattle so I thought nothing of his suggestion to go to the Space Needle!

As we we’re walking toward the Space Needle, Brent’s nephew Max had a stinky diaper. Dave offered to walk back to the car with Shelley to get the diapers they “accidently” left in the car. We had parked a little ways away so again, I thought nothing of Dave walking back to the car with Shelley. And I thought nothing of Max needing his diaper changed because that diaper was in need of change asap! Later, I learned that they were going to just pretend Max had a stinky diaper. He definitely actually had one! Shelley was joking that he was all part of the planning and she had trained him to do it on command!

We made our way to the Space Needle without them and they told us they would meet us up there. When we got to there, the line to go to the top of the Space Needle was about an hour long wait. I started to try and convince Brent that if his dad was letting us use these VIP passes that we should just save them for a date night. I told him we should use them when we can actually spend time up there instead of making it out to be something to do just to pass time while waiting for my family!

He told me that with the VIP passes we probably didn’t even have to wait in line. He told me to wait somewhere for a minute and as I was waiting he was checking into it with someone. I started to get irritated because it was so crowded, kind of hot outside and I thought it would’ve been more fun to save the passes for another night!

When he came back, he said we didn’t have to wait in line. I told him I felt bad just cutting in front of everyone with families with kids who have been waiting for an hour or more. I also told him that Dave & Shelley we’re probably on their way back over to us so we should just wait another minute and all go up together. I probably also suggested just waiting to see if it was something my family wanted to do too. He totally wasn’t listening to me and I was so bugged why he was so adamant about going to the top of the space needle now without even considering or even acknowledging my suggestions! If you know Brent, that is definitely out of character for him.

I remember him telling me, “Jay, just relax!” So, to sum it up so far – I’ll admit I wasn’t cooperating. But I had no idea he was trying to make a proposal happen!

Once we got to the top of the Space Needle, we went out to the viewing area and Brent started looking through some stationary binoculars. He said, “Jame, look how cool the football field looks…” and then tells me to look for myself. I was still clueless – I just thought of course Brent thinks the football field looks cool, he likes football! He had set them up in a specific spot for me to get this proposal rolling! What did I do? Grab the binoculars and start scanning the view. As I doing this, Brent told me to look at the field. I said something like, “I saw the pretty view, I didn’t see the field though, I bet someone else wants a turn though…” He took another turn after me and although I didn’t know, he had set them up in the spot he needed them to be in again.

The spot the binoculars needed to be was looking over the football field in the area that family & some friends we’re standing in holding a big sign reading “WILL YOU…”

He told me to look again. I saw people and a sign but down on the field, but before it registered in my mind what was going on, who the people were or what the sign even said, Brent was down on one knee, with a ring, asking me to marry him.

I said yes – obviously! I remember that much but then the rest was a blur. But Brent had someone filming us once we had gotten to the top of the Space Needle. I didn’t even notice until after he proposed that someone was filming us! The recording is priceless.

I looked through the binoculars again to actually see the sign, see family, and I was just completely surprised. I was so confused too! Not confused at Brent proposing to me but at how this had all been planned without me having one single clue to what was going on that day! Brent had also gone out to breakfast with my parents that morning.

We went down the elevator and my family came running toward me. I heard my little brother said, “Brent is gonna marry JAMIE!”

I hugged my sister Kacie first and just let the tears go! It was a release of excitement & assurance mixed in with other emotions. Hugs were going all around! I remember taking pictures, laughing, smiling, crying – all of the above. Afterwards, my family plus Brent went to eat together.

I couldn’t believe this was it - Jamie and Brent engaged.

We went to play at the big fountain in Seattle and I started making a few phone calls. Meanwhile, Brent was running in & out of the fountain getting soaked with my little brothers and my dad. My sister was taking pictures and my mom was videotaping. I put my phone away and thought, “I need to celebrate!” I ran toward the fountains and started laughing and playing with them. That was one of my favorite parts of the day.  I was happy and experiencing feelings of contentment.

I felt a lot of different emotions that day simply because engagement & marriage are monumental steps in life. But most importantly, I remember feeling happy to be moving toward the step of marrying Brent.


Does the Space Needle even have VIP passes? He got me good.