Wayne proposed to me the night of August 20, 1999 on Daytona Beach.
We had decided to go to Daytona for a small weekend getaway. We arrived at the Beau Rivage on Saturday and then went down to Inlet Harbor, a local restaraunt on the intercoastal. Since my aunt, Susan, along with Sharon (my grandfather's girlfriend) and Georgia (Susan's friend) were going to be hanging out on the intercoastal that day in my grandfather's boat, they swung by Inlet Harbor and picked us up. I thought it was kind of strange that Wayne went back to the car and got his backpack of clothes to bring on the boat, but I shrugged it off since he does some funny *things* from time to time. Obviously, I didnt know he had an engagement ring in there and was afraid to leave it in the car! So off we go on the boat. Not soon after, everyone agreed to stop and anchor for a little while to enjoy the sun and have a few drinks. We ended up outside of the channel, onto a sandbar and the anchor was tossed out. Well, the sunny sky turned gray and before we knew it a storm was fast approaching. You'd think it would be a simple thing to pull up the anchor and head in before the storm caught us, but anyone in my family will tell you thats not how it works with the Gorfine's! hee hee! I guess in the rush to beat the storm, the anchor, still being in the water, was overlooked and the driver (she'll remain anonymous *wink*) started up the boat and put it in reverse. Boom! The boat stops. Ok, by then there's thunder and lightning...you guys know how I am about lightning...and we were stuck on this boat in the middle of the intercoastal with lightning everywhere. We figured out that the boat had stopped because the anchor line was all wrapped up in the prop. So, Wayne, being the only guy there, was volunteered to dive down there and fix the problem. He made sure the keys were out of the ignition and sitting on a seat where he could see them (I guess he didnt want to lose his hand or arm or something, hee hee). I was totally freaking out! Wayne was underwater in the saltwater with his eyes open, unwrapping rope from the prop while its lightning - did I mention we were in the intercoastal where all the sharks like to hang out? So he saved the day and brought the anchor up, hopped in the boat and all 5 of us went down into the cabin to wait out the storm. Of course I said "we're gonna die" a couple of times, but you all know that's normal. They dropped us back off at Inlet Harbor and we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. I guess the boating adventure ended only for Wayne and me because we later got a phone call about how the girls had run out of gas while pulling the boat off the ramp! *laugh* Anyway, we went to a small seafood restaraunt/tavern for dinner and Wayne was acting all weird and uncomfortable so I started getting the vibe that something was up. I didnt know exactly what was going on, but he wasn't being himself. We finished up our dinner, went went back to the hotel and decided to take a walk on the beach. Neither of us can remember exactly what he said, but he told me that he loved me, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and then he got down on one knee with the ring and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes! I was so surprised and really excited! Everyone else that was walking on the beach or standing on the hotel balconies happened to be staring at us. So after I said yes, he stayed on his knee while he put the ring on. I was so embarrassed that EVERYONE was watching, that I said "get up! get up!" He still jokes with me from time to time about that. So we were engaged! He told me that he had bought the ring weeks before from my family's jewelry store. He had even gone to my parents house and asked my dad for permission to marry me. It's amazing that my family didn't spill the beans! I was truely surprised that some of my family knew weeks before he proposed and I never found out! Of course, our weekend couldnt have ended without one more little quirk. After we checked out of the hotel my car wouldn't start. The owner of the hotel's son tried to help by jumping my car, but that didnt work. I had decided to try it myself one time before we called AAA when I noticed that the car was in Drive, not in Park. (Ok, so Wayne totally says that he is the one that realized this, but I promise you it was me!) The parking lot was at an upward angle which had prevented my car from rolling away. Once I put it in park, the car started. In all Wayne's nervousness the night before, he had turned the car off with it still in drive when we returned from dinner. hee hee. So that's the story of how we got engaged! It's definitely a memorable one!!