Engaged at the Denver Zoo- My Movie Moment

Sometimes life plays out like a scene from a movie. One of those moments happened to me over the weekend when I asked my girlfriend to marry me at the Denver Zoo. It was one of those instances where everything kind of just came together and you had to ask yourself if it was real life.I had been planning this little trip for a while and had been conversing with a couple of friends on the setup and how it was going to play out. Beano from afternoons here on The Point and his wife helped me orchestrate everything and I couldn't have asked for better helpers. They ROCK! Anyway, onto the story:

I asked if she wanted to go to the zoo for Beano's wife's birthday and she said okay. I didn't want to arouse suspicion, so we used Beth's birthday as an excuse. We arrived at the zoo and I sort of had a plan that I was going to do it in front of another exhibit but it got changed to the Polar Bear exhibit at last minute and I am glad it did. We walked around the whole zoo, me with the ring in my pocket, freaking out that I was going to lose it. A couple of times I thought I did and had mini panic attacks. Stupid deep pockets.

Time is winding down in the day, the zoo is about 30 minutes from closing and we finally arrive at the polar bear exhibit. We travel underneath to where you can watch them swim, just waiting for the perfect moment.  Beth and Beano get the Bose stereo out and put in my iPod. I had a part of a song all cued up and was ready. A couple of problems though -- the bear was not swimming, which she really wanted to see and there was a gaggle of kids running around. I didn't mind that there were people, it was just hard to set the mood with the kids screaming. Also, since the bear wasn't swimming, Kaeley, my girlfriend, was getting kind of bored and I had to keep pulling the ol' "Hey, did you see that!?" to keep her interest.

So there I am, waiting, trying to keep her from losing interest and trying to keep myself from passing out from nerves. Oy!

Here is where it really got cool. Beth went up and played guard and asked people politely if they didn't mind waiting for a minute because her friend was getting ready to propose. Good job Beth. Finally, it was clearing out. I just had to wait for some drunk birthday girl that was yelling at the polar bear, "Hey bear, I got a fishy for you" to leave.

Finally, I had my window of opportunity. I give Beano the signal and he hits play. The song fills the underground area and she looks around trying to figure out where the music is coming from. I get down on one knee, pull out the ring and open up my mouth to say those magic words, and my brain just stops. There I am, on my knee, ring extended, silent, while she looks at me in shock.

Luckily, she is speechless as well and she moves her hands to her mouth as tears begin to fill her eyes. She removes her hands and there is a huge smile on her face, which I take as a "yes," even though I never officially asked the question. I stand up to give her a hug, and this is where it officially felt like a movie. As we are hugging, the polar bear swims right by us, as if it was planned! According to Beano, the bear decided to jump in right when I went down a knee. Truly amazing!

It was one of those moments that a person will never forget. Again, a huge thank you to Beth and Beano, because without their help, it wouldn't have been so amazing! And thank you to the Denver Zoo and the awesome polar bear that helped me out with that!

Here is the AWESOME BEAR that helped!

And if you are wondering what song I played. I picked a part from 'MFEO' by Jack's Mannequin This is cued up to the exact part I used: