The Engagement Story: Sweetest Day Weekend 2009

 Told by Jessica

Joe and I were never necessarily big on holidays, but we always found time to do something unique when it came to Sweetest Day.  Not too sure why...maybe the whole sweet tooth thing we share.

During the week leading up to Sweetest Day, Joe kept telling me about the weather.  He's not usually up on things like that, so it was a little weird, but whatever.  He would say things like "I hope it doesn't rain this weekend" and "it sure is going to be cold.  Do you have your winter coat ready?"  I went with it.

We spent the Sweetest Day this year with a beautiful evening walk in the Short North followed by a fabulous dinner at Rosendale's Modern Bistro.  Preferring spontaneity, we had also forgotten that Sweetest Day in a nice restaurant usually requires reservations, but we managed to squeeze into the last open spot.  We enjoyed a bottle of wine while sharing bison meat balls.  Joe ordered the burger.  I had the fish sandwich.


After dinner, we headed down to MoJoe's lounge for a nightcap and to visit Chris, our favorite Columbus bartender and a friend of mine from my OSU days. We didn't stay out very late...Joe said we needed our rest that night.

The next day, it was announced that Chef Rosendale had returned to his previous gig at the Greenbriar and Rosendale's was closed.  We'll always have the memory that we were there on closing night.

All throughout the evening, Joe kept calling me his "girlfriend."  He kept stressing that I was his girlfriend.  It was pretty out of character, especially considering that we had been together for almost 5 years at that point.  Little did I know that he was doing that because it would be the last time I would be considered his "girlfriend."

Around 5AM on Sunday morning, Joe's cell phone rang.  He jumped out of bed, ran down the hallway to the office, and shut the door.  A few minutes later, he comes back, asks me how long it would take me to bundle up if I were to be heading outside, sets his alarm clock, and jumps back into bed.  An hour later, we wake to the alarm, shower, and he bundles me up.  We hop into his car and drive out to Pickerington.  Joe pulls into the empty Marcus Theater parking lot and asks if I want to get some coffee.  I say yes, so we head over to Steak 'n Shake for coffee.  The perplexed waiter asks if we have something special going on this morning, but Joe denies it.  Suddenly, a little van pulls up outside.  It has a basket attached to the back of it.  We pay for the coffee and head out.

Joe walks up to the van and introduces himself.  The man explains that he is the pilot.  He asks if we've ever been on a hot air balloon before.  We say no.  He explains the entire process as the crew begins setting up.  Before we know it, we're holding the basket down and trying to climb in before it floats away.

The flight was supposed to take 45 minutes, but we were in the air for 120.  It was the most awesome experience of my life.  When you're in the balloon, you just glide through the air--like you're floating.  It is also so quiet...just the occasional sound of the propane tank lifting the balloon higher.  People would run out of their houses, waving and begging us to land in their backyards.

About halfway through the flight, Joe asks the pilot to tell him when there's 10 minutes to landing.  When the time comes, Joe starts acting all weird.  Then he breaks out into his speech.  Before I know it, he's one one knee in the little balloon basket flying over Columbus, asking me to please marry him.  I whisper yes and he puts on my ring.

A couple of minutes later we are crash landing in some farmer's cornfield in Amanda, OH about 25 miles from where we started.  A total Jess and Joe kind of story!

After packing the balloon up, we celebrate the event with the crew with a traditional champagne flight toast and the Balloonist's Prayer.  We also received official Certificates of Ascension marking our first Hot Air Balloon flight.  Totally awesome!

Then, Joe and I decided to drive all the way over to Hilliard (the complete other side of town) for our favorite breakfast brunch at Salvi's Bistro.  We headed home to announce the news to our families...then enjoyed dinner at the Crosswoods Winking Lizard, the place where we first met.  (Can you tell we like to eat??)

So, that is the story of the day we got engaged.  Sweetest Day Weekend, October 18, 2009.

Here's a slideshow of the photos we took:

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