First, a little bit of background information..
Peter is my high school sweetheart and January 30, 2015 was our 10th dating anniversary.

For Christmas 2004, the month before we officially became “boyfriend” and “girlfriend”, Peter had folded me 1,000 origami cranes out of Starburst wrappers. He had recruited all of our high school classmates to help eat all of the candy. Needless to say, I eventually caught wind and figured out what he was doing but greatly appreciated and loved the gift.

In the Spring of 2010, Peter had gone to Asia to study abroad. As a birthday gift when he came back home, I had folded him his own set of 1,000 Starburst cranes.

The month before our 10th dating anniversary, I was full-on wedding-crazed. I had spent months pinning wedding things on Pinterest and whining to my friends about how “I can’t wait anymore!!”. In one of my “I’m going crazy!!” rants, Peter told me, “I know you’re expecting a proposal so it won’t totally be a surprise.. So when something suspicious starts happening, can you just go with it? JUST GO WITH IT.”

Over the next few weeks, little hints and ideas filling my mind had fully convinced me that Peter was going to propose on Friday, January 30. He had even asked me to take the day off work. In anticipation for it, I had planned it all out.. I was going to have my hair redyed the weekend before and had removed my nail polish so that I could have a fresh coat done a few days before Friday.

The Friday before the proposal, my brother had come downstairs and asked, “Why is Peter texting me asking if Mom and Dad and I are free for dinner on Tuesday? WAIT NO NEVER MIND.” I was convinced that my brother had just spilled the beans that Peter was planning on talking to my family. I kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want my brother to feel like he had just ruined a surprise but my heart started racing and my mind started wondering.

The next day, Peter and I were scheduled to meet up with his friend and girlfriend, D and A, at a park in Diamond Bar to do a photoshoot for them. Months before, D had asked us to do a photoshoot for them so when Peter told me to bring along a nice set of clothes so we could get some photos of ourselves, I objected. I was getting annoyed that he wanted us to squeeze in photos for ourselves when this was supposed to be for his friend. In the end, I refused to change into my dress.

We walked around the park and hiking trails and stopped to take photos in different spots. It was starting to get dark so I was begging Peter to head back because there were no lights along the trails. We started walking back but made a different turn and started heading down an extremely steep and scary staircase. I kept asking to turn around because it was getting very dark and I had no idea where we were going. The staircase eventually disappeared and we were heading down a rocky, dirt slope lined with trees hiding all signs of civilization. I felt so bad because D was dressed so nicely for the photoshoot and was walking down this hill in heels.

We finally reached the bottom of the hill and Peter turned to me and said, “Remember when I said to just go with it? JUST GO WITH IT.” Before I could even register what was happening, he had taken out a blindfold and put it over my eyes. He led me deeper into the dark forest of trees and had to carry me on his back over a stream. We ended up at our destination and he had me stand still while he prepared things around me. At this point, I was tearing up because I knew what was happening.

The blindfold came off and there were hundreds of little twinkly lights strung in the tree branches above us. On each little lightbulb was a paper crane. 1,000 little lights and 998 cranes. I started crying. There was a strand of lights hanging down in front of me with two bare bulbs at the end. Peter stood in front of me and handed me a little piece of paper. “Would you fold a crane with me?”

I wish I could say we folded two perfect little cranes but unfortunately (and embarrassingly) I blubbered out “I don’t remember how!” I followed his folds and, through the tears streaming down my face, I managed to push out a crudely folded crane. He took his crane and attached it to one of the two bare light bulbs and had me attach my crane to the last bulb. When I dropped my hands back down to my side, more twinkly lights came on.

I honestly don’t remember much of what Peter said next but I know he managed to include one of my favorite Backstreet Boys lyrics which made me laugh. Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

His friends, who had helped him set up everything while we were busy with our “photoshoot”, came out from hiding and we all hugged and took photos. We all headed to dinner where more of my friends surprised me. I was almost in tears again because my friends from out-of-town (San Diego, Arizona, and New York!!) had come in just to celebrate with us. All 14 of our friends told me about how they had been in constant communication and planning for the past 6 months.

My heart was overflowing with love and happiness.