A Special Valentine's Day Story By Casey Sperte
Sean had been on vacation all week in San Diego, and I really missed him. He'd been good about calling me every night to talk, but on Friday he text messaged me something kind of odd. It said, "my phone is almost out of battery, but I will talk to you in the morning."
I was kind of bummed, but decided to put the extra time to good use. I had planned on writing a paper in the morning before picking Sean up from the airport, so I started working on it on that night instead. I wrote 15 pages, and ended up finishing it. I sent it in to my professor and started surfing the web. Please keep in mind my definition of surfing the web is: Fox News, CNN, and seansperte.com — it normally takes me 20 minutes. This time I didn't go to Sean's site though, and just went straight to bed.
The next morning, at 7:01, my cell phone rang. It was Sean! He said, "Happy Valentine's Day!" I started to say something back, but he interrupted and said, "... are you excited to see me today?"
I said, "absolutely! I wish you were here right now!"
"I am here!" he replied.
At first I thought he might be upstairs, but then I thought about it and said, "no you aren't." I remembered I had helped him make his flight arrangements, and knew that he wasn't flying back until noon.
He answered back, "yes I am!"
I said, "well where are you?"
He said, "you'll have to come find me! Go look at my website for help. I love you!" — click!
... He hung up!
I grabbed my laptop from the desk and quickly entered "www.seansperte.com". He had changed his homepage to read "FIND SEAN", with instructions for me to get dressed, and get to a certain Starbucks by 8 AM! (View archived homepage.)
I looked at the clock. It was 7:10; I only had 45 minutes to get ready!
I ran to the shower, quickly did my hair, and then debated about what I should wear. I'd been told that if I ever thought I could possibly be getting engaged to wear a cute outfit. So, I picked something I knew Sean liked and figured it was Valentine's Day anyway, so better be safe than sorry.
An interesting side note: While I was blow-drying my hair, my dad knocked on my bedroom door and said, "What's going on?" I told him Sean had called and said he was in Seattle, and I had to go "find him" and that's all I knew! He replied, "interesting," and not another word.
I ran out of the house at 7:58 AM, knowing I was going to be 3 minutes late. I hoped that I wouldn't be in trouble. I did my makeup in the car, and then pulled up to the Starbucks. I acted very calm and collected while I walked into the building, and approached the counter. I ordered my usual grande, non-fat, 2 Equal latte, and then spotted Matt Daughtry, a close friend of ours, coming over to me. He had a dozen roses in one hand, and a video camera in the other. He said, "good morning, Casey, and Happy Valentine's Day!" I said, "Uh, hey! What are you doing here?"
He gave me the roses, and then handed me a card. It was a "clue"! It said:
You might look: Where Sean spends time while you shop at Tiffany's
(HINT: Think fruity computers) Watch
Of course, this meant I was to go to the Apple Store. Matt explained he was going to accompany me (with camera in hand), so we both walked out of the store.
Just then Tom Eyre, another close friend, pulled up in his car. Matt opened the door for me, and I hoped in. I asked them both how much Sean was paying them, and they said, "a lot, but not enough." We laughed, and I commented about how tired they both looked. We laughed again and then headed out to the Apple Store at Bell Square Mall.
When we got to the mall, it wasn't open yet, so we snuck in through an employee entrance, and found the back door to the Apple Store. We knocked, rang the door bell, and knocked again, but nobody answered. We finally found the door into the mall public area approached the Apple Store's front entrance. Before we got there though, we noticed a single rose with a clue attached to it sitting on a nearby bench, The clue said:
You might look: At your favorite middle-class restaraunt
(HINT: You don't have to go all the way to "California") Watch
Easy! California Pizza Kitchen.
We headed out to the nearby California Pizza Kitchen — which really is one of my favorite restaurants. There was a clue on the bench by the fountain (kind of damp, but still legible). It was attached to another long stem, red rose. The clue read:
You might look: Where you and he had "the talk"
(HINT: This place could be considered a "cheesy" location) Watch
I figured it was the Cheese Cake Factory in downtown Seattle, not Bellevue, since we had our "talk" about "getting to know each other" at the Seattle location. I ran back to the car and we headed toward Seattle.
When we finally got to the Cheesecake Factory, there was a rose standing up in the corner of the doorway, again with another clue attached to it. This clue said:
You might look: Where he used to take you every morning before school
(HINT: The smaller "buck" is just as valuable as the larger) Watch
Now this was very sweet because it really made me think about how much Sean does for me. Every Monday, on Sean's day off, he would drive to my house and pick me up at 7 AM to drive me to school at The University of Washington. We would always stop at the Starbucks at U-Village before my class, and then he would drop me off right by the door so I didn't have to walk up the never-ending stairway to the campus. Then he would wait for my classes to be over and pick me up at noon. I loved those mornings, so that clue was pretty special.
The clue we found at the U-Village Starbucks said:
You might look: At the park where you used to take the boys
(HINT: Sean might be hiding underneath the playground while playing "twinkle-twinkle" on the playground piano) Watch
This one was very sweet as well, and I was starting to get a little mushy about the whole thing. One night Sean and I were on a date and we ended up at a little park in Bellevue. We sung on the swings and the only light came from the street lights. We were trying to see who could swing higher, and Sean stopped his swing, looked at me and said, "I will remember this moment for the rest of my life." (This was very early in our relationship.) We then went and played on the slides. Under the slide there was a toy piano — we played "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" on it, and laughed as we tried to make up our own songs.
So when we got to the park, the rose was stuck in the keys of the piano, and the clue attached to it said:
You might look: Where you both work
(HINT: It's where you worship God too!) Watch
So we headed to the The City Church. When we pulled up into the parking lot, I saw a limo waiting, and Jamie (Sean's sister) standing beside it. We pulled up next to her and I got out. She walked over and handed me a clue and said, "Happy Valentines Day!" I opened the clue and laughed when I read:
You might look: At the Space Needle
(HINT: Take the limo!) Watch
So we took the limo! (And the camera, which the guys handed off as they said their job was over.)
On the way, Jamie and I had fun talking, remembering, laughing, etc. I asked Jamie if Sean was really in Seattle already and she said she couldn't say. I wondered if this long escapade was just to keep me busy on Valentine's Day until Sean arrived.
We got to the Space Needle, and pulled right up to the front doors of the gift shop (at the bottom). The driver opened the door, and I saw my family come out from the entrance! They were all smiles, and my dad had a camera. They hugged me, and told me to go up to the next level of the Space Needle.
We (all) walked up the stairs, and then I saw Sean's family! They lived in Portland, so this was a huge surprise! They handed me tickets for the observation deck, and I asked if we were all going up to the top. They said, "no, just you and the camera." So Jamie, the camera, and I got on the elevator and rode it to the top. (Watch.)
When the elevator doors opened, I immediately spotted Sean! He was standing about 20 feet from the elevator waiting.
I was so excited! I hadn't seen him in a week, I didn't expect him to be there at all. I was already pretty emotional due to those sweet moments of recollection, seeing my family, seeing his family, riding in the limo, and the entire journey itself. So, when we hugged, I kind of babbled. I don't remember what I said, I just remember thinking, "what a wonderful Valentine's Day. He came home early!" (Watch.)
After hugging he asked me to come outside with him. We walked out to the observation deck, and looked out over the city. Sean wrapped his arms around me and held me really tight. He looked me in the eyes and said, "I love you so much."
I said, "oh, I love you too! I've missed you and I'm so glad you really are here!"
He said "I love you, and I choose you."
He had said that to me before, but I'd not said it back (that I could remember). I smiled and said, "I choose you, too."
He said "Really?"
I said yes.
Then he got down on one knee (and even writing this, my heart starts pounding all over again) and he took both of my hands and said, "then will you? Will you marry me?"
I said, "yes!"
He smiled and said, "good! Then I can give you this" — and he took a ring box out of his pocket, opened it, and presented me with the most beautiful ring I have ever seen in my life.
I didn't quite know what to do! He took it out of the box and handed it to me, and I slid it onto my finger. It was perfect. I kissed him, and we hugged and hugged, and I looked at the ring and gasped as he told me about it. (Watch.)
Then he said, "let's go get breakfast." So we went and had brunch at the Space Needle's rotating restaurant. I don't think we ate very much, we were both so busy talking and dreaming out loud, and looking at the city. Later that day we visited some friends, and that evening had a party to celebrate.
The whole day was so much fun, and absolutely perfect. It meant so much to me that Sean included the people that were important in our lives. This really is the best engagement story I've ever heard. I'm overwhelmed that it is actually mine!