Catching up III: I'm Getting Married

One of the hardest things about losing my dad was realizing he wouldn't be there to walk me down the aisle if I ever got married again. Gaining the closeness we had in his later years made it important for him to be a part of that. After my first botched effort at marriage, I also hoped that the man I might spend the rest of my life with would have the class and respect to ask my father first. When losing my father became a real concern, I realized this would likely never happen. Jason and I had talked about getting married someday but never to any serious degree. I spent many nights crying while my dad was in the hospital, thinking about all the things in my life that I so badly wanted to share with him.

In January, Jason had a waitress at Settebello deliver a black envelope to me on one of our date nights. Inside was a letter stating that I was to be ready at 6:00pm, on Feb 13th, wearing a black dress, and to bring my skeleton key (an antique key Jason gave me a week into our relationship with a very long story itself). Friday the 13th came with eager anticipation. Jason had made such big deal of it that I couldn’t help but guess at what the evening might be like. Mom I went shopping for a new black dress and she lent me her pearls for the evening. Thursday night Jason and I were settling in when he noticed an odd puffiness to Stigma’s ear. I called the vet who said it was an ear hematoma and that we could wait till morning but she’d have to have surgery. So early the next morning I took poor Stig to the hospital. Jason was a nervous wreck the whole day. I thought surely he’d want to cancel our date. Stigma is his life. She got through the surgery fine but had a tight bandage on her little ear.

Stigma with her bandaged ear

That night I was ready at 6:00pm, waiting for him to walk in the door and take me to dinner. At 6:05 there was a knock at the door. I thought to myself “How cute. He’s being formal.” I opened the door to a man in a suit who said “Ma’am, your limo is here.” Jason was not in the limo. My heart pounding and mind racing I figured Jason would be waiting somewhere at a restaurant. The limo drove in circles for a moment. I thought he was trying to keep me from guessing where we were going. I found out later he was just lost but it added to the whole experience.
After a moment the driver stopped at the Masonic Temple (Jason’s a Mason and the temple here is amazing!) and said he would wait for me. I walked in and our friend Chris gave me an envelope and said inside was my pass. Another friend, Rick, took me upstairs to the “Gothic Room”, which is my favorite. I was told to knock once and a voice from inside said “Enter.” I walked in to see two more of our friends, Robert and Michael, standing behind a podium in the dimly lit room, wearing tuxes. An antique box with a heart shaped lock sat on the podium. Robert asked for the pass and my key and matched my key up to an outline on black paper, then gave me a smaller key in exchange that opened the box. Inside was a green paper heart with directions to our next location, Liberty Park, and another pass.

The SLC Masonic Temple

We arrived at the North East corner(the significance of the ne corner is that all buildings are started at the ne corner) where our friend Tony was waiting with a heart shaped box. Inside the box was a card with instructions to go to the Castle Creek Inn, ask the front desk for a package, and walk up to the room matching the keys in the package. The whole time I was in the limo I was so anxious that I couldn’t speak and my hands were shaking. I walked into the CCI and asked for the package. The woman handed me a box of Ethel M’s Chocolates (we fell in love with these in Vegas) and the room key. I walked up the stairs and placed one of the two keys in the door, my hands still shaking. It wouldn’t turn. I quickly pulled the key out and used the other which worked. Jason was inside on one knee surrounded by 80 or so little candles. He held out an elaborately decorated frog box(how cool) and told me to lift the nose. Inside was a ring and he asked “Will you marry me?” I said “Of course” and then he pointed to a camera that had been taping the whole event.

The Castle Creek Inn at night


Our room, the Romeo and Juliet Suite

The view from our room

We then took the limo to Tuscany (one of my favorite Italian restaurants), where dinner was fabulous and we had and amazing chocolate, hazelnut tart for dessert.

One of the dining rooms at Tuscany

When we returned to the Castle Creek Inn, he told me an amazing story. When my father was home on hospice care a few days before he passed away, Jason had called my mother and asked if he could come up to Park City and talk to my parents. My dad was very weak and not able to speak much at this point. Jason told them how he had been wanting to talk to them for a while, but just hadn’t been able to find the right time to do it. He told them that he wanted to ask them for their permission to marry me. With the very little strength he had, my father stated “nothing would make me happier.” I of course burst into tears hearing this. Dad loved Jason and that meant the world to me. Mom wrote down the whole story also and gave it to me for Valentines Day. It was fun hearing Jason tell his version and then seeing mom’s.

Jason trying to make me laugh as I told my family the story of our evening

We’ve been together for over two years now. I can’t picture my life without him. I’m so excited to spend the rest of my life with him!