The Applause was unexpected

My life has been pretty dramatic as most of you faithful readers know. But I believe I am a living, breathing testimony to God’s faithfulness. So since Im a writer, and since my life has been so full of drama (some of it self-inflicted) I wanted to do something bold, fairytale-like as I am in the process of going after the happily ever after part. It really didn’t hit me that Jennifer was arriving later in the day until I told the girls in my office. They got so excited for me. They really like me, and they so want for me to be happy. I didn’t get hardly anything done of note today (don’t tell Nader). I planned on getting everything done the day before so there wouldn’t be any pressure on this very special, momentous and life changing day. I left the office early and got the key to the executive apartment building we’re staying at. This is owned by the same company that I used to rent from for the past year. So for a daily rate at about half the cost of a hotel, I get a ultra-luxury furnished two bedroom suite. This place rocks. I could easily live here. But I digress. Jenni called me from London before she was about to leave. I was so excited. My heart was bursting, but I was scared. Scared because this is the type of love I’ve been longing for, for years and years, yet here it was right in front of me for the taking. I just didn’t know how to react. Im used to being rejected, that part I’m familiar with. But to be loved…that would take some getting used to. OK. Back to the fairy tale part. I went and bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a pearl ring, I wasn’t sure if the ring was ugly or not, so I was a little insecure about it. There are perks to being a general manager of a production company. I had Jeddah (Filipino photographer) and Nishad (Indian Videographer) there to capture the moment. I am bold, Im a risk taker, but its important to realize that I always seek God. I’ve been seeking God fervently for the past three weeks seeking to know if Jennifer was the one for me and if I should marry her. Even this morning I prayed that prayer. Each and everytime the answer has come back as a resounding yes. As you know, God and I have these amazing conversations, so Im 100% confident that I can absolutely hear His voice on this one. So I was going to ask Jennifer to marry me on this trip. But again, I have a flair for the dramatic. I wanted to do something that we would remember the rest of our lives and come up with a story we could tell our grandchildren. Keep in mind, I have never even met Jennifer in the flesh. But with the web-camera, I had a pretty good idea to what she looked like.

So there I was at the Bahrain Airport. Something you should know about the Bahrain airport, there are multitudes of nationalities all crowded together at the tiny exit gate. It looks like it could be the United Nations with a prevalence of Indians and Arabs. So there I was with my flowers anxiously awaiting Jennifer to round the corner. My photographers were poised and ready to go. I waited for about 45 minutes for Jennifer to clear customs. In that time three separate friends all approached me to say hi. Even Josh, from church who just had a baby. He said, I’ve been reading your blog the past couple of weeks…are you hear to pick up Jennifer? Why yes I am. So then another friend approached, Kristof, from Poland. They were all excited when I told them what I had planned. Then I saw her and dropped the conversation with Kristof. “Nishad, Jeddah…She’s here.” Time didn’t stop…but it slowed down. Everything started moving at around 50% speed. Jennifer had been up for approximately 36 hours, and she looked incredible. As our eyes met each other’s gaze for the first time its as if we had always known each other. There were about 250 people in the exit area, but they didn’t matter to me. I marched up to the center of the exit with flowers in tow. Jennifer saw the photographers and didn’t know how to react. So before either of us said anything to each other, I dropped to a knee. “Jennifer will you marry me?” She was a little bit stunned with all the attention being on a new continent. She smiled and shook her head yes. Then a very unexpected thing happened. Spontaneously, all 250 people surrounding us, started applauding and cheering. It was a movie moment, one that I had Nishad capture. It was magic. I stood up and broke the law. I gave my new fiancé a kiss (public displays of affection are illegal) but I couldn’t let the crowd down. It was a very special, and dramatic moment. Today marks the first official day of the rest of my life with Jennifer. We got off to a great start. God believes in the Happily Ever After Ending. Im living proof.