The first time I saw her….  It was on a soccer field, between games during a soccer tournament in Round Rock.  My friends and I were juggling a soccer ball.  She and her friends were walking by.  I tried to show off, and of course, I didn’t even catch her eye.  Her team went on to win the women’s division, and my team took second… in the men’s division.  A few days later I was checking out the tournament website and saw her in the team picture as they posed as champions.  Sweat, sunburns, and sports bra’s…. nice.

It was okay that she didn’t notice me, because I had the power of the universe on my side… even if I didn’t know that I needed it yet.

The first time we spoke….  It had to be year or two later…. We were at another soccer tournament again; this time in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  The captain of my team was friends with Rebecca, the maid of honor and the captain of her team.  The two of them decided to have our teams stay at the same hotel.  As it turned out, my room was next door to the laundry room.  At first I was really annoyed by this.  I mean who wants to hear laundry machines all night long.  This was a stroke of luck, that I am so thankful for now.  That “room of annoyance” was the second chapter in our story.

If you know anything about Lara, then you know she’s the first to stop everything for her friends.  She’ll spend hours searching for the perfect assortment of bath soaps and salts to make a gift basket for a friend in need.  She’ll give the last dollar in her pocket to a friend who just wants a soda.  She’ll sleep in a haunted house, with a pack of wild dogs (one of which was schizoid) just so that a friend will feel like her home wasn’t vacant.  So it should come as no surprise that she had volunteered to wash all of her team’s uniforms in the hotel laundry room.

Somewhere between brushing my teeth and my hair I walked out into the open courtyard, and there she was.  She was talking with one of my teammates.  I immediately went back into my room to smooth out the alfalfas… and finish getting dressed.

After properly clothing myself… I had determined that boxers alone don’t make the best first impression.  I gathered some courage and headed back out to strike up some conversation with this cute girl, who was talking with my teammate that already had a girlfriend. 

We spoke for a few minutes and managed to make each other smile and blush.  She told of some dinner plans that her team was planning, and invited my team to join them.  We did, and Lara was a terrible dinner date.  She let that same guy who all ready had a girlfriend talk her into taking too many shots. She ordered dinner, and a to-go box.  I don’t think she touched her food.  How could she eat with all that laughing and smiling going on?  And what a smile it is…

Elimidate… A few months passed, and we kept running in the same circles.  One day in early spring Lara called me up.  She was inviting me to play a round of disk golf.  I’d never played before and, of course, I agreed to meet her.  I mean, who would turn down a sunny afternoon with a pretty girl?

Apparently nobody turns down a chance like this.  I show up and Lara tells me that we are waiting for two other guys to arrive.  Immediately my mind flashed to that terrible reality based late-night show, Elimidate.  In the show, a girl goes on a date with three guys and kicks them to the curb on national television – totally crushing their self esteem and any future possibility of ever finding another date.  You get the picture, and I was certain that there was going to be some long-range camera behind every tree.

Luckily for me the competition wasn’t so strong.  One guy was nice enough, but didn’t show.  The other is now… well, he’s a 6 foot 3 inch cross dresser.  An hour and half later I found myself in second place.  I was four throws behind Lara, but king of the hill as far as Y chromosomes were concerned.

After the disk golf, Lara and I went to The Crown and Anchor.  We each had a beer.  I had some beef nachos and she had chicken tacos.  We talked non-stop.  We talked about our trips to Europe, and she told me of times in Tahoe… and a tree swing that could make you fly.

The conversation was flowing and we decided to watch a movie at my place.  After the movie I walked her out to her car.  The street light formed a halo over her head.  There was a sweet gentle kiss, and then we said good night.

A week later we went out to help my roommate celebrate her week long birthday extravaganza.  Lara was wearing this cute cotton skirt with green flowers.  Her hair was twisted up and held together with a chop stick.  I couldn’t take me eyes off of her, and everybody commented on how cute a couple we were.

A clever deception…  I needed a decoy.  I had a plan, but no way to make it work.  There just weren’t enough days in the week to fly all of the places I wanted to take her.  So, I owe some big thanks to my sister, Sharon; my nephew, Patrick; and Stephen Petty.  Patrick’s birthday gave me the perfect cover, and Stephen’s cabin in Tahoe gave me the perfect location.

I had spent months searching for the perfect engagement ring.  I borrowed Lara’s Ohma’s engagement ring.  I conned all of the women in my office into joining the search.   I was making myself sick with all the cuts, carrots, various clarities, and colors.  I even talked Lara’s friend, Melissa, into faking that her sister was getting married so that she could question Lara about what she wanted for an engagement ring.  Really, I was becoming mental… I seriously had to see a doctor for all of the stress.

Back to the deception -  I told Lara that we were going on vacation.  The plan was that we would fly to Los Angeles, for Patrick’s birthday.  We’d hang out for a few days then fly to Colorado to spend some time skiing with her father and other family members.

The truth went something more like this… It’s 5:45 am on March 3, 2007.  Lara and I are driving to the airport.  We had packed for two climates, and so we had lots of luggage.  We were ready for mild LA, and cold Colorado.  Did I mention that immediately after this vacation, I was supposed to fly to China for two weeks on business?

The plan was almost ruined before we even left Austin.  The ticket agent kept naming the destination.  She said it three or four times, “Reno is your final destination, right?”

I thought Lara was going to figure it out, but thankfully she wasn’t quite awake yet.  When we got on the plane, I told her that I booked our flight to go through Reno to save money.  I don’t know why, but she believed me.  Perhaps she knows that my frugality knows no bounds.

We arrive in Reno around 10:00 am, and we are famished.  As luck has it, the gate next to where we landed was departing to LAX in an hour.  So, we walk out to the food court, but don’t really like what we see and keep walking.

I’m steering us towards the exit, and as we pass security a light goes off in Lara’s head.  She says, with a smile on her face, that we’ll need to keep the security check in mind if we are going to board the plane in time.  This is just too easy; I don’t even half to make up a reason for us to leave the secure area.

Reno’s airport isn’t so big, and in a matter of no time where are near an exit that will let us check the weather.  We walked out side to enjoy the sunshine.  It is a beautiful day… just amazing.  It’s like 65 degrees with hardly a cloud in sight.  As we walked from the shade of the building into the sun, I stop in the middle of the street.

I’m standing there, arms out-stretched, cabs passing by.  The sun is warming my face, and I start talking.  I’m just going on and on about how great this day is.  It’s perfect, and I want to make it last for ever.  I don’t want to leave.  In fact, I’m not going to.  I tell Lara that I’m changing the plans.  We are staying in Reno.

Of course she’s staring at me like I have two heads, and one of them has crossed eyes.  She says jokingly, “Shouldn’t we call you sister and let her know.”

That’s my cue.  She’s buying the story.  Time for next phase.

In machine gun fashion I rattle out, “Maybe I all ready did.  Maybe we aren’t going to LA.  Maybe I’ve rented a car.  Maybe we are going to stay in Stephen’s cabin.  Maybe Chris, Sharon, and Patrick are coming to meet us, and stay with us in Tahoe.”

Lara’s response, “Yeah, right!”

So, as cavalier as I can, I lead us to the rental car counter.  I even borrowed a joke from Seinfeld’s George Costanza… “Let’s take it up a notch!”  I’m standing in front of the rental agent, and I take a look over at Lara.  She’s looking at me like—how far is he going to take this joke.  She still thinks we are flying to LA for Patrick’s birthday.  Perfect.

I slam my hand on the rental counter.  I’m smiling and I proudly proclaim, “I’m Mathew Hess and I have reservation.”  Lara’s laughing at me; she thinks I’m putting on a show for her.

The rental agent looks over some papers then replies, “Of course Mr. Hess.  We have your SUV waiting for you.  May I see your driver’s license and credit card?”

Lara’s jaw hit the floor.  She was dumb founded.  This was no joke.  What is going on?

After collecting our luggage and getting the Jeep, we hit the road to Tahoe.  The drive is exhilarating.  It’s like we were the center of the universe.  Lara’s planning a birthday cake for Patrick.  She’s also going to help him build a fort, a do some puzzles, and the list goes on and on.  She is so excited.

If you never been to Tahoe, it’s magical, especially for Lara.  She had spent many vacations there with her mother and brother flying on the magic tree swing.  Her face lights up just thinking about it.  And now she’s going there on vacation and she’s meeting my sister’s family for the first time.

We arrive at the cabin around noon.  The roads are clear, but the week previous brought an outrageous amount snow.  Some reports were 90 inches.  It was gorgeous.  There were ice-sickles hanging from the roof, and a huge drift of snow covering the cabin’s patio.

We settle in and start planning the weekend.  Lara is eager to get to the grocery store, because she loves to cook and thinks she’s cooking for 5.  When we are at the store, I was dodging, bobbing, weaving and making up stories for why we didn’t need to buy food for 5 people.  The logic, I explained, was that we should wait to make the cake because we don’t know what Sharon has planned.  I even faked a phone call trying to confirm their ETA and dinner plans.

As the afternoon goes buy, we are having a ball.  We make plans to go snowmobiling and skiing.  We were like kids, laughing at everything.  We played tether ball, made snow angles, and built some snow people.  The whole time we were building our little snow people I was thinking—we are making ourselves.  How cute?

It’s getting close to dusk, and I talk Lara into going for a walk on the beech to watch the sunset.  Did I mention that this was the day of the solar eclipse?  We get bundled up, and head out.  I was so nervous that I almost forgot the ring.  I had to go back inside to get it.

As we are walking along the beech, I was looking for the tree swing.  I found the tree, but there was a problem, a big problem.  Not only was the swing gone, but the whole limb where it once hung had been cut off.  My head began to spin, what was I going to do?  I had been planning for months.  I was going to sit her down on the swing and push her a few times.  Then while she’s “Flying,” get down on one knee and propose.  There were countless hours of meticulous scheming and secret email communications.  And it is gone.  The magic flying swing is gone.

It was like Lara could sense my rising anxiety and she diffuses it all with out even knowing it.  That’s how she is.  She can make everything okay, without even trying.  She suggests that we walk a little further to a pier.

I’m sweating.  It’s 30 degrees outside and I’m sweating.  Walking on a pier and sweating.  Focus on the task at hand.

We get to the end of the pier in time to watch the sun set over the mountains across the lake.  The scene is surreal.  The water is glass, the air is crisp, and the colors are breath taking.

“Lara,” I begin.  “I have a confession.  I lied to you again.  Chris, Sharon, and Patrick are not coming.  In fact, we are not here for Patrick’s birthday.”

“The real reason we are here,” as I get down on one knee.

--I reach into my pocket.  Everything is getting blurry, and my tongue… my tongue is the size of a school bus.  I’m getting light headed.  Quick, do it now.

I produce the ring, and open the box.

“Will you marry me?”

We are both crying.  She’s nodding her head and leaning over.  These two combined to produce a head butt worthy of a professional wrestler, that nearly knocks me off the pier into the icy waters below. 

“A simple “Yes” would have worked.”

To see more photos from the engagement story click here.