The Proposal- His View

Franz took his sweet little time to type out his view but one week after the proposal and it's ready!
It brings me such joy to read his words. Enjoy!

My story begins a bit earlier than Sarah's which makes my perspective a little more difficult to post to a blog. Playing on my phone under a Snuggie is not the cause for the delay, I assure you. I am tempted to take the story back to the first ring that slipped onto Sarah’s finger when we were only eighteen (See Our Story for those details). Or to dive into detail about random moments leading up to this event that solidified my desire to spend the rest of my life with this woman. Some moments were filled with uncontrollable laughter during long walks downtown Chicago and others were filled with tears brought on by conversations about the past or the sad ending of a movie. All that really matters at this point though is that this wasn’t the first time I wanted to put a ring on her finger and how consumed I became by making this a reality.

I ended up surprising Sarah by flying down to Fort Myers, Florida to spend the last few days of 2013 with her and her family. The good times continued, and it amazed me how much fun we could have while doing absolutely nothing. The time spent with her flew by, and I found myself trying to make every day last just a little bit longer. By this time I had totally made up my mind- I was either going to propose to her before flying back to Chicago or at the very least ask her parents for their blessing. The fact that I didn’t have a ring and hadn’t talked to my mother made me choose the latter. The problem with this though was that Sarah and I were inseparable. I was quickly running out of time.

On the afternoon of December 31, 2013 I was finally given a small window of opportunity to talk to her parents alone. Sarah had decided to take a short nap before heading back to the beach to celebrate the New Year, and her parents were alone on the couch in the living room. This was my chance. I sat down next to her father and as quietly as possible I asked him if the three of us could talk. Sarah's father signaled to her mother, and we proceeded into the lanai (aka veranda/sunroom). This was risky because anyone that happened to be in the condo would have a clear view of what was going on. While her parents sat, I knelt down and began explaining exactly how I felt about their youngest daughter and that I was planning on asking for her hand in the near future. The conversation went well (except for her sister, Julia, spotting us halfway through) and in the end they both gave me their blessing. I have been close with the family for years and didn’t think they would object, but this was still a big moment for me. I was very happy to have their approval. I later found out that after Julia spotted me talking to her parents alone, she woke Sarah from her nap asking why I was on my knee talking to their parents. Either Sarah was really enjoying her nap, or she knew something was up and decided not to interrupt...

After a wonderful New Year’s Eve celebration on the beach which ended an amazing trip to Florida,  I flew back to Chicago and back to reality with constant thoughts of how to proceed running through my mind. All of Sarah's Facebook posts and pictures of us from the recent weeks attracted some attention. Out of the blue at 6:09am on January 6, 2014, I received a Facebook message from my close family friend, Mark, “Franz I hope you remember that I am a jeweler when the time comes. Or maybe you have done it already.” I replied, “It’s funny you mention that.” He responded  that he had a feeling I was close and just like that the next piece of the puzzle slid into place.
   

The mission of finding the perfect ring for Sarah began immediately. Not just finding the perfect ring, but creating it. All I was certain of was that she really wanted rose gold, but my lack of information didn’t slow me and Mark down at all. I explained this to Mark and the next message from Mark was, “Not a problem, we will custom make something for her. Anything you can picture, we can make in rose gold.” He proceeded to send me CAD designs of rings that he had already made along with pictures of some finished products while I gave him my feedback by sorting through Sarah’s 'Someday' secret Pinterest board (now renamed to Golbeck/Janicek Wedding and still secret). Before long he had all the information that he needed. The only thing left for me to do was to pick out the perfect stone; that day finally came on February 14th. While Sarah was in Vegas celebrating her birthday with her sisters, I was off to shop for a diamond.

Monday, March 17, 2014 was the day I was introduced to the second most beautiful thing I had ever seen- the finished product. I was speechless the first time I opened that box. I could have studied it for hours- every angle offering another glistening view It truly was/is a work of art. Now all I had to do was unite the second most beautiful thing I had ever seen with the first- the girl that would hopefully be wearing it.

I already had a plan in place, and it only took a few quick emails to get everything set up. I wanted to ask her to marry me in the same place where we had met eighteen years prior, Birchwood Pool in Palatine, Illinois. An email sent to the Palatine Park District was passed along to the Aquatics Manager, Patrick. Patrick was more than accommodating; he even offered to unlock the side gate before I arrived just to make things easier on me. I had the ring and the place- I just had to make it happen.

Friday, April 11, 2014:
Sarah’s parents were back in town from Florida which I used as an excuse to take the night off from work. Looking back now this probably seemed suspicious, but I did my best not to give anything away. The concerns that she had about what to wear and how she should do her nails that day made it seem like she had an idea of what was about to happen but I didn’t budge. I wasn’t going to give anything away. I picked her up from school at 2:00pm- final destination: Fox Lake, first stop: Palatine. She had no idea about that minor detail though. I told her that I had to pick some mail up at my mother’s house and that we might as well do it now. Traffic was bad and I was reminded of this more than once by Sarah:“Seriously, do we really have to go to Palatine now?” “Is this really necessary?” I’m pretty sure that I said something like, “all that matters is that we are here together.” Any time is quality time, right?

I stopped at a gas station when we finally got close to the destination of our first stop. I really didn’t want her to know where we were going until we were already there. I used the ATM as my excuse and I went inside. On my way back to the car I popped open my trunk, checked to make sure the ring was still there, and grabbed her father’s scarf that I had been wearing for the winter. She had to know something was up. The scarf went around her head and away we went. Sarah explained that she knew the area well and would easily know where I was taking her. Come on now, if you’ve seen more than two movies in your life you know not to take a direct route while someone is blindfolded!

After driving in a few circles we were finally there, the time had come. I parked the car, grabbed the dog (my buddy Brophy), and helped Sarah out of the car. I carefully led her through the gate and onto the pool deck. I stopped, turned around and got down on one knee. With my heart about to pound out of my chest I told her to take off the scarf. There she was, the girl I had known all these years, looking down at me in the very spot we had met. ”Sarah Jacqueline Janicek, I met you here eighteen years ago and not a single day has passed that you have not been on my mind. I love you very much and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of our lives together. Will you marry me?”

She said yes and on that day the second greatest moment of my life happened in the exact same spot as first.