Engaged...On A Boat in Turkey
by Becca Matheson, Tastemaker in Residence
This summer, I am so blessed to say that I got engaged to the man of my dreams! The proposal was far from ordinary. It was, in fact, a feat that still has me wondering how my family pulled it off.
The story begins when my now fiancé dropped me off at the airport to go visit my family in Turkey for the next two weeks. We said our goodbyes and off I went, looking forward to nothing more than meeting my new baby niece.
When I arrived in Turkey (after just having landed an exciting new job) my family picked me up and told me about all of our upcoming plans to go out on the sailboat and celebrate my new job. We spent the next day provisioning for the boat, gathering quite a spread of steak, potatoes, wine, and other yummy tidbits. My sneaky sister got very insistent that we get our nails done (we usually get pedicures, not manicures). I got peer pressured into it (I actually really needed a pedicure at this point) and got my nails looking snazzy for no reasons other than them looking good in pictures of me holding my new niece. Once we got back to pack our bags for the boat, my sister informed me that we were going to be taking family pictures at sea, since we were finally all together. This made sense, so we both picked out cute outfits for the evening and set off for the boat.
This whole time my brother-in-law had been pretty MIA. He had a friend come in from Germany and had to pick him up for the airport and go meet up with some other people and so on. I had seen him maybe twice and it would have been getting questionable, if I weren’t so darn gullible.
Away we sailed into the bright turquoise Mediterranean and anchored in a picturesque bay called Turunc. My mom, sister, Rosie (my precious baby niece), and I all got ready to take pictures quickly while the boys acted concerned that we were losing the light. Finally, we were ready and we made our debut on the bow of the boat, where my brother-in-law and his friend were poised with cameras ready to click away for “family photos.” All of a sudden, though, I found myself alone before the cameras and the next thing I knew Andres, my handsome fiancé, was tapping me on the shoulder.
They had hidden him on the boat for a whole day! In hindsight, it’s all quite obvious, but how could I know he’d show up in Turkey, of all places (no wonder he hadn’t been messaging me)! I was shocked and I cannot believe they kept that secret, especially since they’d had it planned since January. They really aren’t that sneaky!
Well, he tapped me on the shoulder and my jaw dropped. The only words I could muster were “What are you doing here?!” I knew the moment was a big one. He was trembling as he told me “I couldn’t stand being away from you for even two weeks, so I figured I’d keep you forever” and then he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. It was the easiest “Yes!” I’ve ever said. That was one of the most beautiful and special moments of my life, and I had no idea it was even coming!
That’s the story of how I got surprise engaged in a beautiful Turkish bay on the Mediterranean. I really might be the luckiest girl in the world!