The Proposal Pt. 4 - Her Story

This blog will be a first for me. I am going to take the back seat on this one and introduce a special guest-writer to my blog. I want Tara to tell her side of the story about the proposal weekend. She's kind of long-winded so without further ado...

Chad has given me the task of writing my version of the proposal. I have never blogged before, so bare with me….

It was the beginning of August and Chad had just been promoted to the NOV corporate office in Houston. I was planning on visiting him the weekend of the 12^th because I hadn’t seen his new place; however, he called me that Wednesday and informed me there was a change of plans and that he would be coming to Dallas Thursday.

Immediately, I asked why he was coming to Dallas, and he told me that he had to take care of some insurance issues from his past tonsil surgery and needed to go home to try and find some paperwork at his mom’s house. That seemed totally legit to me, since I knew that he had been having some problems with his health insurance. We then carried on with normal conversation and I asked him how his day was going. On a side note: Chad and I don’t really like talking on the phone (I know it’s kind of weird; especially since we have a long distance relationship), so our conversations are normally pretty short. Anyways, the only thing he said was “good but very interesting”. Of course, I asked why it was “interesting” but all he said was “Nothing really, I’ll just tell you about it this weekend.”

The next day at work, I got a text message from him asking me if I’d like to go on a date with him Friday night. I didn’t suspect anything because he always asks me if he can take me on dates; we like to try and make time for just the two of us every now and then since we are normally always hanging out with family and friends when he comes in town. Of course, I said “Yes!” I was expecting him later that night, however, eight o’clock rolled around and I had’t heard from him. I gave him a call and find out that he and Dave had just left Houston, and he still needed to go by his mom’s house before going to Dallas. He also said that he’d probably just stay in Gunter since it would be late by the time he got in town.

I had been short with him on the phone that night because I had a really bad day at work and was tired and frustrated. He had asked me when we were talking if everything was OK, and I assured him I was fine; which really wasn’t the case. After we got off the phone, I sent him a text message explaining why I sounded a little down and not myself, and he immediately returned the sweetest message. He said that he was sorry I had a bad week and he wanted to spoil me this weekend to make up for it. This instantly brightened my mood, and I couldn't wait to see what he had planned for us Friday night.

Friday came and we spoke briefly that morning. He asked me when I would be off work and that I needed to be ready by 6:00 because he was planning a surprise for me. Again, I didn’t suspect anything because he does things like this for me quite often. Still, I was super excited and couldn't wait for our date; especially, after my frustrating week.

I left work that day around 4:30 to ensure that I had enough time to go home and get ready before our date. About 5:30 Chad arrived, and we left right at 6:00. When we got in the car, Chad told me to look away while he put the address in his GPS. As we started off, he turned to me and said that we had about an hour and a half drive ahead of us. Where was he taking me?! I was clueless! I then began trying to figure out where we were going (something that Chad wasn't too happy about). At one point, he got tired of me guessing and just wanted to tell me, but I stopped him. About an hour into the trip, I was looking out of the window when he said, “Don’t look! Don’t look!” You know when you tell someone not to look, that’s the exact opposite of what they’re going to do. So what did I do? I turned around and saw a giant billboard with the words Tara Winery pass by. I felt bad that I had spoiled the surprise, but I was still ecstatic!!! I couldn’t believe he was taking me there! I had told him about the winery a year ago, and I couldn’t believe that he remembered! After some high pitch excitement, he calmed me down and said that we had dinner reservations. I got even more excited because I had never had dinner at a winery, and I absolutely love wineries… and wine, of course.  

Finally, we arrived to the middle of nowhere (literally, nowhere), we pulled up to a huge plantation house with a large vineyard in front of it. As we drove a bit further, we saw another building with some cars by it, so we figured that was where the winery must be. When we entered the building, we were greeted by a man that showed us to the dining area. He told us that we could take a seat where ever we pleased. There were only about 15 tables in the entire winery, 3 of which were occupied, so I asked Chad where he wanted to sit. He kind of hesitated, and said he needed to tell someone that we had reservations. At this point, I’m thinking to myself… I’m pretty sure they won’t care where we sit! Anyways, I let Chad tell the waiter that we had reservations, and they directed us to a table.

We began ordering every wine on the wine list; trying all of their reds and whites, as well as ordering appetizers and entrées (This is a note from the editor: take notice that she used the word “we” to start this sentence; I will amend that in my next blog). The wine and food was delicious, but the conversation was even better! We talked about all kinds of things, but traveling became a steady topic. I told him that we needed to plan a trip together soon because we never travel together. He assured me (even pinky-promised) that he would take me out of the country within the next year. 


After we finished our entrees, I asked Chad if he wanted to get dessert (if you don’t know me, I have a huge sweet tooth and basically order dessert every time we go out). Chad said that he actually had dessert planned somewhere else, and I got even more excited about how the night was turning out. Before we got the check, Chad asked me if I wanted to go look at the plantation house that we passed coming in. I told him that I didn’t think it was open, but we should ask. The waiter told us that it was closed, but he’d see what he could do for us. He came back a few minutes later, and told us that we could go see it. He even said that he'd had all the lights turned on and that they’d left the back door open for us. As we got up from the table and were about to head to the house, the wine maker came over and gave us two glasses of wine for our stroll to the house since it was down the road a ways. All I could think about was how great this date was going, and I told Chad that we should do this every year! He just gave me a weird look and said “sure.”

We walked hand-in-hand down the road to the house, and when we entered the house, I was absolutely amazed! It was a replica of an old southern plantation house with antique furniture and décor. I started to explore the downstairs when Chad said that we should start from the top and work our way down. That sounded good to me, so we headed up the stairs. When we got up there, Chad found some doors that lead to a balcony, so we stepped outside. The scenery was absolutely beautiful! The weather was amazing; it wasn't quite dark yet, so we could see the vineyard below, and the stars were beginning to come out as well. We were both just enjoying the view for a bit when Chad said “So you know how I told you that I had an interesting day at work Wednesday?” I told him that I remembered, and then he then began telling me what happened…

During the story, I didn’t say a word. After the conversation deepened, I don’t think I was really listening to anything that he was saying. I thought that he was either breaking up with me or wanted to try and do a long distance relationship from Singapore. I couldn’t believe that after that amazing date, he was going to drop all of this on me. I was so happy for him for getting this amazing opportunity, but at the same time I was sad that this could be the end of our relationship. Then, he started saying something that brought me back to the conversation… he said that he told them he would go, but on one condition; that he had to be able to take me with him. At this point, I liked where the conversation was going and was a lot more interested in what he was telling me. He said that he wanted me to go with him, but not as his girlfriend… The next thing I knew, he was on one knee, with ring in hand, asking me to marry him. I couldn’t believe what was happening!

I immediately responded “Of course I’ll marry you!”, and then the crying began. I think it took me about 30 minutes to finally stop bawling, but then again, I think I cried the entire weekend. Once I stopped crying (and had cleaned up the mascara that was running down my face), we headed back to the restaurant where (unknown to me) everyone was anxiously awaiting our return. We walked through the doors, and Chad yelled “She said yes!” Everyone in the restaurant began clapping and cheering for us. Once everyone settled down, we received another special treat from the wine maker; a free tour of the wine cellar. It was the perfect ending to the night, but little did I know, the night was nowhere near over. Chad then told me that we had to hurry back because all of our friends were waiting at the Katy Trail Ice House to celebrate with us! I couldn’t wait to get back to see everyone and tell them the amazing story.   

Well, that’s basically my version of the proposal. I could have added a lot more details about that night, but I figured this blog was long enough. In conclusion, I couldn’t have asked for a better proposal! It was exactly what I envisioned, and it had the man I always wanted in it. I can’t wait to marry the love of my life and start our lives together. I will never forget that day, and I know that we have many more great days ahead of us.


Composed by Tara Michelle Foley(Davis)

Look at Tra with her mad writing skills!! I didn't have to edit nearly as much of that as I thought (kidding). Thanks babe, that really was awesome. I'm glad the proposal was completely stress-free and not nerve wracking whatsoever for you. However, not all of us had that same luxury.

It's now time to explain what I had to endure during the proposal.