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| "Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame." - Henry David Thoreau Mark Kons and Carrie Estes August 14, 2004 | ||||||||
Carrie says: The night I met Mark I did not even really want to go out. I had been sick the week before and I was still tired but our friend Laura convinced me to go out and see the band Exit. I got to Laura's apartment first and I remember sitting on her futon, reading a magazine. There was a knock on the door and in walked Mark. When I first saw him I actually sort of took in a breath because I thought he was so handsome. Plus, I thought I had recognized him from somewhere(probably around campus at Madison). But mostly I thought he was the most handsome guy I had seen. We arrived at the concert early so Mark and I spent a lot of that time talking and asking the questions you usually do of people when you first meet them. As the night went on we all started dancing to the music. Mark danced with Laura a few times so I actually thought he was interested in her. "If I could Hold you Tonight" came on and Mark asked me to dance. He knew many more swing moves than I did and I just tried to keep up with him but it was so much fun. Eventually the night ended and we said our good byes. I was sad to see Mark leave because I had wanted to talk some more. A few days later I received a phone call from Laura telling me that Mark had asked for my number and that he was going to be calling me. I have to admit I was a little surprised but very happy. That night the phone rang and I nervously answered. Mark asked to take me to dinner and we went on our first date the following night. Since that first date, Mark and I only saw eachother. I could not imagine spending time with anyone else, especially the more I got to know and love Mark. Our engagement was not a surprise but I was a little thrown off by the timing of the proposal. We had looked at rings and Mark had told me that the ring might take awhile to come in. To preface all of this, at the time I had been diagnosed with mono and was still trying to recover. The weekend he proposed we had talked about going on a picnic at the beach. The Friday we wanted to go there was a tornado warning. The next day, Mark wanted to go but I complained that it was too cold and that I was too tired so we decided for sure on sunday. That day, MArk and I attended church, came back to my house to get our picnic stuff and we were off. It was a little bit of a trek down to the actual beach and I of course complained about it (still getting over mono here ). I noticed that Mark seemed to be cracking more jokes than usual but I didn't really think anything of it. We found a spot and ate our lunch. After lunch, I decided to lay down on the blanket. Mark said that he had written a poem for me and he had to go get it out of his coat. I thought it was sweet that he had written a poem for me, especially because I had told him that it would be romantic to do so. Mark started reading the poem and halfway through he got emotional and started to cry. At this point I thought "what is happening here?" At the end of the poem he asked me to be his wife and he took out the ring. Well, I started crying and saying "yes" and Mark opened the ring box and the ring nearly fell out. It was all so romantic and one of the best days of my life. I am truly marrying my best friend and the best man in the whole world. I cannot wait to walk through life with Mark as my companion and friend. Mark says: The Night We Met On Saturday, Nov. 3, 2001, I went out with a friend from college and work (Laura Buchholtz) to see the band "Exit" play at Shank Hall in Milwaukee. Little did I know that that night would change my life. The evening began as I met Laura and her friends at her apartment. Carrie was one of those friends who joined us that night. We stayed at Laura's for a little while, which gave me the opportunity to talk to Carrie and get to know her a bit. Then we went down to Shank Hall for the concert, only to realize that we were incredibly early (the second group of people in the bar). So, we sat down at a table in the front row and waited for the music to begin. Again, this allowed a great opportunity to chat with Carrie, and I was able to realize the sweet and caring person that she is. After about an hour (and a pitcher of beer) the music began. And a little while later, our group was out on the dance floor. I considered myself a pretty lucky guy, in a group with three women, so I was a popular guy to dance with. However, I couldn't muster up the nerve to ask Carrie to dance. . . until the band played a Bo Dean's song called "Still of the Night". I pulled Carrie out of her chair and onto the dance floor. I sang her the entire song as we danced together (fortunately, she didn't mind my terrible singing voice). It was a wonderful dance, and I didn't want to let her go after the music stopped. Shortly afterwards, the concert ended, and Carrie and I went our separate ways. . . for a while. Our First Date That next week I was in a training course with Laura, and I wasted no time in asking her for Carrie's phone number. Again, I wasted no time in calling Carrie. This was pretty nerve-racking, as I wasn't even sure that she would remember who I was, much less want to go out with me. But, fortunately, she accepted my invitation to dinner on that Thursday, Nov. 8. I got directions to Carrie's house in Mequon (which turned out to be wrong) and ended up arriving about 15 minutes late. We had dinner at the Highland House in Mequon. We were seated in a huge booth, all by ourselves, and were able to talk, and laugh, and get to know each other a lot better. After that, I knew that this was a girl that I wanted to hang onto. The Proposal Just when I was starting to look for an engagement ring, Carrie came down with a case of mono. That set back the engagement plans a bit, but it is my nature to persevere. I had a diamond picked out, and just needed Carrie to be well enough to be able to leave the house and pick out the ring setting. Since the setting that she had chosen needed to be specially ordered by the store, I convinced Carrie that the ring wouldn't be available for a few weeks (I had to have some kind of element of surprise on my side after letting her choose the setting). The next choice was how to propose. I remembered back to the road trip that we took to North Carolina the summer before, and remembered Carrie's answer to a question from the "Book of Questions" that we were asking to each other, that Carrie's romantic fantasy was a walk on the beach, ending with me reading a poem that I had written for her. What better way to propose than to create her romantic fantasy for her? So, on Sunday, June 1, 2003, Carrie and I packed a picnic lunch and headed to Doctor's Park beach in Fox Point. I think Carrie could tell that I was a nervous wreck, trying to conceal the ring in my pocket and my proposal plan. Once we made it to the beach, we picked out a nice spot to lay out my Bucky Badger blanket and have our picnic lunch. After lunch, Carrie was about to lay down (still recovering from mono), when I realized it was now-or-never. So, I pulled the poem out of my pocket and read it to her. With my hands shaking, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the ring box, opening it for Carrie to see the beautiful ring inside. I don't even remember if I was able to get myself on one knee for the proposal, the whole thing happened so fast. But, before I knew it, I had put the ring on her finger and we were both in tears. |
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