How We Met
We had mutual friends and grew up just a few short miles apart but never seem to cross paths until one snow day. She invited a good friend of mine over and that was the first time I saw her……
Our stories from this point (to current) seem to be a little “different.” I figured I should take the lead and tell how the proposal went down. (Just to make sure the details are correct)
how they asked
“There are three sides to every story; his side, her side, and the truth.”
A rare look at a unique proposal from his perspective
Written By: Kyle Hood
August 30, 2015
Richardson, Texas
I spent weeks designing the perfect ring for her. Once I had everything the way I wanted and knew it was something special and unique that she would love, I was left with one problem—I had no idea what size she was. Frankly (in hindsight) I don’t think she knew what size she was either. Regardless, I pushed one of her rings into a bar of soap when she took it off to take a shower, and used that as a guide when picking a size with the jeweler.
I always knew I would propose somewhere that involved hockey (my first love) so I reached out to the GM of the rink I grew up at and asked for his help. After talking with him, we agreed that the best way to do it was to block off a third of the ice during public skate, that way it would be private without being too obvious. We talked with all of the rink staff and got a plan together to make sure everything was in order. They were going to set up a table for champagne in one of the rooms for us too.
I sent out a mass text message to all of our friends and family the week of. Looking back at the message, it may have been a little forceful but I didn’t want anyone to ruin the surprise. I knew it was important to her to share this moment with everyone, and it was certainly important to me to make sure she didn’t have any idea what was coming!
One night she thought I was having a few beers with some of the hockey guys, but really I had asked her dad to join me for a beer so I could ask for his permission / blessing. I didn’t think I would be, but I was nervous. Revolver’s Blood and Honey is a strong beer. I’ll let you fill in the blanks here, but let’s just say her dad is awesome and probably knew what was coming. He seemed really excited.
I had been carefully planting seeds in her head the previous few months for this day. One was that we should go ice skating, and I think she may have even thought it was her idea to go at this day and time (the time that I had set up). The other big thing I always joked about was that I had to save up 25 cents so I could get her a ring from one of those gumball quarter machines they always have at the front of stores since she had told me that she didn’t care how much I spent on a ring. This will come back into play later—stay with me.
The morning of the proposal was a mess. I had been fielding questions from all of our friends, my family, her family, the rink staff, her brother who was moving to Florida the next day and whoever else for 2 days straight on the details, when and where to be there, and so on. Somehow I managed to keep all of this from her, but she was in a down mood because none of our friends would agree to join us for ice skating, her brother didn’t seem to care about seeing her, and she felt like everyone was avoiding her.
Eventually I got her spirits up a little bit and she agreed that “date day” (just the two of us) would be fun too. We started getting ready and she was taking her sweet time. I kept bugging her that we needed to leave so that we could be there on time but she kept saying “Why are you in such a hurry? I’m almost done, the rink isn’t going anywhere.” After what felt like hours and her taking a selfie of us to document how much fun we were having, I finally drug her out of the apartment and down to the car to leave. Then I had to go back upstairs to make sure she turned off her straightener. Why is it that women always ask us if they unplugged their stuff once we get down to the car? Do they really expect us to know? …Sorry, I digress.
Once we got in the car and were on our way, she said “You’re acting weird. What’s wrong?” I felt like she knew something was up, so I had to do something to deflect the attention. I told her that I had a surprise, that I had gotten them to block off a little section of the ice for us but it was only for 30 minutes so that’s why we had to be on time. She seemed so excited that I had gone out of my way to arrange that. Little did she know…
Our videographer friend had agreed to shoot some video for me, so he was at the rink already hiding in the corner, ducked down behind the boards. When we pulled up I shot him a text so he’d be ready. We walked in and got her some rental skates she asked me if I thought the guy at the counter was being weird (No one would look at her or talk to her). Of course I said it was all in her head.
We walked into the rink and down to the benches next to the portion of the ice we had blocked off. I saw the camera poking out in the corner but tried my best to not look over there. I put her skates on the wrong feet intentionally and she stood up and told me that she couldn’t believe my feet never hurt from being on the ice 4+ times a week. I’ve always enjoyed messing with her like that, but couldn’t help from laughing and fixing them for her before we got on the ice. I told her that they might be too loose but we could try it and see.
On the ice we skated around for a while, and had a good time. I was watching the clock, to make sure I timed everything perfect with the people that were arriving and waiting outside to surprise her. When the time came I asked her “do your skates feel too loose?”
I got down on a knee to tighten her skates and she accused me of purposely tying her skates too loose (to keep her from showing me up). I told her that I did tie them too loose on purpose, so that I could get down on one knee. She looked puzzled, but I continued, “I finally saved up a quarter to get you that ring.” She laughed as I pulled out the green and clear plastic container that I had gotten from a quarter machine a few weeks prior.
Then she caught a glimpse of the ring inside.
I could see her face go to complete shock. This was the moment I knew that she had no idea what I had planned or what was going on. None of our friends or family had told her. She didn’t see the camera in the corner filming. She didn’t notice me shaking as I reached into my pocket. This was a complete success—and there was more.
Her eyes filled with tears when I asked her to marry me, and after she said yes I started pouring on the other surprises I had planned. I pointed to the far corner where our friend had stood up with his camera now and she could barely see through the tears. We got off the ice and she grabbed her phone. She said she had to call her mom first to let her know.
Her mom (and over 50 of our other friends, family members, and kids that I have coached over the years) was outside the rink, waiting for the OK from me to come in. When she talked to her, her mom said congrats and asked to talk to me. I said thank you and hung up. She sat down in the room and proceeded to call her best friend / maid of honor, so I excused myself to “the bathroom.”
When I got to the front of the rink I was overcome with excitement and gratitude for all of the people that had shown up to surprise my now fiancé. I held the door open and was amazed by how excited everyone was for us as they came into the rink. We truly have an amazing group of people supporting us in life.
By the time the last person had come in and I made my way back to her, I found a room packed full of joy as people laughed, poured champagne, took pictures, and congratulated the two of us. Several people got skates and we opened up the ice for our friends to enjoy skating with us, before we went out for drinks and celebrated. It truly was one of the best days of my life.
Oh, and I’m sure she would appreciate me including #HamiltonGoesHood
