After months of phone calls, texts, delays, and a big chunk of escrow-mediated funds, it was FINALLY time for D and I to sign the necessary paperwork and officially buy the land that will become the foundation for so many things: our new lives, our forever home, our future hotel.
On June 9, we flew from Mexico City to La Paz, with the goal of having a short and sweet vacation celebration (just two nights) after signing the paperwork and making the final payment on our land.
The flight started out with ultimate #travelluck, because we ended up getting the row to ourselves: D on the window, and me in the middle, and no one on the aisle.
I was SUPER excited, not only for this next step in achieving our dreams, but also to get some dedicated reading time, as I was in the last half of an incredible book I’d been binge-reading: The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara. It’s all the things I love in a book: unexpected twists, super dystopian, somehow hopeful.
I’d brought a travel neck pillow with me (because I LOVE to nap on flights and I SWEAR by this Cabeau one), which I didn’t end up using but instead lent to D, putting it around his neck, as he seemed to mainly be fidgeting around. Weird, because he’s usually engrossed in a book as well, or binge-scrolling YouTube.
As we neared the very end of our flight (and I neared the end of my book), with just about 20 minutes to go, D got my attention and pointed out the window. “Look, La Paz!” he said. I glanced, admittedly distracted (I was REALLY into the book), though the beauty of the view really was overwhelming, and I commented on how excited I was to make this place our future home.
And then immediately jumped back into reading for the next handful of minutes.
The flight attendants announced we were starting our descent. Dion interrupted my literary focus, again, this time asking for help. I threw my Kindle aside, and turned to him, asking, “What?”, a bit brusquely, assuming he wanted my assistance taking the neck pillow off. I was honestly annoyed, as I reallyyyyy wanted to get to the end of the book.
Instead, though, he gestured at his tray table, which was still down.
There, on the tray table, was a sign and a red box.
I was SHOCKED.
[Postscript note: D says, “That thing was there for 20 fucking minutes.” … as he sat nervously waiting for me to look and trying to get my attention in various ways. I need to explain: it was a VERY good book!]
Immediately, I started tearing up, and said yes a bunch of times, and asked him to put the ring on my finger (he was just sitting there all nervous and smiling and the plane really was going to land whether we accomplished this proposal or not).
It was the perfect surprise proposal (I love surprises), in the perfect place. We’d met on a plane years earlier (while married to other people, but that’s a story for another time), had traveled all over Mexico together, and now were en route to buying our land and starting the next chapter of our lives.
It was the happiest moment of my life thus far.
We’d already known the land would be our new home and business; now, it’ll be the backdrop for our wedding, too.
A short vacation in Thailand turned into a life abroad with a canceled ticket home. Nearly a decade later and after living in Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, Puebla, and Puerto Vallarta, Steph is on to her next adventure and living back in beautiful, cosmopolitan Mexico City. She is living, traveling, and working (both as an expat therapist and an international health insurance representative) around the world to find the beautiful, inspirational, and interesting while sharing it with you!
