Dreams Do Come True

On the fourth day of Disney Vacation my true love game to me….a shiny diamond ring! Wait? Did you read that right? Yes, I said a diamond ring! However, you must follow along. So set down your laptop or iPhone, go grab a box of tissues, because this is going to be good. My apologies in advance if you have already heard the story.

Jered’s conference was over; we had a whole day to spend in Disney together. We chose to go back to the Magic Kingdom together. He had a whole to-do list of things he wanted to accomplish. We had to ride the iconic tea cups, magic carpet, Space Mountain, and most importantly—Dumbo his childhood favorite! That afternoon we basically did everything imaginable before we left to return to the hotel. We had to freshen up because we had a hot date a Cinderella’s Castle later that evening.



As we are walking into the Magic Kingdom Jered said, “Let’s take a picture in front of Cinderella’s castle but not right here, it’s too crowded—let’s go to the rose garden.

“Why can’t we take the picture right here?! You are soo picky!” I exclaimed because my feet were so swollen from a large amount of walking. The only shoes that fit were flip-flops. We are on our way to the rose garden outside of Cinderella’s castle to take a picture that didn't have too many people in the background (or so I thought).

When we arrived to take pictures, I set down on a bench in the rose garden to change out of my flip-flops and into my fancy high heels (or as I like to call them, my princess shoes).

While all of this is going on, Jered whispers to the photographer “We are the ones you are expecting.” I obviously did not know that this conversation was going on. He is very sneaky as you will further discover.

Once my shoes are on, I follow the photographer’s instruction on where to stand.  I am just doing my signature arm pop and hoping that my hair has not gotten too out of control from the humidity. Clearly the logical thought process in my mind: you are about to have dinner in a real princess castle—you must look the part (you must have pretty princess hair and shoes). Check and check, everything is going according to plan.

While all of this is going on, I am totally oblivious to the fact that Jered is reaching into his pocket to get something out. All of a sudden he whips out a blue box from his pocket and presents it to me! Is this what I think it is? The only thought running through my head: OMG! I really hope these are not earrings. I will die if this is not an engagement ring….oh lord.

My hands are shaking so badly because I am nervous. Who knew I am so incredibly awkward in these situations? All of a sudden, whammo! I am crying like a little girl whose kitten was run over by the neighbor lady. Jered cannot even cite the words to his proposal because he is laughing so hard he is crying!

Finally, Jered stops laughing long enough to get these words out of his mouth. “For the last ten years, every time I’ve looked at you, I have seen magic! So tonight in the Magic Kingdom, the happiest place on earth; I ask you to be my princess, now and forever, and make me the happiest man in the world. So we can write our own fairy tale and live happily ever after. Lindsey Lynn Long, will you marry me?”

Naturally, I said yes—I have only been dreaming of answering this question for ten years! Jered is laughing hysterically, I am still crying, but trying to pull it together because by this time a crowd had gathered to cheer us on and congratulate us. I felt like I was playing out a scene from a romantic comedy or something.

We proceeded to take cheesy pictures accompanied with fireworks (talk about wow factor) until this conversation arose. Jered said with all seriousness, “You do realize that we have a Fast Pass for Peter Pan's Flight, right? I really want to do this before dinner at Cinderella’s castle.”

After I called my family to let them know the exciting news, we were off to ride Peter Pan’s Flight as a newly engaged couple. We then made our way to the castle for dinner, I was so excited I could hardly wait! Cinderella was there to greet us; we took pictures with her and waited to be seated. While waiting for our reservation, we sat next to a lovely family with tiny human divas. One of them made up with me immediately. It was her birthday so they were there to celebrate. She was in her favorite princess dress and a lovely up do with a perfect little tiara to top it all off. In the middle of our conversation, her family was called to dinner. She looked at me and shouted “I hope you have a happy wedding!” I had just stopped crying from the previous events, I looked over at Jered and started crying again. That might have been the most adorable thing that anyone has ever said to me. What a darling little girl she was!



Once we made it to our table, Jered had monogrammed Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Mouse Ears waiting on us. My goodness, he seriously thought of it all! Dinner was everything you could have dreamed of—the castle was beautiful, the food was delicious, and I was greeted by numerous princesses throughout my dining experience. To top it all off, we got to watch the nightly firework show from our chairs.



I have never felt more like a princess in my entire life.  I am so incredibly thankful and blessed to find someone in life who wants to treat me like that.  I have always said that every girl deserves to be treated like a princess.  You should never settle for anything less than that—God has someone out there that will look at you with magic in his eyes and will treat you like the real life Disney Princess that you are deep down inside.