What a Normal Day in Brazil Taught Me About Living Well

In November 2012 my girlfriend, Christie and I took a trip to Costa Rica. She was in grad school at Pepperdine at the time and she was scheduled to spend a few weeks with her cohort in San Jose. I had some flexibility at the time, so we decided to travel to Costa Rica together ahead of her school trip. We went to the major national park area called “Manuel Antonio” which is on the gulf coast of the country. We had been dating for over 2 years by then and I knew that I wanted to propose to her on this trip. 

 

I carefully packed the ring in my backpack, and funny enough, security is very manual at San Jose airport as we were catching our next small propeller plane to Quepos. We had to take everything out of our bags for a security person to look through everything. I was sweating bullets, “oh, no, my surprise will be ruined in the security line at the airport!” I thought to myself. Thankfully Christie was distracted and totally missed it! I was able to secretly put the ring back in the backpack. 

 

Then we took our small plane and it was storming and high winds most of the flight, and especially when it was time to land. The plane bounced violently through the turbulence. It took 3 approaches, and each time it felt like we would crash. I thought, “this might be it – should I just propose to her on the plane in our final minutes!!” Thankfully I kept the ring in the backpack and we landed safely in the storm. 

 

We got to our resort up in the cliffs overlooking the ocean, surrounded by jungle, birds, monkeys, and all sorts of flowers and wildlife. It was really cool. I had thought about maybe proposing on a waterfall or something, but had visions of the ring being washed away down a rapid! So after a nice dinner, in the quiet darkness of our back patio area, with just the sound of the birds and low lighting I proposed right there. She said yes, and we just celebrated our 11th year of marriage and going on 15 years total together. 

 

Costa Rica has a special place in our hearts and we spent the rest of the trip elated, admiring the wildlife, flora and fauna, going rafting, hiking, and ziplining. One of our favorite places in the world is Manuel Antonio park, and I recommend you check it out sometime! Pura Vida!