The Proposal
In July 2008, Sarah and Charlie went to Ocean City, NJ to spend a week with his family at the beach. This has been a tradition in Charlie's family since before he was born, and this was the third time that Sarah came along for the trip. Since they'd been coming here for three years, they already had favorite things to do: Mack and Manco's for the best pizza ever (EVER - I am not kidding) and a trip to the Air Circus pirate store to fuel Charlie's pirate obsession.
On July 29, 2008, their first full day in Ocean City, Sarah and Charlie went to the boardwalk to do these favorite things. Charlie seemed all in a dither, and Sarah couldn't figure out why he couldn't decide whether to go with pizza or pirates first. Finally, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the pirate store. They walked in, and Sarah saw a basket of rings with skulls and crossbones on them. Since she and Charlie had discussed engagement, Sarah decided to play a joke on Charlie, and put one of the pirate rings on her engagement finger. When she looked up to show him and laugh, he was holding the real one.
He says he planned some kind of piratey engagement wording, but found himself unable to speak at the last moment. Sarah thinks that knowing this means more than any romantic thing he could have said.
