The Proposal

In October 2005, Clarke and Stefanie went on a much needed vacation to Hawai’i. After a few days surfing and sightseeing on O’ahu, they headed to Maui for a whole week of sun, surf and playing ‘ukulele on the lanai. One not so special day (or so it started), they were relaxing inside after spending the day snorkeling with turtles and surfing some local spots. Clarke was enjoying the Angels-Yankees playoff game and Stefanie was (most likely) reading. Clarke asked Stefanie to gather the fallen plumeria flowers from the yard because he wanted to make a lei for her. So she gathered all the beauftiful plumeria while he sat and diligently strung the flowers together using a small sewing needle and floss. Clarke kept a watchful eye on the sun, casually asking Stefanie when she thought it would set, and suggested they walk down to the beach to watch the sunset. The lower the sun got, the more anxious Clarke became. The approaching sunset did not time itself with the playoff game which was in the bottom of the 9th and the Yankees on the verge of getting eliminated, but Clarke had other things on his mind (and based on his dislike of the Yankees, that says a lot). They walked down to the beach hand in hand, Clarke holding the plumeria lei. They chatted about nothing in particular watching the sun get lower in the sky. As the sunset was reaching it’s most colorful moment, Clarke stood Stefanie up, faced her towards the sunset and got down on both knees in the sand. He placed the lei around her neck and asked her to be his pineapple queen. Unable to speak, she nodded through her happy tears as he gave her the ring.