Ch-ch-changes– First and foremost, I’m engaged! That’s right just one day after the 2017 Royal Rumble, which we were counting down to when we last left off, Eri and I took off for Iceland and on that very trip I popped the question and thankfully Eri said YES! This was by far the most nerve wracking thing I’ve ever done in my life but it’s a moment I’ll never forget.  Truth be told I wanted to propose for quite some time and was all set to do it in October of last year.  We had an idea to go to Thailand right after my birthday and I thought what better way than to take something about me and flip it to make it all about her. Unfortunately, Eri had just started a new job and couldn’t get off for over a week (I should point out that while it probably would have been frowned upon for me to do the same, I would have been able to make it work because meh I always find a way to make it work) so we couldn’t justify the trip to Thailand with the two days of travel that are required for the trip so we settled on Mexico and my plans to put a ring on it were shelved.

Shelved only because I knew that we had already booked a trip to Iceland in February.  Eri booked the trip about a year ago on a whim when seeing an unbeatable deal pop up on Groupon so I knew this trip was on the horizon and thought, what better place to do it then under the Northern Lights.  After all, I had seen all of these amazing one of a kind photos online of the Lights and proposals that took place right then and there. So that idea was set for a few months out and now came the planning process of how I was going to get the ring without Eri noticing what the heck was going on.  This was the hardest part because we are usually together and I’m not good at keeping anything hidden so it was really tough.  The entire designing process and then the resizing process was so much fun and had so many adventures that I honestly wanted to fill Eri in on everything because shit, this is what I usually do with the ups and downs of everyday life.  I have to give a shoutout to OKG Jewlery over here in Queens, New York.  They are some of the most passionate and incredible people that I found to work with.  They were able to take a vision I had and work with me, often coming in on the weekends and after hours to show me updates and communicate with me while Eri wasn’t around.  They made a stressful process completely manageable and I cannot recommend them enough.

The hardest part of this entire ordeal was getting the ring overseas and then freaking out that Eri would discover the ring at some point before I was able to ask.  The first part came to figuring out how to get the ring through the metal detectors at the airport.  Talk about a hold your breath moment as I sat there with my bag going through the medal detector, especially as I saw the TSA fella’s eye open super wide as my bag passed.  We made eye contact as I’m sure he read my expression that read “Please don’t blow this up for me bro!”…I had put the ring on the bottom of my bookbag in a glove with a little sign that said “Engagement Ring Enclosed”, please if you don’t get anything else from this entire post always remember…ALWAYS CARRY THE ENGAGEMENT RING ON YOUR PERSON!!!! Engagement rings are not cheap and even if you have it insured (which you absolutely should, that’s point number 2 to take away from this), the last thing you want to do is lose the ring because you checked your bag or left it in the hotel when you went for a hot dog over at Baejarins. From the moment the ring made it through security, it was in my pocket the rest of the trip until I gave it to Eri.

I thought this was going to be easier said than done because our Nothern Lights Tour was the first part of our trip.  On the way to the Lights, I couldn’t wait what an unbeliuevable moment this was going to be, the skies lit up with beaming green lights naturally occuring for us to see.  It was going to be magical!  But then it wasn’t….we got there and sure we saw a few faint lights but nothing like you see in the pictures.  I had no idea where those fellas who proposed got it done but there was no clear shot of the lights unless you had a super high tech camera lens, which I did, but there was no way to pose in front of the lights for a proposal.  Not to mention everyone who is there to see the lights does not want you to ruin their experience.  Any sign of a flash elicited grunts and groans from the folks on the tour and didn’t do much for the photo you were taking.  I imagined a beautiful photo of me on one knee prosign to an unexpected Eri with the backdrop of a variety of tour buses, angry tourists and a black sky…no bueno! So I returned to the hotel defeated and with a ring in my pocket trying to figure out what was next.

I had decided, with the help of my mother a couple of close friends I was texting with who threatened that I better not return home with a ring in my pocket looking forward to propose live at Wrestlemania 33 from our limited view seats, that I was ismploy going to wait the week out.  I figured that with all of the excursions we had planned, and brother do we love our excursions, I was going to find some moment where it felt right.  The enxt morning was our Ice Climbing excursions so ring in pocket we went Ice climbing up the Glaciers of Seljalandsfoss.  I have the coordinator of a 6 foot 4 white guy, so not very good, but I went swinging and climbing up the glaciers the best I could praying I wouldn’t fall to my doom.  Ok I didn’t care about my doom I just worried about the ring.  About five minutes into the trip I asked our tour guide where the highest peak we were going was and he pointed up to where I could barely see. I knew that was it, it was perfect.  I spent the rest of the excursion planning out how I was going to do this I was going to have someone film it and have someone take pictures, I was going to make a big speech, it was going to be marvelous and over the top…but almost none of that happened.  Instead, when we reached our peak I asked a photographer on the trip, from Shanghai to take a few pictures of us, I removed Eri’s glove and managed to get out just one question…”Will you marry me?”…time stood still for what felt like 3 hours until she said Yes!

What Else?- Well if you’re still reading this far down we are now on the road to weddingville.  Over the next 11 months there will likely be more wedding updates that you can stomach including many a video over on our youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy_gVqjuaWDp2QW6go6e0Xw... but don’t worry now that we’re back in the swing of things there will be plenty on the world of sports, wrestling and travel that you’ve come to expect here on the site.  After all, we were down in Orlando for Wrestlemania week and did all of the parks so you can expect to see all of that come out over the next few weeks, this was just my way of letting you guys know what’s been going on and from this moment forward…I’m back!