Batchoy & beach stories: Guimaras proposal

We found ourselves in Panay last June for a top-secret mission for our June girl, Anji June.

Will you? 

Photo by J. Ferrer

Mr. Elephant, the asker/ task headmaster, was smart enough to employ his Ms. Elephant's friends' kunchaba services; no matter that our batting average at pulling off surprises was at the "Needs Improvement" level. He must've loved her enough to trust her friends and put his proposal's fate on the line.

Of course, the Last Row Traveler, Turtle, SurfGirl Lira, Hot Manager Ms. D. & Waywardly I were all too happy to comply. Pag-ibig! Proposal! Kelan ba ito mangyayari ulit?  

And so the scheming began 7 months before the Date.

But first, the question "where?"

Out-of-the-country Singapore or Thailand? Since one of Ms. Elephant's wishes was that her friends be there when the proposal happened, we were quite relieved that Mr. Elephant opted to go for a local destination. 

Let's do it in a beach

Boracay came up in the choices. But since Ms. Elephant was from Ilo-ilo (and Davao) and spent a short time there as a college freshie, plus Turtle happened to be planning a trip in Panay right about the same time Mr. Elephant intended to pop the question, why not Guimaras, a short boat ride away? 

The Last Row Traveler convinced us as much. He told us about the Ave Maria Island- secluded, white sand beach, no crowd whatsoever. 

We were sold and off we went for a weekend takas & Mission: Proposal for dear Anj. 

Jump shot and the proposal backdrop

Mr. Elephant was very OC. How he took care of the details- the ring, how to ask the question, how to act like the trip was no big deal so Anj wouldn't suspect anything drove a point about grand gestures: that it's done in spite of hassles because, well, pag-ibig eh. Yep, we were less cynical afterwards. 

As you can see in the first photo, Mr. Elephant opted to let the sand do the talking. 

And suddenly, Dex making a gesture towards his sand message to Anj. Then Anj was making an expression of (happy) disbelief and Dex was kneeling and Anj was making him stand and then they were hugging and everyone around (us, the bangkeros, the few other beach visitors who were kind enough to steer clear of our part of the beach) was clapping and crying.

Ms. Elephant's reply:

What Anjie said

Photo by J. Ferrer

It's a magical moment when you see two of the bestest people on the planet get engaged. That gesture by Mr. Elephant to ask for our help was very touching. This Guimaras proposal is a story we will repeat over & over to their Little Elephants someday. 

And thank god Mission: Proposal took off without Anji finding out prematurely (there were moments though, like when Anj guessed Dex was getting her a gift when he told her one weekend before we all went away that he had to go & buy something. What she thought was a birthday present was, well, ...). Our throwing-a-surprise skill has now been raised to the Satisfactory level.

Now we know what Mr. Elephant will say to the question “Do you take Ms. Elephant's friends at their best and worst behavior? Do you promise to accept their eagerness, excitability, neurosis, & poor math skills?” 

Congrats, Anj & Dex!