We were heading down to West Palm Beach, FL for what I thought was just a nice long weekend to celebrate the Easter holiday. On the evening of Good Friday, Mike says to me, "I have a favor to ask of you." He explains that his mother--who I knew to be looking for a job because the hospital was bought out by a new company who was slated to make some massive sweeps across the board--needed our help. Her old boss lived about an hour north of West Palm Beach, and he was scheduled to leave for a business trip to scope out a new job opportunity. Her boss wanted to take her with him, Mike explained, so he needed her resume to present as a "package deal." I asked, "That's great, but what does that have to do with us?" "Well, she asked if we could drive the resume to his house Saturday morning and I said that we would do it for her." I said okay, no problem. "So we'd have to get up at 4:30 a.m. and leave the house no later than 5 a.m.," Mike added with a look of apology, "...because we have to catch him before he leaves for the airport."

He could tell I was not a happy camper. I was thinking that I should tell him to go without me. I was quietly getting ticked off that Mrs. Calsetta didn't FedEx or email or give this man a resume sooner, or that she would ask this of us on our vacation. It was one thing to ask a favor when it's convenient, but to ask that we get up before daybreak...I thought that was a little much. Before I could say anything, Mike pleaded, "I know this is a lot to ask, but I want to do this for her because she's really stressed out about losing her job. I'd do it myself, but I thought that I could use the company on the trip so that I don't fall asleep at the wheel."

I just couldn't say no to that request. It wasn't how I envisioned spending my weekend, but I could tell it meant a lot to Mike and it would be doing an enormous favor that could ensure Mrs. Calsetta a job after the takeover. "Yeah, sure, I'll do it."

And to sweeten the deal, Mike said that we would go to the beach on our way back...just the two of us.

Friday night Mrs. Calsetta said how nice it was of me to agree to the trip and thanked me for doing her this favor. I went to bed early so that I wouldn't be a zombie the next morning, and Mike said he'd come up to bed in a little bit. Then he went into the other room to speak with his mother with the door closed.

Mike's mother woke us up about a minute before the alarm was set to go off at 4:30am. Mike seemed rather awake despite the early hour and practically dragged me out of bed. As I slowly got dressed, he was busy scurrying around downstairs. When I emerged, he said that he had the car all set up for me with a blanket and pillow in the back seat. I was confused, "Don't you need me to stay awake for you?" "No," he said, "you can sleep on the trip over and just help me out on the trip back when my exhaustion sets in." I thought it was sweet that he set up this little bed for me, and I was awfully tired. "Please, just sleep on the way over...I won't feel so bad for waking you up this early if you do this for me." He didn't have to ask me twice, I was already climbing into the back seat.

And when I woke up, I found that we were sitting in a parking lot of some bank. He said that we were waiting for the guy to pull up to pick up the resume. Mike got out of the car and I put my head back on the pillow.

About five minutes later, Mike opened the door to the car and asked that I get out and "take a look at something." I saw a van with a trailer attached to it. The trailer said, "Balloons Over Florida." I was still groggy from the trip, so I didn't quite make the connection. I didn't think the truck had anything to do with us, and I wondered why Mike woke me up if the guy wasn't there yet.

Then he said to me, "Remember when we first met, you once told me that you had a dream that the man you would marry would propose to you in a particular location?" "Yeah, a hot air...OH MY GOD!"

I instantly woke up and realized what was going on. "You mean, there is no guy for a resume?" Mike laughed. "Nope."

We got out of the car and headed over to the trailer. A guy in a white-grey beard introduced himself as Mark Chapdelaine and asked if I was the lucky lady that was going on a balloon trip. He gave instructions to the other crew members in this truck about where we should launch from and told us to grab our gear and leave the car in the lot. We went back to the car, opened the trunk, grabbed a few things, and slammed the trunk and doors to his mother's brand new Buick Century. Only problem...THE KEYS WERE STILL INSIDE! He was so nervous and excited that he didn't realize that he laid the keys down in the trunk while he went through his bag to get his wallet out.

After he realized what he had done, he cringed. I said that we could use my AAA card when we got back, but since the keys weren't visible to a would-be thief, we could just worry about it later. Mark the balloon guy agreed. So we hopped into their van and headed to the launch site.

Mike was visibly disappointed by his blunder, and he led me to believe that the keys were not the only things that accidentally got locked in the trunk. I thought that my dream of a mid-air wedding proposal were dashed by bad luck, but I didn't want to show him my disappointment because he seemed so upset already.

We drove about 15 minutes or so to Jensen Beach and parked in front of this open field. Mark said that he would need our help to unload the trailer and inflate the balloon. Another balloon company, Dream Chasers, pulled up behind us with an older couple. A lady came over and introduced herself as a reporter for The Islander newspaper. She mentioned that the couple in the other balloon were celebrating his 90th birthday with their first balloon trip, and she asked if this was a special occasion for us too. Mike pulled her aside and gave her our names. She wrote a story about the day (see article below) and mentioned us in it. A wonderful keepsake for the special day that was about to unfold.

First we took out the large wicker basket (known as a gondola) that holds up to 5 passengers. Considering the size of it, it was hard to believe how that many people would fit. I was happy that Mike paid extra and bought out all the "seats" for a private flight, just the two of us, if only for comfort's sake!

Then we helped unfurl the balloon (aka envelope). Then we held the opening while the crew positioned the blowers to begin inflation.

<-----When the sun came up, Mark had us get in the ballon to take this great photo op.

It took about a half hour to fully inflate the balloon, and then they connected the basket, riggins, and tanks. Then they fired up the propane and we got on our way.
 
 

We ascended to an altitude of 3,000 feet. It is important to note that Mike is deathly afraid of heights (as am I, but I seemed to enjoy the ride a lot more than Mike who was white-knuckled and clutching the basket). I was so touched that he would subject himself to this kind of fear just to make one of my dreams come true.

The ride was exhilarating, despite the rough start to the day. All of the trouble and expense that Mike went to in order to make this day possible, to surprise me and get me there without attracting suspicion...it was all very touching. I've never felt so special and so loved in my whole life.
 

And then he asked me. He let go of his grip on the basket, got down on one knee, and proposed!! He had the ring all along!! He managed to surprise me even when I thought I knew the surprise!

He paid very special care so that the ring wasn't dropped overboard, as was his understandable concern when I saw how beautiful the ring was! (See how tired we look? Remember our early wake-up call!!)

The rest of the balloon ride probably required less propane to keep us afloat because I was floating off the ground all by myself.  We waved hello to the neighbors below and drove all the dogs bonkers, barking their heads off at us. Everyone came out of their homes to see us and say hello. Some kids even followed us on their bikes through the streets. I felt like shouting my news to everyone, but tried to maintain some composure and simply returned the well-wishes and waves.

We touched down in an empty lot slated for a new home in a cul-du-sac development in Palm City. The landing was incredibly smooth, and the chase team was right there with the trailer to help us out of the basket, deflate the balloon, and pack up. We hopped in the van and headed over to a nearby park for the "initiation ceremony." We got flight certificates, t-shirts, and a "new ballonist ritual" (see picture of the interesting twist on a champagne toast).

Needless to say, I hardly minded the hour it took for AAA to come to our rescue back at the car. I was too busy staring at my left hand! And when we got back to the house, Mrs. Calsetta assembled everyone for a surprise engagement party and made me feel so loved and accepted into the family.

It was a day that I'll never forget.
 

April 9, 1999 article in The Islander (see 2nd column, 2nd paragraph for us!)