You’ve heard the story before right? You know…the one about the high school football player that falls in love with the cheerleading captain, winds up marrying her, has 2.5 kids, gets a dog named Pongo, a house with a white picket fence and they live happily ever after.  Of course you do, but I bet you didn’t think that these stories actually happened outside of movies.  After all, don’t most high school sweethearts wind up breaking up after high school anyway? Although there may be some truth to that, the story of Chris DePrince and Serena Rebecca is living proof that some fairy tales do come true…in fact, they could happen to you.

Going back to their childhood days, Chris and Serena have always appeared to be on the same “team” so to speak.  Chris was the star football player for a local youth team, and Serena screamed her head off for him as the captain of the cheerleading squad.  This was the dynamic that the two would share even through their high school days.  And when the two entered their sophomore year of high school in 2000, the two began a different type of relationship off the field as well.  For ten years Chris and Serena worked on building a beautiful relationship founded on the principles of trust, honesty and love.  It was only a matter of time that the “big question” was finally asked.  But how could you possibly create a genuinely surprising proposal after being with someone for ten years? Judging by his creative proposal, Chris must’ve dipped into his football background to come up with a “trick play” of his own.

Like a true gentleman, Chris asked permission from Serena’s parents and proceeded to get both friends and family on board for his proposal.  The plan was simple.  Get Serena to NYC for a day of sight seeing, fun and carriage rides, but try to be inconspicuous…in the words of Dr. Evil, “Riiight”.  Despite having the cards stacked against him, Chris kept his secret safe, and wound up in the big apple with an unsuspecting girlfriend oblivious to anything other than a nice visit to a close friend for the weekend.  Upon their arrival in NYC, it was quite convenient that their friend was “out of town” that day.  After much persuasion, Chris convinced Serena that a horse and carriage ride through the city would be fun.  Serena recalls, “At first I didn’t want to go on the carriage ride.  It was just way too cold outside.”  Luckily for our knight in shining armor, he came equipped with a pair of gloves for the ride to keep his princess’ hands warm.  “I noticed that he was fidgeting around in his seat,” said Serena, “for some reason he kept saying, “put my gloves on they’re really warm and fuzzy.’” When Serena succumbed to his request, she put on the warm and fuzzy gloves and felt that a ring had found its way onto her finger inside the glove! “It was really sweet,” Serena said “it was snowing outside and looked so pretty.  He even got on his knee in the carriage.”

Ok I admit, I’m a little sappy and like these types of stories.  I like going to movies with happy endings, I like happy songs and I guess I just like to see things work out for the better.  In a world today that is filled with so much doubt and ugliness, it is always a beautiful thing to see that love truly does exist.  The story of Chris and Serena should remind us all that in life, the destination is always pretty, but the true beauty lies in the journey itself.  Congratulations guys, you deserve it!