On Bended Knee ...

Four years after Kathy and Matthew first saw the movie and danced to its theme song, it was announced that Beauty and the Beast: The Broadway Musical was set to open in the Los Angeles area. We agreed that we had to see it and a coworker and friend of Matthew's said he would get him tickets since he was getting tickets for himself as well. When he brought them back, Matthew was a little shocked at the $65 price tag for each ticket but he agreed to take them knowing that they were good seats and it was a special event.

Around this same time, Matthew decided that it sounded strange to call Kathy his "girlfriend" since she was so much more to him by then. Even knowing that marriage was still off in the future, Matthew decided that it was time to make Kathy his "fiancee" and set about to make the evening of their going to the show the "big night." At first, the thought was to rent a limo and propose at some point during the night. But even a limo ride to and from the show did not have quite the grandeur that Matthew wanted when proposing. So he tried thinking of a creative, appropriate way to pop the question.

Matthew began looking around at diamond rings, learning what he wanted for Kathy. He slyly had Kathy try on some costume jewelry rings at Disneyland to find out what size she wore. One jewelry salesperson showed Matthew a ring box that was shaped like a rose so he could present it to her in a fun way. And as appropriate as the rose motif was, Matthew found an even better ring holder in a figurine that they were selling at The Disney Store. It was a resin figurine of the Beast looking at the enchanted rose under a glass dome. Matthew decided that if he could pop the dome off, he could put the ring under it. It worked perfectly.

Now Matthew only had to figure out how he was going to propose. The perfect place to propose would be at Disneyland. But where? And how could he get the figurine into the park without Kathy seeing it and wondering what it was? The solution was to have Mickey perform some magic and make the figurine appear. Luckily for him, a former coworker from The Disney Store was working at Disneyland and could set up a special performance in Mickey's Movie Barn. Enlisting the help of other coworker friends, the evening was set.

The Big Night ...

Kathy met Matthew at his house the afternoon of the play. We were both dressed up nice for a special evening. Matthew gave Kathy a dozen roses, which made her cry because he really hadn't given her many flowers throughout the years (Long story). We headed down to Century City for dinner at the now-defunct Dive! restaurant. The atmosphere was nice but Matthew was so nervous he could barely think about eating. After dinner, we headed across the street to the theater. Our seats were fantastic - third row, center. They were worth every penny Matthew paid for them. The show was beautiful and fun. Someone sneezed during the show and the Beast, Terrance Mann, said, "Bless you," without missing a beat. The whole audience started laughing and gave two ovations for the comment. And after the show was over, it was time to head down to Disneyland.

Matthew had told Kathy that their friend was giving a special performance as Mickey and that the whole store was there to see it. Matthew got a bit lost trying to get to the freeway and was nervous that they wouldn't make it in time to get into Disneyland. So after driving a bit like a maniac and running with Kathy to the front gate, we walked as quickly as they could to Toontown. All of our friends from The Disney Store were there waiting and we made our way through Mickey's House to his Movie Barn. We were escorted into the Fantasia set where Mickey was getting ready for his special performance. Even Pluto, Kathy's favorite character, was there, which Kathy thought was a little odd but she didn't give it much thought.

Mickey needed someone to help him with a magic trick and Kathy was chosen to be the Sorcerer's Apprentice's apprentice. Waving his hands over his cap, the crowd began to say some magic words. Kathy's job was to lift up the cap. When she did, there was the Beast figurine with the ring under the dome. Kathy didn't quite know what to make of it, so Matthew asked if that wasn't the figurine that they had talked about getting from the store. Kathy said that it was and Matthew asked, "Is it exactly the same? Look closer." Kathy looked at it and said, "Oh, a ring!" Matthew took the ring from the figure, got down on his knee and asked if Kathy would marry him. Kathy responded, "Sure!"

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