The WHOLE TRUTH

What can I say? This whole trip has been filled with lies and deception! But for an excellent reason! 

And yes, I confess there have been more lies and deception since I attempted to clear things up the other day. But today? I get to reveal everything!!

Some of what I told you before is true. DH and I have not taken a vacation together in many years, and we rarely do anything spontaneous. I might from time to time, but he never would. OK—so that's the background there. 

To keep the record straight and I know someone who will appreciate the information, on February 19, we received a call. And let me say that I had lost faith that people like this still exist. Dillon (M's boyfriend) called for our blessing because he wanted to propose to her. Even though I had only met him once when they first started dating, I have come to know him quite well through texts and IG. 

I think he's the best thing that has ever happened to her. We have seen so many positive changes since they met that we jumped up and down during the call. Bear was also on the call, and he was happy!

Dillon planned to propose when they were on vacation in Maui. His family was all coming here and had it planned since Christmas. 

The following day, we looked at each other and said, "Let's go!" For both of us to say that is HUGE. 

So, the lies and deception started. But first, we asked permission to make sure it would be OK. 

We planned to arrive but to stay out of the way and meet them on the beach during the proposal. 

We didn't really have to deal with misdirection until we arrived here because she lives on the West Coast, and we live in Toronto, so we don't see each other much. Poor Dillon has been dealing with it the entire time they've been here. I bet his story is way more exciting than mine. 

Dillon is a planner and had all the details worked out. A few extended family members knew some of the details as they helped with the planning - getting the ring here, having champagne at the event, etc.- but not his immediate family—sisters, and parents. 

It threw me for a loop when his stepdad proposed to his mom a couple of days ago because I thought that would steal some of the thunder, but all was good. His parents got married on Wednesday on the beach. 

Things went awry on the first day when we accidentally ran into M in the market. That was NOT supposed to happen. I panicked and said, "We had an appointment," and left her standing there. We had no story, and I had to tell Dillon I had blown his plan. 

He was upset, and I was sick! I felt so bad that we had blown it. So, while he's on the golf course, we're making up a story about why we are in Hawaii!! He wanted the proposal to be a total surprise - that's why he was upset and he figured that if M saw us here, that would give it away. 

Our story was good, and it was partially true! She already had a promise ring, so it wasn't a total surprise that they would get engaged. The story was that due to her begging us to meet Dillon, we decided that since his entire family was here, and we had not had a vacation together in a while, we would surprise BOTH Dillon and M. DH was on the West coast for business (a lie), and I was totally free that week as I was supposed to be on a quilt retreat (the truth). 

The timing was perfect. The proposal was set for Thursday, and we wanted to come in a couple of days before. Because of the flights, we could get a direct flight to Honolulu on Sunday, so we came in a day earlier than planned. We then island-hopped to Maui. 

We lied about knowing where they were staying by looking at his IG account. We knew where they were staying because Dillon told us! I just didn't realize how close we were. Our condos are less than 2 KM apart. 

I think it was in the cards that we were to meet up before, and we've had some good bonding time with M. I think she would have freaked out if we had met on the beach, and she wouldn't have been able to enjoy her evening with her finance! 

After she knew we were here, we had to keep up the deception. We were busy on Thursday, so we had to repeat our travel story several times and not let a single word slip. Poor Dillon had to pretend that he had NO IDEA we were coming. 

We ran around yesterday and did some errands for Dillon, and all was good. We got to the beach but waited in the car to avoid being visible. Then we went down to the beach just shortly after he proposed. It's all been recorded, so no worries—we got to see it. 

Earlier in the day, we rented a red convertible as our car of choice for the rest of the week, so we drove them back to their condo to get packed and then to a hotel for the night. It was very romantic and all organized by Dillon. The poor guy was so stressed. I think we were all excited that the deception was over last night. I was exhausted from the effort!!!

Of course, she said YES!!! And so very romantic - on the beach, at sunset.

Here are a couple of pictures that I snapped. Of course, they had a photographer for the family pictures, so he also got official pictures. 

Romance

LOOK -- we're engaged

Love is in the air

The ring

All I can say is that being with everyone last night was so worth it. I have zero regrets about missing my quilt retreat (OK—I would have loved to be with everyone!!). But as I always say, family comes first, and this was a big moment, and we were lucky to be there with them. She was so excited, and I truly think she was surprised!!!!

OH -- one other deception. There is a family dinner tonight, and she wanted us to come. I said, "No, we don't want to intrude." But she insisted. We were already on the reservation list, but only Dillon knew about that! She wanted to know the entire story and all the lies and deceptions told to her by her parents and her future husband, so I've documented my part here. I probably missed a couple of things. It was stressful, especially the day we ran into her, but it was all worth it!!!!!

As we dropped them off at their hotel, we glanced up and noticed the sky was filled with stars. So, I managed to snap this from my camera phone. YEP -- those camera phones are pretty good!!!

The night sky

Other super exciting stuff happened yesterday that had nothing to do with romance, and I'll share that tomorrow. We can now enjoy the remainder of our time here and have ZERO lies and deception to worry about!!!

And I will continue my story about the YOUNG history of quilting, but probably when I get back home. That was another thing—we could NOT post a single picture of where we were going or what we were doing. The blog could not reflect where we were, either. And even after we met up with her, I felt I needed to keep the deception going as if I had prepared the blog posts ahead of leaving. Which I didn't—I wrote them here. 

Oh, the things that parents do to their children. Lies and deception, but in a really good way!!! We have yet to go to the beach -- we've seen the beach many times but have yet to dip a toe in the ocean. 

On that note, I'm out of here. It's time for my walk!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!