Day 82/365 - Will you marry me? YES!

3/23/2010

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View LARGE On Black!!

Today is amazing for many reasons..

5 years ago, on this date..My brother, Chad crashed his motorcycle and flipped off, flying into a fence. He broke his C-5 vertebrae in his spinal cord. My mom got a call at around 3 in the morning..The last phone call any parent wants to get. It was a call from Harborview Medical Center, in Seattle. Harborview is known for taking in patients that are needing immediate care and that are more serious. They called, my mom picked up and was very worried. They told her that her son, Chad Surdi was in critical condition and in ICU. That morning I woke up, was the morning from hell. Every one was crying, running around the house, so frantically..I didn't know what was going on, and was sooo confused. After that...It's kind of a blur to me...I was in Middle School.. I remember going to see my brother in the hospital, he had a lot of tubes inside of him and it wasn't a great site to remember... My parents and various members of the family would sleep in the hospital..It was a really low part of our lives, and it was very depressing to see my big brother in the ICU for over a month. :(

 

But..Eventually, chad was out of the ICU and into a more regular setting at the hospital. We visited him a lot and always were there for him. He had to celebrate his 21st birthday in the hospital, not something everyone would want to do.. But, all of his good friends came to the room and celebrated with the family. Later, Chad was released from the hospital and slowly came back to our house, taking stuff a little bit at a time. 2-3 months after the hospital, he was able to feed himself with no help from anyone. He had to and still is going to physical therapy to regain all that muscle that was lost and keep his muscles moving around, not stationary. We eventually got a van for Chad, so he could go places and ease himself back into a somewhat regular lifestyle. A couple years later, Chad got his own van! And then 6 months later, he was able to drive by himself and without any assistance. I think that's pretty damn awesome that he can drive by himself and had no fear. He was driving to physical therapy, and just going on cruises whenever he felt like it. People were amazed and they still are. In October of 2008, my mom tripped while running and tore her rotator. Because of this, my mom could not help my brother up in the morning and do a lot of things that she previously had to for him. With this happening, we hired a new Care Giver for Chad. Her name is Jamie! So Jamie became really close to us and even invited some of her friends over to our house. One of the friends that came over to our house, was Katrina. Chad and Katrina became really close..Eventually, they started dating and started to fall in love. Since August 4th of 2009, they have seen eachother every single day since their first kiss. That comes out to 7 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days in a row. 231 days in a row....DAMN.

 

So...Since today is Chad's 5 year anniversary of his accident, he wanted to make this day even more special. He wanted to ask Katrina to marry him. So... I had to go and help plan on how to film this, and take photos. First, we came up with me..Taking photos behind the fence and having her not see me..But that didn't sound too easy, and the photos wouldn't be as great. So, we decided as we got to his house, that I would act as if I'm just taking some flicks of the house and play it off like that, she would have NO clue at all...And guess what? She had no clue HAHA! I had my 7D with 100mm f/2.8 set up on the side, getting one angle..While I had my brothers HD Canon Camcorder on the fence to get the opposite angle. We had a jacket over the camera though so it looked natural, so she wouldn't see it. Initially, my brother just said that he wanted to have a talk with her..

 

They were all cute and kissy and stuff... and then he gave me the WINK. Aka, time to start the filming! So I started the 7D up and acted talked on the phone so it looked natural. She..Again, had no clue :D Plan was perfecto. Before, they used to joke about him proposing with a Ring Pop and if she would say yes or no..And funny thing, he actually did propose with a Ring Pop LOL. She was incredibly surprised and didn't know what to say...And then he actually pulled the real ring out and said, "Katrina, will you marry me?" and then she completely lost it. She was crying hysterically and was in utter shock. After ten long seconds of not being able to talk and being so shocked, she said yes! I've never witnessed anything like this and to say the least..It was amazing. After a long time of them crying and laughing and just pure happiness, he told her to go over to the fire pit and get something. It was a journal that they have kept and wrote stuff in for the last few months. He wanted her to write today, into the journal so they can remember this day even clearer. Soon after, we drove home and told the whole family, even though they already knew. She was so happy and it was so real.

 

I'd like to give a shoutout to my mom though...Thanks for tripping! If you didn't trip and destroy your shoulder, Chad and Katrina wouldn't have met, and this wouldn't have happened...So yeah mom, whatd'ya say?! It was worth it right, right?! haha. But yeah, everything happens for a reason, and will eventually be amazing, just wait :)

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Camera Info:

Canon 5D

Canon 135mm f/2L

Bottom Photo:

Canon 5D

Canon 100mm f/2.8

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Editing Info:

Blacks/Vignette/Film Effect on top right

Vintage effect on bottom photo.

Assorting the photos and borders around all of them..That took quite a while.

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Hope you enjoyed my photo of the day, and hopefully you read my whole story :)

Have an amazing day!

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Uploaded on March 24, 2010
Taken on March 23, 2010