ROBYN + AJ

photo | Nicole Owens

ROBYN + AJ

Penguin Proposal

AJ and I have gone to school together since the 5th grade, we were best friends for the longest time and finally, senior year of high school (2014) we started dating. AJ was someone who I always knew loved me and finally taking the awkward transition from friend to boyfriend is one I’ll never regret. I have alsO ALWAYS loved penguins, I know all the facts, cry through the aquarium glass window and see every penguin documentary ever with AJ. Well in 2014 after we started dating, he told my best friend at the time he knew EXACTLY how he would propose to me. Fast forward 5 years later in 2019, AJ spent 4 hours designing my ring. What the jeweler told me when I went to resize my ring after the engagement, Absolutely brought me to tears. AJ told her “I have to spend this long creating her the perfect rock because penguins seArch hours to find the perfect Rock for their perfect mate.” Well come December, I still had no idea AJ was ever going to propose to me and he said he had a early Christmas gift for me and that he was taking me to see the penguins at moody gardens in Galveston TX. So I dressed causal and warm but everyone was so annoying about making me dress up (I was so oblivious). So turtle neck sweater it is!! (I’m so mad at myself lol) so we get to moody gardens and I overhear “penguin encounter” and immediately start crying because I thought we would just be looking at the penguins through the aquarium as always! A penguin encounter let’s you pet them, they paint a picture with their feet, and sing for you. It’s amazing. So I’m freaking out and we are taken through the tour, sit down, and they bring us in one of my favorite penguins, a Macaroni penguin named Fontina (they name their macaroni penguins after cheeses). So me, still so oblivious watching fontina waddle around and painting the pictures with her feet, the marine biologist hands me the painting and asked me to check the date on the back of the canvas. That’s when I read “will you marry me?” And aj is on one knee proposing. The penguin was very jealous and kept waddling around us and looking while I was bawling. Then the lady said I could get on the floor and hang out with the penguin and she jumped on my lap! Which they say the penguins never do! So I got to say yes to the love of my life, look at this gorgeous ring my man spent 4 hours making, and then the penguin jumped on my lap. Best day ever….but not done with the surprises! So the encounter finishes, and I’m thinking okay now we finish the aquarium tour but no. We walk to the lobby and our entire family is standing there waiting for us! So here comes the tears again. Then we took pictures, all went to dinner, and celebrated our long time coming, engagement. AJ is the only person in this world I can think of putting so much time into every detail and tailoring the proposal to my exact interests. It was perfect and he is perfect! I am so blessed.