“I Don’t Think She Knows”: Covid-19 Ruins Guy’s Surprise Iceland-Engagement Plans, So He Decides To Make New Ones

Ian and Kyla live in central North Carolina. He works in sales, she's a computer engineer and they've known each other for about two years. Not so long ago, Ian realized that Kyla's the one and decided to propose to her. He had planned the perfect proposal, with a trip to Iceland and all, but the pandemic had other plans.

Not only was he forced to cancel the romantic mission but Kyla also learned that he was going to pop the big question. She overheard a call Ian was having with a colleague as they were both working from home. So, no more surprise factor.

Ian just couldn't catch a break. However, even though nothing was going his way, the guy still managed to ask his girlfriend to marry him in a way they both will remember forever.

Everything started with Ian asking Kyla's closest friend to come up with ring ideas. "She isn't someone who wears a lot of jewelry so it wasn't easy," he told Bored Panda. Ian knew Kyla had a very different taste in jewelry, so he wanted to make sure the options were good. He had Kyla's friend sneak those ideas into a conversation with Kyla and what do you know, Kyla didn't like them.

"So I went to the only person I knew [could] answer the question, dad. He told me to not mess it up since the ring will have her emotional attachment and not mine and the ring will be on her finger ..., not mine. This only made me more confused as I had clearly failed thus far. So my next and only option was to have Kyla design the ring and I will have it made. The only problem with that solution is there is no way to do that and maintain the critical mission objective of Kyla not finding out. So at this point, I would have to decide on having her design the ring or keeping the surprise. I chose the surprise and planned to use a placeholder ring when I proposed."

Ian was going to propose to Kyla during their trip to Iceland, which they planned as a regular vacation. He even knew the exact place where he would do it. "When I was there the first time, I was able to see large white glaciers, the blue ocean, green shire like fields, and rough black mountaintops," he said. "Every scenery is available to see on this rough mountaintop hike."

Kyla really likes surprises, so he wanted to just sweep her off her feet. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, they weren't able to go to Iceland. "I had planned two family members flying to Iceland and secretly hiking this mountaintop before us to get pictures of it for her. All of this went up in flames."

But that wasn't the end of Ian's bad luck. At first, it seemed like just another day under the lockdown. Ian was working in the bedroom and Kyla was taking care of business in the living room. However, one of Ian's colleagues who knew about his plans started asking him about them during a conference call, and it was coming through the speakers of his computer loud enough for Kyla to hear.

"I had lost the actual surprise. She cried for two days because it occurred to her that she will never get that magical moment to happen. The best thing I knew to do was to go ahead and tell her I was going to have her design her own ring. After she cried for a couple of days, she found some resolve in designing her own ring."

"After all of this, I was at a loss," Ian recalled. "I had managed to achieve nothing I set out to do. I had to find something because this was important to her and I love her."

But before going further with the story, Ian thought it was necessary to explain something that will help us fully understand the meaning of the notecards. "I grew up in a loving home but I speak very specific love languages," he said. "I understand acts of service and quality time. I understand there are others but those are the ones I speak and receive. I'm not very good at explaining why I love someone. A small part of it is I can barely fit any good content into words, much less notecards."

"That being said, Kyla always asks why I like her. I really only ever brush off those questions because I don't know how to fit that into words and I didn't grow up like that. It is important to her, though. So I decided to 'tell' her with the notecards behind her back, doing what she loves doing."

"She didn't see the notecards until after I posted them to Facebook. I didn't even tell her about them after I proposed. We got back to the hotel and I posted [the pictures] while she was in the shower."

Ian wanted to tell the world that he loved her and to explain why. "I only did this after I told her I love her for the first time when I proposed. She needed to know I love her first; before I told everyone else."

The guy said he gets asked a lot why he never told her that he loves her in actual words. "When everyone else tells their significant other 'I love you' hanging up the phone, I usually just say I'll talk to you later. I have one person to thank for this revelation, my brother Philip. He showed me that the word 'love' is a promise and one that we tend to throw around lightly."

"I guess in some instances I did tell Kyla I love her with my actions or the time I spent with her," Ian said. "But I had never told her that and she deserved to hear it since one of the primary love languages she speaks is words of affirmation. I wanted it to be a promise that I kept when I said it though."

"So the first time I told her 'I love you' was after I asked her to marry me and she said 'yes'. I told her then because I meant it, she deserved to hear it, and I plan on keeping that promise to her."

"When we met, roughly two years ago, it was in my living room," Kyla said. "Ian was coming up to visit my roommate, and I was just kind of third-wheeling on their day together. That day Ian had to get his nipples re-pierced due to an incident in an MRI machine (had you told me that day I was going to marry the guy laying on the piercing table I would have never believed you). The piercing experience was just the beginning, the rest of the day was spent eating Mexcian, pre-gaming for every activity, calling my friends when he and my roommate would step away to tell them that I just met this adorable guy (and then when they would come back to the car, I’d say I was just trying to tell my friend happy birthday)."

The two of them spent the next several months getting to know each other. "I quickly decided this man was something special, that he was someone I wanted to love and support and do life with. Watching him exercise the truest definition of love was what kept me by his side, his patience, forgiveness, and kindness were one of a kind. They always say that you can’t find a guy who is loyal, attractive, funny (don’t tell him), hard-working, and loving, but it was evident early on that I found a guy who had all of those qualities," Kyla said.

The couple is planning to get married in June 2021 in Calgary, Canada. "I originally suggested the beach, but at the end of the day, we're mountain people and rather than expecting people to hike up to Laguna 69 in Peru, we figured Banff National Park might be a bit more accessible."