MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. – When getting married, every couple hopes the engagement will be something special.
For one Madison Heights woman, that moment is memorable because of the surprise they both received.
"He completely caught me off guard," said May Gorial, a 32-year-old French teacher at Bishop Foley High School.
Her 27-year-old boyfriend, Nathan Bluestein, of Northville, proposed last weekend while the two were in a canoe in Lake Huron. He put a note in a bottle and dropped it into the water for Gorial to find it.
According to Gorial, the note read in part, "I can't imagine spending the rest of my life without you. That being said…"
At that point, Bluestein pulled out a ring and popped the question.
"Of course I said yes," Gorial said.
According to the couple, that's when things got really interesting. The canoe got caught in the lake currents and started carrying them off course.
"And so we're paddling for a half hour and I'm giving it all I've got and she looks at me and says, ‘honey we haven't moved. In a half an hour we haven't moved'," Bluestein said.
They eventually drifted to North Island.
"The wind started crashing in and the waves started crashing in against the canoe and I'm sitting there with my head down," said Gorial. "I was really cold and he covered me up with a couple of towels. He was shivering. We were just waiting."
They used Bluestein's cell phone to call 911 and were towed to safety by the Coast Guard a couple hours later.
"It was really nice. We got to see the sunset. The sky was really beautiful with a full moon. Almost like I planned it," said Bluestein.
They have a church picked out and plan to get married next April.