They say love will always find a way. Adam Sollows is a good example of that.
He and his girlfriend, Samantha (Sam) LeBlanc-Nakpil, reside in Halifax but both have strong family ties to Yarmouth.
Adam had been planning to propose to Sam for awhile, but was stumped for ideas on how to do it.
After weeks of thinking about it, he came up with an idea that he planned on carrying out with a little help from his family… rain or shine.
On Jan. 12 he suggested to Sam that they visit Yarmouth on the coming weekend. As this is something they did often, she didn’t think anything was unusual and agreed.
The first challenge was with Adam’s job. He is employed by Irving shipyard as a marine fabricator and was scheduled to work until midnight.
The couple would only be able to drive to Yarmouth Saturday morning so Adam would have to pull off the proposal later that day.
As the week progressed there were weather warnings of a large storm system approaching for the weekend.
Adam had to tackle the next wrench in his plans: a big one.
“Sam was opposed to be driving to Yarmouth and wanted to stay put,” he said.
So Adam suggested instead of driving to Yarmouth Saturday morning in the storm that they could leave right after work Friday night.
“Sam was starting to get a little frustrated about why I wanted to go to Yarmouth so much and it took everything I had to convince her to go,” he said.
After working a 10-hour shift until midnight, they packed up and drove through dark, arriving home at 3 a.m.
“All because ‘I wanted to just relax in Yarmouth this weekend’,” said Adam.
Saturday morning arrived and the weather was as nasty as could be. Adam said it was a good thing they drove home Friday night because they could not have made the drive Saturday morning.
“Running low on sleep and with my nerves starting to kick in, I got up early and headed for the lighthouse to set things up,” he said.
“It was freezing rain at the time and I remember just running around finding as many rocks as fast as I could to spell out my proposal message while the rain was slapping me in the face.”
After being drenched and chilled, he returned home and noticed Sam was just getting up. Although he was becoming very anxious, he says he kept his composure. He made Sam some breakfast, looked outside, and noticed they had a window of opportunity where the rain had let up a bit. Immediately after breakfast, he suggested they take the family dog, Comfort, for a quick walk over to the Cape.
“She agreed without really noticing the weather so we grabbed the dog and headed over,” he said.
Halfway to Cape Forchu the rain started. It became progressively worse and by the time they reached John’s Cove, it was a downpour. Adam’s next suggestion was to skip the beach for a better day and take Comfort for a quick walk on the lighthouse trail instead.
“When we got there, Sam kind of looked at me and said, ‘Are we really going out in this?’ I talked her into doing a quick loop around with the dog,” he said.
Adam and Sam started walking into the torrential downpour and a windy gale. Although Adam had brought an umbrella, it was destroyed in a matter of minutes. He says he had to literally drag Sam through the rain to get to her to the end of the path where balloons were attached to the bench to make it stand out a bit. As they reached the hill and the last bench was visible, she noticed the balloons.
“She asked me what they could be all about. I shrugged, pretending to be unaware, and kept dragging her along with Comfort in the worst storm so far of 2016,” he said.
The message was spelled out right below the bench, so in order to see it they had to walk directly up to it.
“That’s when she noticed – Marry me Sam – and it finally hit her what this was all about.
“There we were in a freezing rain and windstorm with a smashed umbrella and a wet dog and me down on one knee.
“The first thing I said was, ‘Sam, I’m not the weather man and I can’t change Mother Nature, but this was our day and I was doing it rain or shine.’ We laughed (and cried) and hardly noticed the weather on the walk back to the car – me with a big smile and Sam with an engagement ring on her finger,” said Adam.
He says that he and Sam hope to enjoy the view again when the weather is more agreeable.
“This will always be a special place for us,” he said.
The couple plan on holding their wedding in the summer of 2017 in Yarmouth.
This article was first published in the Tri-County Vanguard in 2017.
The Cape Cottage 