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Man proposes to girlfriend using time capsule they'd buried 5 years earlier

(JStorrs, YouTube)


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ONTARIO, Canada — Most time capsules are home to magazine clippings, photos, notes and trinkets — but very few contain marriage proposals.

When they first started dating five years ago, Troy Reddington and Jennifer Storrar thought it would be fun to turn an empty peanut butter jar into a time capsule in which they’d hide their hopes and predictions for their future together, according to Today.

The couple each kept their predictions secret, vowing to read them aloud to one another in five years. They stuck them in the old jar, along with photos, a list of music they liked and a Blackberry phone. They decided to bury the capsule near a lake where Storrar camped with her family each year as a kid, Today reported.

As time went by and the relationship progressed, Reddington determined he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Storrar. As he brainstormed the perfect proposal, the once-forgotten time capsule popped into his mind.

“I wanted to do something sentimental to us,” he told Inside Edition. “Something we’ve already done together, and something that is very personal to us.”

So back in May, Reddington took off for the lake in the middle of the night to find the old peanut butter jar. The task proved more difficult than he planned — after driving three hours to the lake, he hopped in a kayak and paddled out to the island where they’d left the capsule so many years ago.

But when he got there, he couldn’t find the original capsule, according to Today. Luckily, he’d brought along another empty peanut butter jar, just in case. Inside, he placed a note bearing a pretty important question inside and buried it for Storrar to find.

When the couple returned to their annual camping spot a few days later, Reddington handed Storrar his new GoPro and asked her to help him film their trip. The video, which had just under 180,000 views on YouTube as of Sunday night, follows the couple as they drive to the lake, kayak out to their special spot and commence the search for their capsule.

When they unearthed the new jar, Storrar was surprised to find that the items they left inside were no longer there. Instead, she pulls out a single piece of paper with the words, “Will you marry me?”

Meanwhile, Reddington drops to one knee and pulls out a diamond ring.

“It was such a priceless moment, seeing her face,” he told Today. “She broke down crying. It was just amazing — she almost made me cry. I don’t even have the words to say how amazing it was.”

Storrar said she had no idea her boyfriend was planning to propose.

“I could not believe him,” she told Inside Edition. “He went on such a trek to do this.”

The couple plans to purchase a home before they tie the knot, and told Today they’re planning on setting a date in the next few years.

For Reddington, the reality of the present was his past wish for his future. That original time capsule contained a note that predicted the couple’s current trajectory.

“I’d written that I wanted to be married to her in five years, so it worked out!” he said.

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Jessica Ivins

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