The Proposal
Let me start out by saying
that for years now we've had a good idea of when we would be getting married. The proposal was just a matter of time. I asked Nick to give me longer than a year to plan a wedding, but not to make me wait longer than two years. He had sufficiently convinced me that it would be closer to be the one year mark.
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When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. |
We go camping
every summer in Olympic National Park. We planned to hike up Mt. Stormking on our second day there in May 2014. It was a fairly strenuous hike, and we weren't able to reach the summit; we needed actual climbing gear and had gotten ourselves into some prickly situations. Nick had also knocked me in the head with his trekking poles and delayed lunch, so I was not in the best of moods. We returned to our favorite spot on the trail overlooking Lake Crescent, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Canada.
I was exhausted and had just sat down and taken my sandwich out of my backpack. Nick was next to me rummaging through his pack. He said, "You have something on your butt," and made me stand up and turn away from him towards the trail. I brushed imaginary dirt off my rear end for far too long and finally turned around to see Nick on one knee with a ring box in his hands.
"Will you marry me?" is the only thing I remember him saying. The rest is a blur. Literally. I was crying. Swore that wasn't going to happen. We ate a celebratory dinner at Lake Crescent Lodge. When we got back to the campsite, Nick made a fire and pulled a bottle of champagne out of his bag. He even found the cork after it flew 20 feet into the pitch-black trees. That night I fell asleep to Nick reading me articles out of my first wedding magazine.
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We drove home
a few days later after visiting Hurricane Ridge. We went back to the Laketa's and drove up to the sight of my parents' cars in the driveway. Apparently most of the family had been informed of the engagement before it happened. The Donaldsons also joined us for the gathering to celebrate Nick's and my engagement and JP and Melissa's upcoming wedding. I have awesome in-laws.
Thanks for everyone's well wishes!
Thanks for everyone's well wishes!