a happy little story.

I have some big, exciting news to share! I've been waiting a few days because it's been kind of fun keeping it all to myself (Well, not really to myself. Lots of people know now.) but now I'm ready to tell you. On December 23, 2010, Jeffrey and I got engaged! Before I tell you the story, I think it's important to say that our engagement came as a total surprise to me. Jeffrey and I have talked a lot about marriage over the past few years, but after all of our conversations, I came to the conclusion that the proposal wouldn't come until sometime in the spring. Turns out, I was wrong. And it also turns out that it's sort of fun to be wrong. Sometimes.

Anyway. So, Jeffrey and I planned to get Thai takeout (from our favorite Thai restaurant of all time) and take it to our favorite picnic spot. We got to our spot and it was dark. The sun sets quite early these days. It was cold, but we had a blanket. And it was dark, but we had a lantern. Everything was perfect. We were eating and talking about all sorts of different things. If you were to ask me if I knew that at this point Jeffrey was planning on asking me to marry him in a few short minutes, I would say absolutely not! I know Jeffrey, and I knew that he would be nervous and scatter-brained and all of the above when it came time for him to propose. Or, so I thought. But, nope. That Jeffrey was as cool as a cucumber, and he totally had me fooled.

Well, it became clear that we were both really quite cold. I suggested that we head home, but Jeffrey suggested that we not head home. I said okay. Then, Jeffrey started rifling through his wallet. It seemed irrelevant, but hey. Sometimes I randomly pull out my wallet because I think I've left my credit card somewhere, and I just want to make sure I have it. I thought it possible that he was making sure his credit card was tucked safely away, and I let it be. Then, he pulled something out of his wallet, looked me right in my eyes, and asked me to marry him.

Well, the waterworks ensued, I gave Jeffrey a big hug and for a split second I wondered how I had gotten so darn lucky. Here I was hugging the love of my life in one of our favorite spots of all time, in the peaceful, calm, dark of the night. It was so perfect I wanted to grab the whole moment and tuck it away to save forever. It's probably quite obvious that I said yes.

After our perfect little moment, we walked across the street to a little path that's lush and kind of like a mini-jungle. Every time Jeffrey and I have a picnic at our spot we carve the date into a bamboo shoot. I held up our little lantern and Jeffrey carved the date and the word 'engaged' into the shoot. It was so sweet and sentimental to the both of us. We stood back and admired Jeffrey's handy work; a long line of all the times we had made the short little journey to our favorite spot to enjoy a picnic together. It felt unreal and beautifully perfect.

The outpouring of love that Jeffrey and I have received from friends and family means the world to us. It's so comforting to know that our support system extends further than we can even imagine; that there is a network of people thinking of us as often as we breathe. It is all very magical.

It was so very special that Jeffrey proposed to me while my sister and Mark were here. It made everything that much sweeter! I'm so very pleased to be hitching my wagon to Jeffrey's. xo, R.