Alone in the woods, together forever

He finally did it! My boyfriend proposed this weekend!!! Since than I've had a difficult time trying to put JR's proposal into words. I have started writing several times only to delete everything and log off. The shock of this day arriving has yet to wear off, but I do think it's finally sinking in.

For me it's like being Sisyphus rolling that boulder uphill for years and suddenly reaching the top. I knew the peak was coming but not at that particular moment. It kinda threw me off balance and has left me looking at the world with a greater range of vision. And god, what an amazing view.

The best way to approach this is to share a little history. JR and I were introduced by friends in January of 2000 at College. I'd had back luck in the past with being setup by well-intentioned buddies and was not real enthusiastic. My first thought upon seeing JR was, "Thank god he's not fat." My second thought was, "In fact he's pretty damn cute." And my third thought was, "Wow he's tall."

I did what I do best when meeting new people, I made an obnoxious ass of myself. When school started back up for Winter semester I kept thinking about him at odd times but thought he wouldn't want to see me again. He did though and our friends hooked us back up. We hit it off really well the second time.

Things progressed fairly rapidly after that and we became a loving couple. Once the weather got nicer we discovered that we liked to go to parks and for walks in the woods together. One place quickly became our favorite. It's a wooded park along a river in ou College town. The place has a wonderful mix of fields and forest with plenty of deer and other critters.

On one of our first trips out there we came across a tree on the river bank that had lots of carvings on it. I'm not sure who though of it but it was decided that we should have our initials on that tree as well. JR pulled out his ever-present pocket knife and went to work on a smooth patch high on the tree. I remember a lot of sweat and some swearing involved but the end result was romantic and I loved it. We've always called it "our tree" and tried to visit it several times a year.




Flash forward to Sunday.

JR and I were up in our old College town for a friend's wedding reception. We had a great time and I'll blog about that later. We'd checked out of our hotel, had lunch with his parents (we LOVE Asian food), and watched our friends open their wedding gifts. We were in no rush to leave just yet and JR suggested we go see "our tree." It had been a long time since we last went (although now I understand why he never really seemed to want to go.)

It was a little chilly and I wasn't crazy about the idea. JR said we didn't have to go but I really did want to see the tree. The wind was pretty brisk at first but the more we walked the less cold I felt. It was strange how the trail in the woods was wonderfully familiar in some places and other parts I couldn't recognize at all.

At one point JR stopped behind be and whispered for me to back up slowly. I made my way back to him and there was a deer standing about thirty feet away. When I saw it I must have gasped or made some noise because it picked up its head and bounced away. I was a little disappointed that I had scared it, but it was a great sight none the less.

Soon after that the sun started to randomly poke through the trees and I was more excited about being there. As we walked I kept wondering if the tree would still be there, in fact I was a little afraid it would have died or been cut down. When we had walked for longer than I though we should have I started losing faith. I was about to call it quits when the path started looking familiar and I saw "our tree" ahead.

JR helped me down the steep slope to get to the tree and we stood together and looked at the carving he had eked out six years ago, imperfect arrow and all. I reached up to touch a spot that had split down farther than the others and then turned back to JR. We hugged and he took my hand. For about a nanosecond I had an unformed thought in the back of my mind about the way he was looking at me, then he dropped to one knee.

Very simply and perfectly he asked me to marry him as he pulled out a ring box. I think my words went something like "areyouforrealyes." I kissed him, and kissed him some more, than I got on my knees and kept kissing him. Finally we pulled apart enough for him to ask me if this meant yes. I said yes again and a bunch of I love yous and then we kissed some more.

By then I hadn't even really seen the ring so I told him to show it to me and put it on. It was so beautiful I couldn't believe what a good job he did. Pretty sure we did some more kissing at this point. With the river gurgling behind us and birds singing I doubt Disney could have done it better.

What still amazes me about this all is the fact that I was completely in the dark. JR's such a terrible liar and I'm a snoop so I always thought I'd see it coming. In hindsight I should have guessed. It's so perfect for us to commit to a future together at that place. It's always been special and romantic for us and I'm so glad he thought of it when I hadn't. JR didn't just give me a gorgeous ring Sunday, he gave me the best proposal a girl could get.

I've been asked several times if I cried and my reply is that surprisingly no, I didn't. Giddy happiness was my main reaction, I grinned like an idiot for hours. But as I reread this all the tears have started to flow. Having the moment on record brings to life how momentous an occasion this is for me. The man of my dreams wants me to be his wife, and although I've always known that we would be together forever it doesn't make the "question" any less important to me. Thank you Baby, I love you.