The Engagement….Yes it has happened. Bill proposed to me on April 23^rd 2002. Bill called me from Afghanistan and asked me to finish up the coordination of plans to go to the Poconos for 4 days, that he began via email himself. I did not think much about it, other then time away from work and quality time with him. We always go places and see new sights so I was excited.  I did not care if we spent it in my house or sitting on a bus, as long as we got some down time together. It is like you fall in love all over again all the while getting to know each other.

So we arrived there on Monday morning and we were so excited to see our cottage we were going to live in for 4 days. It was a cute little place. It had a full kitchen, a full bedroom, a small living room with a fireplace that works on both sides of the bedroom/living room. (haha). It also had a full bathroom with a huge Jacuzzi for two and a sauna for two. It was a pretty exhilarating. While Bill was gone, I kept asking if we could see the sunrise one morning since it is a beautiful sight. On Monday we just hung out and went sight seeing. Little did I know bill was scoping out places to propose.  We went to the grocery store, got movies and set up our little cottage like home. Tuesday morning we got up to go running. Going for a run through the mountains together was so relaxing and I felt like I was just floating on cloud 9. We saw some great old Victorian houses and even scary haunted hotels on the run. We did some sight seeing and went hiking on to a waterfall. It was so pretty.  When we got back we just relaxed till dinner time. We had agreed the day before to go out to dinner Tuesday night and spend a little extra money on ourselves. We got dressed up and ready for the night separately (as best as we could) to pretend like we were going on date. It was pretty neat.

That night we went out to dinner…and it was delicious. I even tried fish that night. We had a nice dinner and ended up spending 2 hours there talking about our lives together and what we have been through. Who would have known while we were chatting, Bill was stirring about the proposal. It was then a little after 900 at night and he hinted that it was time to go. So we are walking out to the car and we were holding hands and I thought to myself, man his hands are clammy. But again I did not think anything of it, other then he was nervous to be around me again. Then driving back to the cottage he became very quiet. I just attributed to him being “tired”. Then while in the silent car I noticed he was driving faster then usual. I thought, gosh he is in a rush to get back and we have all the time in the world, but okay. So then he got the fire started and we just sat there enjoying the ambiance. Then he asked me to close my eyes. I did. Then what seemed like hours later, he asked me to open them but I told him no. We always play jokes on one another and I could not imagine what he was doing. So then when I did open my eyes, there he was…

He was kneeled down on one knee holding a ring box. He said, “Will you marry me?”. I just sat there for a moment, which I am sure felt like an eternity to him. Finally, I gave him a huge hug while my eyes filled with tears. Then I pulled back. He said…Well?, I said “YES”. Woops… I was so caught up in the moment I forgot to answer him. (lol). I never thought this day would come. I was in state of shock for a long time. This was the sweetest most romantic day ever…The details of the rest of the night are left to the imagination < wink wink>.. The next morning I got up earlier then Bill and went into the bathroom the look at the ring because, believe it or not, I never really looked at it since we were caught in the moment. Come to find out, Bill wanted to propose to me while we were watching the sunrise but he was so ancy, he could not wait until the next morning. We never did go see the sunrise together, because we had a late night. I still woke early…Then I got dressed and drove to the nearest pay phone since our (cell phone) didn’t work. I called Shanae the only person I could think of that was awake at 5:30 am. Haha.

The day after the proposal we spent the day in awe together. We went horseback riding and just spent the day imagining the wedding day. It was the best. We also bought our “welcome” bear. This was our first investment together for our home.  Bill surprised me with all the details he had worked out for the wedding. He had already asked Travis to be the best man and he knew the date, the time and who would be in his wedding party. I was left sitting there thinking, no he cannot be ahead of me with the planning<< haha>>.