Wednesday, July 16, 2008

From the knee of John Harley...

It was a beautiful Saturday. After a nice morning of sleeping in and a late breakfast, Erica and I decided to run a few errands before we hit the beach. "Let's go open my TCF account" she said, in anticipation of incoming paychecks from her new jobs. We hopped in the car towards the bank.
On the way we stumbled across an art fair that spanned for blocks, full of all kinds of booths and food carts. We decided to take a quick look after taking care of business at the bank.
We walked for a couple of hours, laughing, looking, eating overpriced fair food and holding hands. I bought Erica this really cool dress that looks amazing on her (I love how she looks beautiful to me in so many ways every day). The band up the street caught our ears from a few blocks down. It was this crazy string/rock fusion and they were excellent! We danced and clapped as we talked about how cool it would be if they played at our wedding someday... of course I hadn't proposed yet, but it was a fun topic for conversation.
When leaving the fair we were getting hungry so we decided to go one of the local restaurants down the street and grab a bite and a drink. It was a beautiful evening on the patio of Leona's. We talked about the day over a candlelight dinner and decided to go for a walk on the beach after dinner....
The moon was a giant yellow ball resting heavily on the horizon of the lake leaving a trail to the edge of the Earth. The lake, as smooth as glass. To add some intensity to the serenity, lightning was illuminating pink clouds miles off to the West.
And then she gave me the cue I was looking for.... "This reminds me of Hawaii".
Backstory: It was my hope to take Erica to the ocean and propose, but I knew she would see that coming and, we're college students... Need I say more?
When I heard that I grabbed the ring that I had been nervously carrying in my pocket since we left for dinner, dropped to one knee as I spun her to face me and as she began to giggle and utter expressions of nervous disbelief, I asked her to be my wife. She asked me to repeat my request so she could hear me ask without her reactions drowning out my voice. I asked her again and she said "Yes" with a kiss and a smile.

It was the best night of my life (so far... the wedding is coming up) and I thought you all might like to share.