Weekend To Remember

A little bit of a back story;

About a month ago, or so, Liz and I were eating at one of our favorite restaurants, BJ's, and we got on the topic of getting married. We were talking about how we were both being asked by mutual friends and family members when I was going to ask her to marry me. These types of questions were easy for me to handle because, well, I think mostly because I'm a dude and those types of questions don't affect me emotionally. Liz (and all most other women), I learned take those types of things much more serious. As we talked about what those feelings were, she came to share that when I reference future plans or when others talk to her about them, yet there is no ring on her finger, it's as though a carrot is being dangled in front of her. Makes perfect sense. But what she didn't know (and I obviously couldn't tell her), is that I had already purchased a ring.

I started on a long spiel about how our relationship is like a path. There is a definate trail that we were heading down and that I knew exactly where we were and that there was a definate direction that it is heading. But because of specific reasons, she would just have to trust that I have a plan and that I knew which turns still needed to happen before we could reach the next "step" on our path.

On the way home from BJ's, I came up with my plan for asking Liz to marry me.

Fast forward a month, or so. We joined a group of friends and went camping down in the Randle, Washington area, just SE of Mt Rainier. Early Saturday morning, I asked Liz to wake up and join me on a hike that I mapped out just for us. It was a hike that took us to a place called High Rock, which has an amazingly unobstructed view of Mt Rainier. So, we got up early and started on our way. We started down the access road that would lead to the trail head and were stopped almost immediately by a bridge that was completely blocked off by huge cement barricades. Good news was, the access road went all the way through the hills to a spot about 30 minutes away. We started up this side of the access road and were surrounded by all sorts of downed trees and rubble in the road.

This was actualy pretty fun. Of course, about four miles into this winding obstacle course of a road, we met the other cement barricade. Why it was four miles up the road is beyond me.

So we headed back to camp just in time for breakfast, naps, and dogs.

I was pretty frustrated at this point being that I was carrying around this ring in my pocket and couldn't get to the "perfect" proposal point. I found out later, that Liz was actually expecting a proposal on our hike and was a little bit bummed too. To cheer her up, I told her that I had a present for her. Of course she wanted it right then, but I told her she had to wait. Assuming that she thought I was talking about the ring, I told her that I would give her the size of the present. I said it was 5" by 6" and a height of 1/16th" to 1". She gave the best puzzled look and asked if it could be anything inside those dimensions. I told her that i gave her the exact size.

Later in the afternoon, we all headed out on a two mile hike to Lake Packwood. I was thinking that maybe there would be something pretty here and a place for us to be secluded and I would propose there.

This was a gorgeous hike. There were plenty of places to stop and get pictures of the surrounding hills and mountains.

What seemed like nine hours into this hike, I began to think we had taken a wrong trail or were lost from the rest of the group. We caught up with Sarah and Ryan and the told us that it was actually a four and a half mile hike.

Ok. Pause. Right here I'm thinking I'm done. I'm already tired and I still have to walk out of this labryth of a trail. I was thinking that I would just propose anywhere else. But, we marched on. To much of our surprise, the rest of the trail was mostly snow. What a weird place. However, we finally made it to the lake. While everyone was jumping in the water and playing with the dogs, Liz and I walked to the side and found a nice place to sit by the lake. I asked if she wanted her present and she was almost beside herself in anticipation. I pulled a bag out of my backpack and she opened it and found a tiara. I told her that she was my princess and I found that for her. She was very thankful, but I could tell that it wasn't what she was hoping for.

Silence. We sat there for a little while just looking at the scenery and then I started talking about how recent events have really caused me to evaluate our relationship and where we were in our path.

More silence. I was a little nervous.

Then I popped up and got down on one knee and grabbed her hand. I told her that I loved her and that I wanted to be with her forever. Then I asked, "Liz, would you....carry me back to camp? My feet are killing me!!" She said no. We laughed for a minute and as I started to stare back into her eyes, some scary looking guy came up out of now where and said hey.

Ok, I'm on one knee, holding her hand. Seriously man?? So we gave an awkward "hey" back and I proceded. I pulled the ring out of my pocket and asked her to be my wife. She sqeeled a bit and said yes.
Just then, we got word from the rest of the group that they were leaving down a different trail back. They found a short cut that would only be four miles in stead of the previous four and half. Whew, what a relief!!

But before we started back, I told Liz that I had one more gift. I dug into the bottom of my backpack and pulled out two minature bottles of champagne and we toasted to each other and to God.