It was 6 years ago in January that Nathan and I got engaged! Although its long enough that both of us forgot the anniversary of the actual day until later in the week. All the same it is still one of my favorite of our memories.
Our engagement day started with a lot of good intentions and in true Green style they all changed but ended up turning into the perfect day. Originally we were supposed to go visit the town of Galena. That morning the weather had other plans: fog, icy roads, high winds and bitter cold. For safety sake we decided to stay local and visit a nearby antique store instead.
At first I was disappointed. Back around Christmas we had started talking about rings and in my mind Galena was the perfect place for Nathan to propose. But I did my best to perk up and just enjoy the day we had ahead. The proposal could happen at any time. I already knew my answer.
We set out to go antiquing at a local shop, introduced Nathan to my favorite nachos, stopped by our local “mall” (that has about 5 stores in it), then visited the park at the center of town to watch the mist go over the dam. On our way to the bridge we performed the song and dance number from Sound of Music even though I was nearly a decade older than 16 and Nathan wasn’t 17. But when we made it to the middle of the bridge Nathan stopped and said: “Wow, I didn’t know they did that here!” After I asked him what he meant he wouldn’t respond other than to say we needed to go for a ride. We quickly packed up and headed back into town and went to Walgreens of all places. There we grabbed a few supplies then turned back around to the park.
Once we got back we retraced our steps, re-sang our song then headed back across the bridge. In the center of the bridge he gave me a key and told me a sweet story about France. There is a bridge in the middle of Paris called The Pont des Arts filed with padlocks. Lovers will seal their locks as a sign of their love on the bridge and throw the keys into the river. Except when we went to throw our keys into the river mine was buried so deep into my pocket I thought I'd lost it. By the time I found it and turned around to toss it in Nathan was down on one knee saying some very sweet words asking me to marry him. I wish I could remember exactly what he said and how he said it. But in my excitement I couldn’t even say the word yes. I just screamed EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE so loud strangers stared.
Now 6 years later this is one of my happiest memories. Not because it went exactly to plans but because it was absolutely perfect for us.