Start Spreading the news

Okay, the reason I haven't blogged in over a week is because I had something that I really, REALLY wanted to write about, but I had to wait until we made some phone calls first.

So, let's pretend that it's last Sunday, October 10, 2004.
4:00pm EDT to be exact.

As I mentioned in my last post, Dick and I traveled to North Carolina last week with my parents. We spent the first few days in the Smoky Mountains - the western part of the state where Dick grew up. We tried to time our trip with the "changing of the seasons" or, the beautiful fall colors.

We flew from SFO to Charlotte on Saturday, got in mid-afternoon, and drove to our lovely B&B in Asheville. We spent all day Sunday driving through the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a gorgeous day - very clear. The fall colors had begun, but were not in their full glory yet. (we were probably a couple of weeks early). The Blue Ridge Parkway is a great drive - there are scenic over-looks every few miles. A few of these over-looks have hiking trails that you can hike to the top, or to a ledge.

We went on one of these hikes at "Waterrock Knob Trail". It was only .5 miles, but became pretty steep early on. About halfway through my parents had decided not to continue on, and I was beginning to wonder whether or not I wanted to complete the climb. I told Dick that this trail was considerably more steep than the last trail we had done, and he said, "Yes, but this hike will be much more rewarding!". So, we continued on. 3/4 of the way up, this City Girl started to get a little more tired, and even a little cranky :) I said, "There had better be a pot of gold at the top of this mountain....or at least a rainbow!". Soon, we were at a pretty little clearing, just a few more feet from the top of the mountain. Dick was standing behind me, and said, "Well, I don't have a pot of gold, but I do have *this*". When he said this, I thought he had a piece of candy for me from the hotel. Instead, I turned around, and he had a gorgeous diamond ring! He said, "I think we should get married", and with that, he got down on one knee, and proposed. :)! I was so shocked, and happy all at the same time, that all I could get out were words like "Really?" and "are you serious?". Eventually, I came back to my senses, and was able to say "Yes".

So, that's the "Big Proposal" story, It's very funny, and makes me smile. Dick really outdid himself this time - he took me completely by surprise, and I absolutely love the way he did it!

Here are a couple of fun pictures. The first picture was taken seconds after the proposal. A young couple was coming down from the top of the mountain just after, and offered to take a photo for us. (okay, the truth is, they came down the mountain, and I said, "He just proposed to me". The young woman started to fan her eyes, because they were tearing up - it was very funny).



Here's another picture that my parents took once we hiked back down the trail.


One more story:
Earlier in the day, as we were driving along, the road became just a little windy, and I thought it might be a good idea to take a Dramamine. Of course it made me drowsy, so I needed to take a little nap. I later found out that it was during this time that Dick and my parents had walked out of the car (to admire another overlook) and he asked for their permission to marry me! I really loved that he did this. They were very surprised, and apparently, took a few seconds to give him their answer!

My first thought was to blog about the news immediately, but Dick reminded me that we should wait until we saw his family, and made some phone calls before we "put it up on the internet". Of course, he was right, so I waited until we had called my family in CA, and saw his family later that week in Chapel Hill.

So, that's it. That's the story.
That's all the info we have for now.
We don't have a date yet, but we'll keep everyone posted on the progress.