Flashback Friday: The Proposal

I already sorta kinda maybe posted about the proposal here. In that post I talk about how hard it is for me to talk about my proposal story—almost as if it's too personal to share. But I do want to elaborate on some of the elements I talk about in that post, some of those "so incredibly good, they'll always be there" memories.

Nathan and I literally sat down with our schedules and a calender to figure out a day that would work in the month of October. It went like this...

Me: I have class Monday and Thursday nights and Friday October 5th and Saturday the 6th. 
Nathan: I work Friday the 12th, Saturday the 13, Saturday the 20th, and Saturday the 27th.
Me: I have huge paper due the 15th, there's a concert on the 23rd...

Ok, you get it. It wasn't easy to find a day that would work. I ended up taking the afternoon of October 9th off work and Nathan skipped class—after choosing a day with no quizzes or tests. The ten-day forecast showed a beautiful 70 degree day and we had plans for a picnic in the same park we spent our one-year dating anniversary.

Guys, it was SO COLD. I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, heavy fleece jacket, scarf, and gloves... and was wrapped in a blanket sitting on a blanket. Eating soup. Drinking hot chocolate. For South Carolina in October, this is an abnormality—we're talking about the same state where it was 70 degrees yesterday.

On the bright side, soup from Panera is really yummy. All we did was bum around the park all afternoon. It was awesome. We sat in the gazebo and ate and talked about how much pizza we ate the last time we were there. Walked around the lake. Watched the newest episode of Bones on my iPad. Sat around until I got too cold to sit around and then we headed back to Greenville to our favorite little park.

Little stream runs straight down the middle and pours off this rock into a pool.

This park is really only as wide as this picture, but it's so cute and secluded. During warm sunny days the park is packed with picnickers and photo shoots. On a day like today—you guessed it—we had the place to ourselves.

Yes—I knew it was coming. He didn't have the ring box in his pocket in Spartanburg. He put in his pocket before we left that park and unzipped his pocket when we got down to the base of the waterfall. Does that make it any less special? Absolutely not.

I didn't feel any "different" after the proposal. Like "OMG I'm engaged life is perfect!!!" We were content, together, and... cold. So basically exactly how we were before the proposal. And probably explains why we didn't spend much more time in the park before hopping in the car to go get some pizza. I was hungry—I like food and I'm not ashamed to admit it. So on to food, then, and telling family and friends.