One year ago today

Here are a couple of emails I sent to my friend James last year.

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March 18

Jeff and I are going to Car-bon-da-lay [i.e. Carbondale, IL] tomorrow for a few days in an A-frame cabin. It's going to be so much fun, and he'll get to meet Poof and Tyler [my beloved sister and brother in-law]. Mom and Dad are driving down too, so we'll have one big family day together.

I have the distinct feeling that Jeff has bought me a ring. He's been acting secretive and gleeful whenever I ask him to elaborate on an enigmatic statement he left on his Facebook profile that said, "Jeff is very happy with his choice." I know, that's not a lot to hang my hat on, but...I just have this feeling.

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Text message sent to James at 9:50 a.m. on March 20, after he came up with a list of times/places that he thought Jeff might propose:

sunrise on the 1st day of spring is perfect too! i said yes! am
engaged and overjoyed!

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March 22

[finally back on solid ground]

OK, so the two of us were in the A-frame cabin on Thursday morning, the first day of spring. Time: 6:30. Jeff woke me up and pointed at the window, saying, "Let's watch the sunrise." We were in the loft area at the top of the cabin, and our bed faced the east window, which was triangular and followed the roof line. The sky was mostly golden, fading to blue at the top and pink along the horizon. It seemed to glow. We watched it for a little while and I sighed happily. "I'm gonna go get some breakfast for us," Jeff said, seemingly full of energy. He went down the awkward but kind of fun ladder/stairs and I continued watching the sunrise. The sun had not yet arrived but the sky kept changing. Really lovely. I heard a lot of dish clanking going on downstairs, so I got out of bed and called to Jeff, "Need any help?"

"No! Leave everything to me!"

A few minutes later Jeff came up with a series four of plates covered with bowls. He took the bowl off the first one, gourmet-style: pieces of melon with some grapes. We ate it while watching the sky change. Very sweet of him to bring me breakfast in bed (not the first time, either!). Next one: some yogurt that we had bought the night before. He uncharacteristically wolfed it down and I was savoring it slowly.

By the time I was most done with it he had moved onto the third plate, but before he could show it to me I noticed that the sun was rising. "The sun!" I said happily as we watched it begin to peek above some trees way off in the distance. Jeff was also excited to see the sun, and it was so great to have a direct view of it right though our triangular window.

OK, back to business. Third plate: a keychain with a silver frog on it. On the frog's belly: a clock. What the...? Way back in January we tried to come up with a list of the most random items we could think of, and a frog with a clock on its stomach seemed like the most obscure item imaginable. Jeff had joked, "If I ever find a frog with a clock on its stomach, I will ask you to marry me." Ha ha ha. This was promptly forgotten by me, of course. I laughed at the keychain, recalling that it was an insanely obscure item but forgetting the thing about the marriage proposal. "Do you remember what that means?" Jeff asked me, and I said something like, "Refresh me."

Jeff told me and brought out the fourth plate/bowl, under which a box with a ring was hiding. I started squealing and got teary the nanosecond I saw it, hugging Jeff and saying, "Yes, yes!" Jeff, who was on his knees on the bed, gave me the big official question, "Kelly, will you marry me?" And I cried and said yes again and again. The sun was most of the way up and the entire cabin was filled with golden light. Golden light on the first day of spring. It was truly magical and very us. Much love to Jeff for devising the entire thing. As you know, I kind of suspected something was coming, and I knew that if I were Jeff, I'd propose on the first day of spring as I've been longing for spring for months now. But I thought maybe he'd wait until *official* spring, whenever that was, like mid-day on Thursday or whatever, but his was so much more beautiful.

Oh, the ring! Spectacular. A big white diamond, ideal cut, perfect in every way possible and insanely sparkly. On either side of it: three small diamonds and three small sapphires, alternating in a blue-white-blue-white kind of way. White gold band. Jeff basically designed it himself, putting it together on an online jewelry site (Blue Nile). It's amazing and I adore it. It's like I'm walking around with a small alien passenger on my left hand now, and it's seriously the most beautiful diamond ring I've ever seen.

Poof, Tyler, Mom, and Dad heard the incredible news and we met them in Carbondale on Friday. We spent the day with them, and everybody loves Jeff. Poof is joyous for me.