The Proposal

Alright, alright! Here's the story... of a lovely lady... ;) And a very lovely man!

RightHand had told me months ago to leave this weekend (Nov. 6th-9th) free because he had planned something. Well, as usual, law school got in the way of things, as I signed up to take the MPRE (one of our required exams) on Saturday, the 7th. So it was decided: We would leave after my test on Saturday, and it would all remain a surprise to me. Fun!

Well, Tuesday afternoon, I decided I was simply too overwhelmed to take the MPRE on Saturday. They offer it again in March, so everything will be fine. It's quite unlike me to back out of a standardized test that's all set-up and confirmed, but I think it was a great lesson in self-care.

Annnnnyway, in lieu of the test, RightHand and I dropped off baked goods to the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter bake sale:

The girls and Max

Now we've got the right sign! :)

As close as RightHand and I will ever come to tailgating...

RightHand had told me that the first surprise was at the Botanical Gardens in Athens. Of course, I whined that I was still hungry (yes, even after the delicious baked goods) and was really craving some Waffle House. And you know you don't get between a Southern girl and her Waffle House.

So, we ate at the WaHo, and I'm sure RightHand was wanting to kill me at this point for delaying the morning so much. Finally (finally!), we arrived at the Botanical Gardens:

So happy to be enjoying a beautiful day!

Unusually happy

RightHand then revealed to me that we were going letterboxing, an activity we have done many times together. Basically, it is a treasure hunt of sorts. There are boxes all throughout the country (and world, actually). They are hidden and contain rubber stamps. You can go online to letterboxing.org, type in your location, and find directions to letterboxes near you. Each box contains a rubber stamp and a notebook. When you find the box, you stamp the box's stamp into your own notebook, and leave your own mark/stamp in the box's notebook. Hope all of that made sense!

Okay. So, armed with directions to the "Holiday Stocking Box", he and I set out.

Here I am thinking, "Why is RightHand making this stranger take our picture?"

Well, first the directions instructed us to find the shady pavilion, which really was beautiful:

Such a cool vine

Awesome ceiling/trellis

We were also instructed to read its accompanying description. I lazily just had RightHand snap a picture of the information to be read later, like so:


It's important to remind you that I'm (obviously) writing this after the fact. RightHand was a great actor and I didn't suspect a thing!

Okay, I know this may bored you to tears, but bear with me! We continued our trek through the woods...

Going off the beaten path

Through a field...

Reached a gate...
(RightHand even played along as I tried to find the proper green gate)

Stretching my back, though lookin' pretty gangsta

A nice pause by the river

Handsome by the river
(Apparently that's his favorite shirt, so I guess I should've known it was a special day :)

Making my way...

The directions brought us to a bench in the woods overlooking the river. We decided to sit a spell:

Me and my ghost boyfriend ;)

A rather unflattering pic of me, but I want to document everything here!

The view from the bench of the path we needed to take next. The directions told us to go down to the bank/beach, but it was pretty treacherous, and my first attempt at sliding down to the beach failed:


If you can't hear, I am complaining/laughing that I just kicked myself in the heel and got muddy. RightHand is repeatedly checking to see if I am happy. (He tells me now that he really wanted to get me saying that I was happy on camera. Why? I am still not sure...)
(Note: Sadly, this is not the only video where I begin by thinking I am posing for a picture...ha!)

The way we ended up taking involved us clinging to a shifting, sandy cliff while holding on to plants and trees for dear life, lest we fall in the river. He made me work for it, ladies!!! Funnily enough, I also remarked that there were fresh footprints on the hill... It was just so strange because it was a treacherous and obscure place to be!

Finally, we're on the beach. I had RightHand take a picture of animal tracks he found:

And I find the box.

Ooooo!

And he is taking a picture of my every move!

Sort of wondering why RightHand is filming things, because he's usually so pushy involved:

Just realized that you can hear RightHand breathing hard in the video...awww! My heart still stops when I hear his final words... "I've got something to say..."!!! And by "children", I meant children, like I said our cats. These are the pictures I was looking at:

I had always jokingly told RightHand that I wanted to be proposed to on Christmas morning with a golden retriever puppy with a red ribbon around his neck. And on that ribbon would be an engagement ring, and we would name the dog Fifi, short for "Fiance" (kind of), and we would live happily ever after. Plan much? ;) And you may see the ring on the cats clear as day now, but I totally didn't notice it in the moment!!!

And RightHand put the camera down, made a beautiful speech, pulled a ring out of his bag (no, it was not in the box- good thinking, baby!) and asked me to marry him. Oh, I said YES! :)


And then he filmed me, of course:


I am so, so glad we have this on video. Best clip ever. :)

Catching my breath on a log and still crying :)

RightHand joined me on the log and we enjoyed the moment

So happy.

We returned home and told the kids the good news:

Sharing the joy with Latte

Gatsby was, er, thrilled :)

And then RightHand whisked me away to an incredible bed and breakfast in the North Georgia mountains. Will post all about that shortly!

I love you, future husband. :)