Engagementaversary

Clint and I have been married for 2 months today :) And along with our 2 month anniversary, it is also the anniversary of our engagement last summer...July 29, 2009. You know how people say your wedding day will be one of the best days of your life? I think our engagement day ranks right up there with the wedding. It was perfect, in every possible way...and it was just US. There was no big to-do, no crazy hectic schedules, no one else involved except us. And that is my favorite part.

Last summer, I was in the middle of a lot of changes. I had recently moved into Clarksville from Kentucky, and I quit my job at Bank of America to begin my student teaching placement in the fall. I haven't been without a job since I was in high school, so that last part was a big deal for me. The day after I quit my job, I was on a plane to California to spend 2.5 weeks with my family and my love. It had been 4 years since I spent a summer at home, and I was ready for a taste of Siskiyou County summer. It was a wonderful trip that coincided with one of Jess Bray's vacations, which made it even better! Clint and I spent a weekend in the Bay Area, where I took him to Berkeley to meet some of my friends and show him where I went to school. We spent a wonderful day in the marina and on the pier...still one of my most favorite places in the world. Clint, Jess, and I took a trip down to visit Cole and Jennifer, and to meet our new nephew, Henry Leopold. I realized at that point that I was really tired of missing out on the important things with my family. I was able to meet Henry when he was a month old, but Ollie was growing bigger by the day and I wanted to be a bigger part of his life than seeing him once every couple years. Granted, Cole and Jennifer move every couple of years, but they were finally back in California and I wanted to take advantage of that as much as I could.

Clint and I planned an overnight trip to his parents' cabin on the Salmon River during my last few days in California. It was miserably hot, and we could think of nothing better than to be swimming in the cold river! Actually, I wanted to swim, he just wanted to be near the water where it is usually cooler. Please see previous posts about Clint's fear of water. So we packed our things for the overnight trip, and drove the hour and a half over to the Salmon River. We turned off onto the road to the cabin and Clint told me he wanted to show me a beautiful place along the river that he'd found. We pulled off and I decided it was too darn hot to be standing by the river without being IN it, so I traipsed down the trail to the water and jumped in. Clint stayed up at the truck for a few minutes, but followed me down and stood at the edge of the river, watching me swim.

When I got out of the water, we stood at the edge of the river for a few minutes...it was beautiful. If you haven't made it over to the Salmon River, you are missing out. Probably one of the prettiest, bluest, clearest rivers I have ever seen. We stood together, he had his arms around me from behind, and I told him "It doesn't get any better than this..." Next thing I knew, he took his hand from around me, pulled something out of his pocket, and held a diamond ring in front of me.

Please excuse me, I'm getting a little teary.

I was stunned and speechless...and breathless. He turned me around to face him and quickly got down on one knee. He asked "Will you marry me?" And I nodded my head through my tears and told him "Yes." He wrapped me up in a big bear hug and we stood like that, on the edge of the river, for a long time. I didn't want to let go. I didn't want to lose that moment.

After what seemed like hours, we returned to the truck, giddy, smiling, giggling, laughing, hugging, kissing, and admiring the sparkly ring on my finger. We took some photos to commemorate the event, and continued down the road to the cabin.

We were out of cell service until the next day, and I can't begin to explain how wonderful it was to be unreachable. Granted, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops and tell EVERYONE I knew that I was getting married to Clint Singleton, but it was nice to have the isolation, however temporary. When we returned to civilization, nothing was waiting for us but hectic, chaotic, newly-engaged mayhem. Pretty sure that mayhem didn't stop until 10 months later, when we left on our honeymoon.

And I returned to Tennessee 2 days later, bittersweet.