The latest adventure

So we started a new adventure last Sunday: Engagement. As in we're getting married, and we have to decide how we're going to go about doing that. Is this blog going to suddenly become about a wedding? The jury's still out, but whisperings from the deliberations indicate that it's a good possibility. For a while, at least.

But before that, let's share the "How did he do it?!" story!

So last Sunday (that would be September 19th), San and I had brunch with what turned into not only quite a large-ish group of people (eight plus baby!) but a tardy one, as well. One couple showed up about 15 minutes late, as usual, but the rest rolled in 45 minutes after our reservation began. San was a little impatient, but he was hungry. And he'd been talking about going to the botanic gardens since the week before, and was upset at the prospect of rain that afternoon, so he wanted to finish up breakfast and go. Around 12:30, we were finally on our way home...in the rain.

Once we got home we checked the weather, and relieved that it looked like the rain was passing and that we wouldn't get drenched, we headed for the Chicago Botanic Gardens (www.chicago-botanic.org). Once there, we scoped out the farmer's market and grabbed a map. San immediately identified a little island at the south end of the gardens called Spider Island. I hadn't been to this part of the park, so we headed that direction. On the way, we wandered into a cooking demonstration, had a complimentary butternut squash flan snack, and then continued on our search for this tiny little dot on the map. Finally we found it. We strolled down the path, across a winding bridge, and down a second path that looped around the island. At the end of the path we found a stone seating area, where we sat on the rocks and contemplated the lake. Well, I was contemplating the lake.

After a few moments, during which the screaming children on the path miraculously disappeared, San stood up a little, saying, "I have something for you." And out came the ring box. My graceful response: "Are you serious?" Unperturbed, he got down on one knee and opened the box, asking something to the affect of, "Will you be my wife?"

I cried a little, gave him a giant hug, and (obviously) said yes! And onto my left hand went the sapphire and diamond ring, which he had designed over the course of the previous three months.

Thankfully people didn't wander into the little clearing long enough to for me to regain my composure. Unfortunately, they also wouldn't wander into the little alcove so that we could coerce them into taking our picture. We finally left the island, both of us grinning and trying out the title "fiance," and made our way out of the park since we weren't really paying attention to it any longer.

And so that's the story. No, we haven't set a date. In fact, we haven't even narrowed it down to a month, or a specific time of year beyond "not hot." Unfortunately for the rest of us, the only months that qualify as "not hot" in San's view of the world are December, January, and February. We'll keep all interested parties informed.