The Holiday Season is always crazy for me, probably much like everyone. Schedules are botched, stomachs are stretched and bank accounts are empty. Everyone is relieved that Christmas music no longer fills the air in public places and commercialism has moved on to less controversial, pink and cheesy holidays. I myself am exhausted from just not being on a set schedule, don't get me wrong, its nice to switch things up, but it is also nice to be in a grind. I also think that I haven't had a day where I have consumed less than 5000 calories since October. yuck. I am excited to be done with Holiday "social eating".
Now that I have gotten all the negative things out of my mind, I can focus on the positive things that happened this season. For a couple years my family, in efforts to take focus off of the commercial side of Christmas, has drawn names for gifts and has put a cap on the amount spent on each person. I LOVE this, not only because I am always down on cash, but I feel it is necessary to refocus the true meaning of the holiday. Don't get me wrong, I love receiving gifts, but I love being able to make Christmas uncomplicated by de-cluttering its events.
We had my entire family over, including my future in laws!! Which, yes I am engaged and I'll talk about this in a bit, but having family over and spending time talking, eating, and playing games was my favorite time of this season this year, and naturally will continue to be my favorite part. Another huge part was the Christmas eve service, awesome awesome awesome, I was so moved by the music and the message, I haven't experienced such a framing of the Christmas Story in a long time. It is truly incredible that a bit over 2000 years ago, God came in wholly human form to save us from ourselves!! crazy.
OK, now to the seriously fun stuff that is new in my life. December 11th was a day that was a long time coming, and will be a permanent memory in my mind forever. Leading up to that day, there was much suffering and stressful preparation to make sure that every detail would turn out perfect, but in the end it was well worth it. My now fiance Lisa and I had a leisurely afternoon of Sushi, talking, and driving around, as we were deciding what to do I realized that my original plan was not going to work, so with no hesitation I informed Lisa that we were going on an "adventure" and that she needed to get some warm clothes. Once all packed, we sat in her driveway, ready to jump into this timeless day. She opened her first clue, which through rhythm and rhyme directed us to drive to Detroit Lake Dam. We were on our way. Our drive was, as usual, laced and full of fruitful conversation, singing, dancing, and goofing around. Once we arrived at the dam it was frigidly cold, but we got out and took pictures, as customary for us when we pass by the huge manmade fete. Lisa told me that she had never touched icicles in their natural state, and the only ones in the area were across the freeway, so with caution she ran across the road to be able to cross something off her bucket list, but getting caught in the moment of excitement, she ran across the busy freeway to pose for a picture and forgot to touch the ice! So being a goof ball, she turned around in the middle of the road, almost running in circles in the middle of the busy freeway! She then touched the ice and returned safely to me. We then warmed up in my car and she read her next clue which lead us to a lake that we played in the previous summer, close to Hodoo Ski Area. We drove through the Santiam Pass Mountains and continued to enjoy each other. He arrived at the lake, parking on a small, narrow shoulder of the road, being that snow plows had not cleared the road into the lake campground. We played in the snow, took some pictures and walked in the snow before we were back in the car on to our last destination. The clue directed us to Suttle Lake, a place where we have a lot of already wonderful memories, but we were on our way to create one of the greatest memories either of us shared anywhere. We arrived just as the sun was beginning to dive into the horizon. Being that the temperature was in single digits, the entire lake was frozen, enabling us to run, jump, and slide right on top of the lake! For a moment we were truly walking on water! After a bit of shenanigans on the ice we began our intended hike around the lake. On our hike we saw a bald eagle, and as the sun continue to hide itself, it lit the surrounding mountains and hanging clouds on fire! It was one of the most beautiful environments I had ever been in. We were almost to the other side of the lake when I recognized the place that I wanted Lisa and I to stop for a hot drink break, provided by my thermos. We sat for a time, enjoying our hot chocolate and tea. My heart began to pound, and I realized that I had not been this nervous since I asked Lisa to be my girlfriend, but this in no way was even close in importance. I finally found the words coming out of my mouth, "do you know why I brought you here?" See, Lisa and I had been talking about getting engaged for quite some time, like almost 2 years so this moment in time was not only a long time coming, but was somewhat expected. BUT, Lisa was gracious and replied in her sweet soft voice, "I have no idea why you brought me here Brian." I proceeded to get down on one knee and explain to her why I felt that that particular place was so meaningful. That small peninsula in the lake was where I had given Lisa a bouquet of wild flowers (which she still has to this day) and it is also where we shared our first kiss as a couple. I then began to describe how meaningful her keeping those flowers was and is to me. Then I pulled out her ring and explained that the ring was much like the flowers, just an object in itself, but by giving it to her, and having her wear and cherish it made it the most special object in the world. I then proceeded to ask her to marry me, and of course she said YES!! We were so excited we could hardly keep it together. I am pretty sure the smile did not leave my face the entire 40 minute hike back to my car. We started calling our families to tell them the great news, and it was actually quite funny because, being that we were driving through the mountains, cell service was in and out, and considering the importance of the news, breaking signal was quite stressful at times.
All in all, it was a great Holiday season, time for new life, time for new love, and new beginnings.
2 comments:
Nice job telling the story, the best part about doing it electronically is that I cannot interrupt you. We're rad dorks.
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