On Wednesday, August 5th, I presented Erica with a box full of beach balls and Frisbees for her birthday. I told her that they would come in handy as we were going to spend the coming Saturday on the Oregon Coast. I cheerfully fibbed that I had the whole day planned out, so she packed up some active clothes and some dress clothes and was excited for the coming weekend.
Little did she know, that Friday the 7th, I drove from Portland to Tri-Cities, Washington to speak with her Dad and ask for his permission to have Erica as my wife. We spent a couple hours eating, talking and laughing, and then I made the trip back to Portland before Erica got suspicious where I was all day.
I told Erica we were leaving early Saturday, so to have her things packed the night before. When I showed up in her room at 2am, she seemed a bit surprised. She was a little groggy, but I told her not to worry. I explained we were going to catch the sunrise on the coast and that she could sleep then entire way there.
She got in the car, tipped back the seat, and fell straight back to sleep. I then proceeded in the opposite direction and drove the 3 hours back to the Tri-Cities, all while she slept. As we were driving down into her home town, she woke up and, upon seeing the all too familiar exit sign for Badger Road, she shot straight up all confused and cute like, wondering what was going on.
I explained that she needn’t worry, that we were actually going to spend the weekend in Kennewick with her family. She was so happy! As we drove, she got suspicious when I turned off from the main road and started taking back streets. I drove us up and around until we got to the top of a hill which overlooks all of the Tri-Cities, which also happens to be the hill we had our first kiss on way back in the summer of ‘07.
Once at the top, we got out of the car and walked to a gazebo that is built on one of the ledges. We huddled up with a blanket and watched the sunrise over her cities, arm in arm. I could have sworn she could hear my heart beating so fast, but I tried my best to play it cool and enjoy the moment, even as the ring box in my pocket kept grabbing for my attention.
Finally, I put my nerves aside, got down on one knee, and told her that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I asked her to marry me, and she said “Are you serious? Yes!”.
After some tears and a prayer, we headed back to her house and spent the rest of the morning celebrating with her family over breakfast and wedding magazines. In the afternoon, we drove West across the Cascades to my home town, Everett, and spent the night celebrating with my family. It was a such a perfect day, to be engaged and then get to share the experience with our entire family; we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the rest of our lives.
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Engagement August 2009 |
Erica |
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Keith at 18 months, 6:00 AM |
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