Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago today when he asked me to marry him I responded with, "Seriously?!" 

 

But following that up with a definitive "YES!!!" will forever be the best decision of my life.

 

Thinking back, that was such a magical summer.  Nate headed off to Alaska with Andy in June and shortly after that I resumed my summertime humanitarian work in Zambia. 

 

We were single, but not quite as single as we'd been at other stages of our twenties. And even though it hadn't been talked about much we both knew that our lives were beginning to merge together with the intent of it being forever.

My time in Africa was a lot longer than Nate's trip to Alaska.  We temporarily invested in expensive phone bills and pricey text messages sent back and forth while I was away.

It was only a matter of weeks after I got home that we quietly and excitedly decided that life together was exactly what we wanted.  The ring took a while, but planning was happening and a date was set.

Nate had been so sneaky and faked me out with proposals a few times so even though we were driving to Lake Tahoe for dinner, I really had no idea that September 1st was the night he'd ask.  He had planned for us to be on the shore at sunset.  Everything about the place and the moment was beautiful.  And yet, I still had no idea what was about to happen.  We talked for a while and at some point he said, "Will you do something for me?"

Well, of course!  What did he need?  In that naive split second of thinking I was ready to jump in and help with whatever he was about to ask for.

But after just a little pause he asked.

Will you marry me?

And every day since then I've been so glad that he did.