We attended our pre-marriage counseling last night. I know it's not a competition, but the counselor said we had more 100% ratings from our evaluation than any couple she'd seen in some time. We rock!
The counseling got me thinking about our engagement. Not many of you know the story, so I thought I'd share. After only a few weeks, we knew we wanted to get married. That may sound a bit impulsive, but we just knew. I remember talking to Debra about how long we should wait to get engaged to avoid making family and friends.....uncomfortable. We waited just over two months.
I knew I'd be proposing before Thanksgiving, but I didn't have a ring. Debra was emphatic she didn't want a diamond or really a new ring of any kind. So what was I to do? I told my Mom about the dilemma. She offered me her Mom's engagement ring. It was perfect. Early on Debra and I had a wonderful conversation about our maternal grandmothers. She even wears her grandmother's engagement ring on her right hand. So I had my ring.
I didn't know how I'd propose, but Debra gave me a perfect opportunity. On November 11 she took me on her favorite hike up Spruce Mountain just outside of Prescott. It was a great hike, brisk afternoon. I practiced the speech in my head all the way up the mountain. We reached the summit just beneath the fire lookout tower. There was a rock outcropping that overlooked the entire Prescott valley. I had my spot. We sat down and I was immediately terrified. What if I flub my lines? What if she says no?
We talked and I waited for my moment. I made some comment about our future and Debra joked, "We should just get married....". I couldn't believe it. She stepped on my lines!! She could see the shock in my face and knew what I was up to. I told her I had a whole speech prepared, but she thought I was joking. I reached into my pocket and took out the ring. She was genuinely surprised. I told her it was the ring Earl gave my grandmother, Dovie. Then I asked her to be my wife.
As we prepared to hike back down the mountain, the fire tower attendant, Susan, invited us up to her lookout. We told her we'd just gotten engaged beneath her tower. She was so excited and wanted to give us something to commemorate the event. We each got Smokey the Bear engagement pins!
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