valentine's day

As mentioned, B and I escaped for a little holiday weekend in scenic Galena, Illinois. We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast where we were greeted by perhaps the friendliest man alive. After a painstakingly extensive overview of the town he showed us to our room. He then added that there just so happen to be a luxury suite still available with a hot tub and fireplace, which he would be more then happy to split the difference with us on. This being our first trip alone together, we really had no choice but to accept this offer, it would be rude not to.

After that we drove into town to dine at the best restaurant in town. We arrived, found parking and get this...three hours of free parking, such a novel concept. Dinner was sub par, but our server more then made up for it by telling us his whole entire life story, portioned out by the courses of our meal. The friendliness of the server and of the town was exhausting.

The next day we drove out to Chestnut Mountain for a day of skiing. As most people know, skiing is not my forte. I have tried it twice in the mountains of Colorado and have found that this particular activity brings varying degrees of pain and suffering. But B loves it, so it is hard to refuse. The hills of Galena were admittedly easier and I made it through the first portion unscathed. The main difference between the midwest and the mountains was the length of the runs, here they took about 2-3 minutes compared to 15-20 there, a vast but welcome difference. But after a few falls and some wimpering, I made it through enough runs that B mercifully called it a day.

Later that evening we decided to walk into town for dinner. On our way, there was a park with a statue of Ulysses S. Grant that B claimed he wanted to see. After about five seconds, I was ready to continue our cold march into town when he said that he wanted to ask me something. And before I knew it, he was down on one knee with a ring box in his hand. There are few times in life that the world seems to stop as it did at that moment. I can't even remember what he said, the disbelief that this was happening was overwhelming. But there on my finger was a beautiful ring that he had designed for me and gave to me on a romantic weekend that he had orchestrated with a surprise proposal to spend the rest of our days together. It really doesn't get much better then this.

We are now engaged and I can't stop smiling. The joy and happiness that I feel is unbelievable. I have in my life an amazing man that loves me completely, who knows me better then I know myself sometimes. Though I am less then excited to start the arduous task of planning a wedding, I am looking forward to having our closest friends and families gather together to celebrate a love that I once thought I would never find.