May 6th, 2006 dawned a perfect day. Around 8:00 am my boyfriend woke me up so we could get ready for our “special date.” I was spending a long weekend with him and his parents in Sevierville, TN and we’d been planning a picnic for months. The original forecast had called for rain the entire weekend but two days before I got there the weatherman changed the forecast to rain Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. Saturday was to be mostly sunny. Indeed, the day was a bit cool but the sun was shining and there were big fluffy white clouds in the sky – I felt as though God was smiling down on us.
As we prepared for our outing there was a lot of playful banter between Jeremiah and I but the over all tones were sweet (presumably to earn brownie points!) Around 10:00 we finished packing our things into his 1929 A-Model truck and, with a few pictures and a wave off from his mom, we were on our way. Not being originally from the area, Jeremiah and his family used to vacation in Gatlinburg so he took me to a couple of his childhood haunts which included “their” cabin and an old covered bridge. There he carved our initials amongst the hundreds of other initials and names already decorating the bridge. After that we started on our journey again.
People were smiling and waving at us as we made our way towards the Smokey Mountain National Park in his old truck. It was a gorgeous day and more than a few looked envious of our ride. When we got to the Park we stopped by the Welcome Center to see if they had any tips for the perfect picnic spot (yes, truly the perfect guy!). We were thankful we stopped because the lady told us that there was some big "goings on" at Cade’s Cove, our intended destination. She told us about another area that would make a nice picnicking stop so we headed out again. As we drove off we took our time just admiring the view – which was gorgeous – and Jeremiah began to tell me how concerned he was about the gift he had brought for me. Because we hadn’t been together for my birthday we were having a belated birthday date. He told me how fragile the gift was and he was afraid that it would shatter; he had it wrapped in bubble wrap, sitting on top of a cushy towel, and strapped securely in the bed of the truck. The more he told me the more curious and concerned I became.
We finally arrived at the location that the lady had told us about and did some exploration of the area. Although it was very pretty, it wasn’t quite what we had in mind so we headed back the direction that from which we had come to investigate a couple areas we had noticed by the side of the road. The first place we stopped the embankment was too steep and there wasn’t any place to lay out our picnic blanket. The second place proved to be even better than what we were searching for. We traversed down the embankment and spread the blanket below some trees next to the river. It seemed we had found the butterfly’s playground for there were many of them flitting here and there. When we sat we could hear the occasional cars driving by but couldn’t see anything making it was just us, the butterflies, and the river bubbling past us. Cozy and perfect.
Jeremiah asked if I wanted to eat or open my gift first. Since he had managed to get my curiosity up by all of his talk about the gift (yes, I know, not a difficult feat) I made the easy decision to open my gift first. He had already told me that he needed to check it to make sure it was ok and he wanted to help me open it so I was prepared when he told me to close my eyes. I tried covering them with my hands so I could still peep through but he knows me entirely to well and I couldn’t see anything. The song “Anticipation” played through my mind before he finally told me to open my eyes and showed me the wooden box that he had made to house my gift – it was very pretty and of expert craftsmanship (like all of his work). He slowly lifted the top of the box off. Bubbled glass words “Marry Me?” were popped up off a mirror secured to the base of the box. To the left of the words were a bride and groom glass figurines standing in front of an arch way with tiny wedding bells hanging off of it. Behind the words was a ring box with an exquisite diamond solitaire nestled inside. He sat with a hopeful pleading expression on his face. It took me about 10-15 seconds to process that he was proposing then I threw my arms around him, box and all, and hugged his neck for –what he says- at least another 45 seconds. Finally I realized that I had yet to give him an answer and I squealed out an ecstatic, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!”
He slipped the ring out of its box and onto my finger. I couldn’t stop admiring how beautiful it was. As we ate he told me how he had gone to a glass smith and had them specially make the mirror set because he knew how much I loved to have those types of momentums (he scored big time brownie points with that one!). He explained how he had made the box and, in case I ever wanted to take the mirror off, he pointed out that it was duck taped down to the base as was the ring box (you you’re marrying a redneck when…). Even in the serious moments he knows how to make me smile.
At that time I had no idea what our future would hold; the ups and downs it would bring. But I have never once regretted my decision to marry him. He's so much more than just my husband, he's my best friend and my soul mate. Truly my better half. And how could I ever regret that?
As we prepared for our outing there was a lot of playful banter between Jeremiah and I but the over all tones were sweet (presumably to earn brownie points!) Around 10:00 we finished packing our things into his 1929 A-Model truck and, with a few pictures and a wave off from his mom, we were on our way. Not being originally from the area, Jeremiah and his family used to vacation in Gatlinburg so he took me to a couple of his childhood haunts which included “their” cabin and an old covered bridge. There he carved our initials amongst the hundreds of other initials and names already decorating the bridge. After that we started on our journey again.
People were smiling and waving at us as we made our way towards the Smokey Mountain National Park in his old truck. It was a gorgeous day and more than a few looked envious of our ride. When we got to the Park we stopped by the Welcome Center to see if they had any tips for the perfect picnic spot (yes, truly the perfect guy!). We were thankful we stopped because the lady told us that there was some big "goings on" at Cade’s Cove, our intended destination. She told us about another area that would make a nice picnicking stop so we headed out again. As we drove off we took our time just admiring the view – which was gorgeous – and Jeremiah began to tell me how concerned he was about the gift he had brought for me. Because we hadn’t been together for my birthday we were having a belated birthday date. He told me how fragile the gift was and he was afraid that it would shatter; he had it wrapped in bubble wrap, sitting on top of a cushy towel, and strapped securely in the bed of the truck. The more he told me the more curious and concerned I became.
We finally arrived at the location that the lady had told us about and did some exploration of the area. Although it was very pretty, it wasn’t quite what we had in mind so we headed back the direction that from which we had come to investigate a couple areas we had noticed by the side of the road. The first place we stopped the embankment was too steep and there wasn’t any place to lay out our picnic blanket. The second place proved to be even better than what we were searching for. We traversed down the embankment and spread the blanket below some trees next to the river. It seemed we had found the butterfly’s playground for there were many of them flitting here and there. When we sat we could hear the occasional cars driving by but couldn’t see anything making it was just us, the butterflies, and the river bubbling past us. Cozy and perfect.
Jeremiah asked if I wanted to eat or open my gift first. Since he had managed to get my curiosity up by all of his talk about the gift (yes, I know, not a difficult feat) I made the easy decision to open my gift first. He had already told me that he needed to check it to make sure it was ok and he wanted to help me open it so I was prepared when he told me to close my eyes. I tried covering them with my hands so I could still peep through but he knows me entirely to well and I couldn’t see anything. The song “Anticipation” played through my mind before he finally told me to open my eyes and showed me the wooden box that he had made to house my gift – it was very pretty and of expert craftsmanship (like all of his work). He slowly lifted the top of the box off. Bubbled glass words “Marry Me?” were popped up off a mirror secured to the base of the box. To the left of the words were a bride and groom glass figurines standing in front of an arch way with tiny wedding bells hanging off of it. Behind the words was a ring box with an exquisite diamond solitaire nestled inside. He sat with a hopeful pleading expression on his face. It took me about 10-15 seconds to process that he was proposing then I threw my arms around him, box and all, and hugged his neck for –what he says- at least another 45 seconds. Finally I realized that I had yet to give him an answer and I squealed out an ecstatic, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!”
He slipped the ring out of its box and onto my finger. I couldn’t stop admiring how beautiful it was. As we ate he told me how he had gone to a glass smith and had them specially make the mirror set because he knew how much I loved to have those types of momentums (he scored big time brownie points with that one!). He explained how he had made the box and, in case I ever wanted to take the mirror off, he pointed out that it was duck taped down to the base as was the ring box (you you’re marrying a redneck when…). Even in the serious moments he knows how to make me smile.
At that time I had no idea what our future would hold; the ups and downs it would bring. But I have never once regretted my decision to marry him. He's so much more than just my husband, he's my best friend and my soul mate. Truly my better half. And how could I ever regret that?
 |
| Leaving on our special date |
 |
| Picnic Site |
 |
| Marry Me? |
 |
| My Ring |
 |
| One Happy Couple! |
Such a beautiful story.
ReplyDeleteCH