OK, ok ... It's time for the real story of the proposal: It was May 15, 2005, and Annie and I had been officially dating for 4 years. So, I thought it might be fun to surprise her with an unannounced "anniversary" date, and a springtime proposal, ring and all.
We made plans to go for a paddle on some mellow whitewater just outside of Fort Collins. I packed a gourmet lunch, and a few pink cans of Sofia champagne for when we finished paddling. We left home under partly cloudy skies, with a few patches of bright blue. It was about 75 degrees, a warm day for May, and the river was just picking up with the season's snowmelt.
We arrived at the run "put in" after about half an hour's drive up the canyon. I dropped Annie off with our gear, and drove my car down toward the "take out."
I had discretely stowed our lunch, chapagne, and the ring, of course, under some gear in the back of my car for later. After dropping the car, I hitch-hiked back the start of the run, where I met Annie with our boats and gear.
We started our run, and everything was going smoothly. The water was frigid, and after about 20 minutes out and a few tough sections, the weather began to turn on us. Colorado weather is consistently inconsistent, and you have to be prepared for anything. When paddling, a few drops of rain is no big deal ... since you're getting wet anyway, but I was hoping for blue skies for my big moment.
Soon, we were in a full tilt thunder and lightning storm, a bit freaked out, as the river began to pick up further. Generally, I work hard to stay far from lightning, and I always try to avoid the combination of water AND high voltage.
At this point, being on the river wasn't nearly as soothing and fun, so we decided to paddle straight through and down to the car.
On a typical day, without incident, this might have taken another half an hour from where we were. However, the proximity of the lightning distracted me and I got dumped in the river, missed my roll, dropped my paddle, pulled my skirt, and swam. By the time I dragged my flooded boat to shore, my shins were bloodied from river rocks, and I could't recover my paddle. I searched for about 50 minutes, before finding it tangled in some willows--a minor setback.
I spent a few minutes gathering my thoughts.
I was a bit cold and shaken, but ready to finish the run, towel off, have some lunch and drink ... and pop the question. The original mood was now tempered by the weather and the 33 degree water, but I was determined.
We soon landed on the gravel beach at the take out, pulled our boats ashore, and sloshed the the parking lot to a warm, dry vehicle. I opened the the hatch back like an awning, and we sat on the bumper, toweling off and warming up.
A few minutes later, the ominous gray and black thunder clouds broke to reveal a bright blue, sunny spring sky. This was the perfect moment, I scrambled to pull out our surprise lunch of olives, cheese, wine, hummus etc., and Annie was so excited.
We hung out at some pic-nic tables and sipped bubbly through straws, straight from the can, and gobbled our lunch. It was at that exact moment--I remember the empty feeling vividly--that I realized the small white box containing Annie's beautiful new ring was sitting alone on my work bench at home.......
I asked Annie to marry me the next morning, over strawberry pancakes and mimosas on our deck with our golden retriever Affrey as our witness. She cried and said yes.
