To Make a Long Story Short: Two Years Ago

It's amazing how quickly two years can pass, but exactly two years ago today, Herschel asked me to marry him. I was completely submerged in my new job, my first "real" job out of college. January 22, 2007 marked the date of my very first special event which was actually two events in one that took place at the state Capitol. Needless to say, I was way more focused on perfecting all of the details of those events, than worrying about whether or not my boyfriend might propose.

When he suggested a celebratory dinner the night after my big event, and the night before he was to leave town for several days, I thought nothing of it. Afterall, who is going to propose and then leave town, right? Apparently, he had other plans.

He wouldn't tell me where we were going to dinner, which some of you might think should've been a big sign. But let me explain, that in our dating life, Herschel did things like this quite frequently, so I honestly didn't think anything of it at all.

We ended up at a restaurant downtown that we had never eaten at called Lulav. As we walked in the door, I was immediately annoyed because he had told me to dress up and I saw people in jeans, so thinking that I knew best, I told him that we were completely overdressed. He took it all in stride. In fact, just seconds later we were led past all of the jean-clad people, into a larger lounge-type room and then into another private room. Suddenly, it didn't matter how dressed up or down we were. The room was beautiful, decorated with candles and beautiful fabrics drapped on the table. It wasn't long before I realized that Herschel had already arranged the entire menu with the chef. Don't ask me for a list of everything we ate, because this is where things start to become a little bit fuzzy. What I do know is that somewhere between one of the most delicious steaks I've ever eaten and some sort of dessert, Herschel told me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He then quitely slipped to one knee and asked me to marry him.

I was so excited that I completely forgot to look at the ring. After a moment, he said, "Do you want to see the ring now?" That only caused a whole other round of excitement. Waiters and other diners were coming in by now congratulating us. I know I'm not doing any of it justice, but quite simply it was perfect.

In our excitement, we forgot to take any pictures at the restaurant. But my mom took a couple when we got back home.

We got married a quick 5 and a half months later in July of 2007 in a beautiful ceremony at our church, which is also where we met. We went on a honeymoon to Maui, and it was by far the best vacation I've ever been on. We snorkled, surfed, parasailed, biked down a volcano, explored a national park, and relaxed by the pool.

Just outside of our hotel, overlooking one of the pools where we spent a lot of time.

On our way back to the island from snorkling (please note: this was a rough outting for Herschel - he got seasick and cut himself on a piece of coral).