2015

Happy New Years! 

Belated post from the Miami Phish New Years show.

A Jewel in Chattanooga

The Big News: Maya and I got engaged!

The story to be forever memorialized:

Back when I went to Vermont for Thanksgiving my parents had offered me my mother's engagement ring. This is a super fancy diamond ring, generous offer, and even up to that point I still was undecided about the whole marriage thing. I decided to take it and maybe the physical reality that it represented helped me make the decision. After I had the ring on me for awhile the whole thing felt more real to me. While I've never felt like I "had" to get married I haven't really been opposed to it either. This seemed like the right move at this point in my life.

So fast forward a few months I had just finished school and was gratefully starting Christmas break. I decided to surprise Maya and take her on a trip to Chattanooga. It's only 2 hours North of Atlanta and a great little gem of a city with a surprising amount of stuff to do.

We stayed in a very nice Air BnB apartment overlooking the Tennessee river. The place allowed dogs and had a hot tub, so it was pretty much perfect. Despite having a fever and feeling horrible we went for a hike on Lookout Mountain that was supposed to be the shorter route. We instead of course took the longer 5 mile hike, lost Sherlock for an hour, and went down what we thought was the wrong side of the mountain. We had met a strange but very friendly christian Southerner named Smith on the mountain earlier in the day. Just as we had turned around at the bottom to hike back up and down the mountain to find our car (supposedly the quickest way), we ran into Smith. Smith was our savior because he parked at the base near to us and volunteered to drive us back to the actual location of our car (about a mile down the road). As the sun set and temperatures decreased I actually felt like it was destiny.

As we walked and shared stories Smith commented on how we were a nice couple. I explained that we weren't married...yet. He responded with a "let me be the first to congratulate you." Wow. Great timing. 

So later that night as we lit the Hanukkah candles, I gave Maya a beautiful hand-made glass picture frame with a nice picture of us. On the back I wrote, "maybe Smith was on to something. Perhaps this would look better with a wedding photo here. Why don't you ask Sherlock?" While I am no expert on these matters, my understanding is that if a couple has a lovable sweet pooch they pretty much are obligated to use the dog in the engagement process. So Sherlock comes over with a scroll I've tucked into his collar. The note tells her to check her purse where I've hidden the box with the ring in it. I ended up proposing classical style on one knee on the porch outside our Air BnB overlooking the river. Maya trembled but did not hesitate to say yes! Wow. Feeling thrilled and glad to be done with that nerve wracking hopefully once-in-a-lifetime event.

The rest of the weekend was fun - we got massages and went to Rock City. I'd recommend Chattanooga to anyone who's interested in random getaways, railroads, outdoor stuff, or proposing marriage. 

Lucky guess sizing the ring