Leading up to the week of my birthday I got a cold, but Jonathan had promised me a surprise on my birthday. After finishing up a long day at the hospital, he took me out to a very fancy restaurant with an amazing view looking down on the Pittsburgh evening skyline. I was quite blown away. (My favorite part was the way he acted like a perfect gentleman...and was so sensitive to me since I was feeling under the weather.) At the end of dinner, as he came around the table to pull out my chair, then suddenly dropped down on one knee. You can imagine how my eyes flew open as I anxiously glanced around the room to see if anyone else was paying attention. Then suddenly he quickly popped back up and pulled out my chair.
"What were you doing?" I asked. "Just tying my shoe," he replied...
"Jonathan, you're wearing slip on dress shoes..they don't have any ties!!"
"Haahaa...I was just kidding - I know your roommates thought that I was going to propose to you tonight so, hey, I gotta keep you guessing."
Laughing, I said "You're so bad!" ; D
Back at Jonathan's apartment, he gave me a card with an enclosed ticket to go White Water Rafting in Ohiopyle (a park about 2 hours south of Pittsburgh). You see, I had always wanted to go white water rafting so much!!! Bouncing up and down on the sofa, he shocked me by stating that we were going tomorrow. He had prearranged it with my parents, because we were supposed to be traveling to my hometown that day. After a slice of pomegranate covered cheesecake, we said goodnight and Jonathan dropped me off at my apartment...
The next morning, we left for Ohiopyle Park. We had a beautiful, serene picnic lunch by the waterfalls. Jonathan suggested we take a SHORT hike before rafting, and excited to be outside away from school I quickly agreed.
Well after hiking for over an hour, I asked if we should think about turning around soon, since we needed to get back for our rafting appointment. That's when he confessed that the rafting would be another day and this was actually really just a nice hike. Hmm....well a nice hike, just doesn't sound the same as an adventurous whitewater rafting trip, but oh well...he planned it all himself and was being a sweetheart. : D
"We're almost there"...um...."We're getting really close, I ...think." he kept saying. (*That's true, I was saying "We're almost there" for like 1.5 miles, all while the path was climbing up an 800 ft. elevation...*) ; P At the last bend/incline of the trail I needed to rest, because I couldn't breathe with my cold. Like a true knight in shining armor, before I knew it, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me up the hill to the top of a gorgeous overlook. (*I spent several Saturday mornings leading up to that day running around various trails in State parks near Pittsburgh...finally, 3 miles into the Laurel Highlands Trail, I had found the perfect site*) Setting me down gently on a natural rock shelf, all I could see was the beautiful fall foliage (reds, oranges, yellows, greens) spread far below us, with two bends of the river weaving their way through the bright hillsides in the distance. There were rapids at the far bend and a set of train tracks hugging the shore. To make the moment even more enchanted a cluster of lady bugs were dancing in the breeze at the edge of the overlook.
Wrapped up in a reverence for God's Creation, I didn't even notice Jonathan digging through his backpack until he produced a photo album and set it in my lap. WOW!!! Talk about sweet, dedication. He had spent the evenings of his past week and lunch breaks making photo copies and compiling the photo album! (*A process made slightly more difficult by Susie's cold - I ended up spending the evenings with her, then putting in late nights as I made my preperations. : D*) There were pictures of us, our families, our families together, and when we first started dating. Beside each picture was a story or a brief thought...some made me laugh...others cry. They helped me realize how deep our friendship ran...how our love had grown over the past year of dating...how my prayers to God to meet a Christian man had been answered. At the end of the photo album there were 4 pictures turned face down in their slots, with the line..."And so...here we are today". My jaw dropped as I turned and stared at him.
"Go ahead, turn over the first one," he said.
It was a scenic picture looking down on the valley from the overlook we were sitting at. (*I could literally see the realization sweep over her face...*) The second picture: a green package - a tablecloth he pulled out from his backpack and spread out on the rock face for us to sit on. The third picture: a vase of red/pink roses - he pulled a 1/2 gal. thermos container from his backpack and drew out a boquet of roses. He had clipped the stems shorter to fit, and the ones that didn't fit he depetaled and proceeded to sprinkle the petals around on the tablecloth. In the fourth picture: the journal I had gotten him in Italy that summer - he read me what he wrote for me. By now, I was definitely bawling. ; D At the end was an envelope with a picture inside of a red box. As I struggled to recompose myself he got down on one knee with the box and let me open it. Inside was the red jewelry box and opening it with a beaming smile, he asked me to marry him.
"YES!!!" : D
Standing up he swept me up in a hug and shouted, (*Shouted is an understatement!*)
"She said YES!!! I'M MARRYING SUSANNE APGAR, EVERYBODY!"
Haahaa...so that was our first wedding announcement...to the hills, squirrels, and any other hikers out that day. ; D : D
(*As you've no doubt already noted, these portions of text were written by me, Jonathan as little interjections into Susie's wonderful written account of our engagement.*)
Susie and Jonathan
The rocky shelf...
"What were you doing?" I asked. "Just tying my shoe," he replied...
"Jonathan, you're wearing slip on dress shoes..they don't have any ties!!"
"Haahaa...I was just kidding - I know your roommates thought that I was going to propose to you tonight so, hey, I gotta keep you guessing."
Laughing, I said "You're so bad!" ; D
Back at Jonathan's apartment, he gave me a card with an enclosed ticket to go White Water Rafting in Ohiopyle (a park about 2 hours south of Pittsburgh). You see, I had always wanted to go white water rafting so much!!! Bouncing up and down on the sofa, he shocked me by stating that we were going tomorrow. He had prearranged it with my parents, because we were supposed to be traveling to my hometown that day. After a slice of pomegranate covered cheesecake, we said goodnight and Jonathan dropped me off at my apartment...
The next morning, we left for Ohiopyle Park. We had a beautiful, serene picnic lunch by the waterfalls. Jonathan suggested we take a SHORT hike before rafting, and excited to be outside away from school I quickly agreed.
Well after hiking for over an hour, I asked if we should think about turning around soon, since we needed to get back for our rafting appointment. That's when he confessed that the rafting would be another day and this was actually really just a nice hike. Hmm....well a nice hike, just doesn't sound the same as an adventurous whitewater rafting trip, but oh well...he planned it all himself and was being a sweetheart. : D
"We're almost there"...um...."We're getting really close, I ...think." he kept saying. (*That's true, I was saying "We're almost there" for like 1.5 miles, all while the path was climbing up an 800 ft. elevation...*) ; P At the last bend/incline of the trail I needed to rest, because I couldn't breathe with my cold. Like a true knight in shining armor, before I knew it, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me up the hill to the top of a gorgeous overlook. (*I spent several Saturday mornings leading up to that day running around various trails in State parks near Pittsburgh...finally, 3 miles into the Laurel Highlands Trail, I had found the perfect site*) Setting me down gently on a natural rock shelf, all I could see was the beautiful fall foliage (reds, oranges, yellows, greens) spread far below us, with two bends of the river weaving their way through the bright hillsides in the distance. There were rapids at the far bend and a set of train tracks hugging the shore. To make the moment even more enchanted a cluster of lady bugs were dancing in the breeze at the edge of the overlook.
Wrapped up in a reverence for God's Creation, I didn't even notice Jonathan digging through his backpack until he produced a photo album and set it in my lap. WOW!!! Talk about sweet, dedication. He had spent the evenings of his past week and lunch breaks making photo copies and compiling the photo album! (*A process made slightly more difficult by Susie's cold - I ended up spending the evenings with her, then putting in late nights as I made my preperations. : D*) There were pictures of us, our families, our families together, and when we first started dating. Beside each picture was a story or a brief thought...some made me laugh...others cry. They helped me realize how deep our friendship ran...how our love had grown over the past year of dating...how my prayers to God to meet a Christian man had been answered. At the end of the photo album there were 4 pictures turned face down in their slots, with the line..."And so...here we are today". My jaw dropped as I turned and stared at him.
"Go ahead, turn over the first one," he said.
It was a scenic picture looking down on the valley from the overlook we were sitting at. (*I could literally see the realization sweep over her face...*) The second picture: a green package - a tablecloth he pulled out from his backpack and spread out on the rock face for us to sit on. The third picture: a vase of red/pink roses - he pulled a 1/2 gal. thermos container from his backpack and drew out a boquet of roses. He had clipped the stems shorter to fit, and the ones that didn't fit he depetaled and proceeded to sprinkle the petals around on the tablecloth. In the fourth picture: the journal I had gotten him in Italy that summer - he read me what he wrote for me. By now, I was definitely bawling. ; D At the end was an envelope with a picture inside of a red box. As I struggled to recompose myself he got down on one knee with the box and let me open it. Inside was the red jewelry box and opening it with a beaming smile, he asked me to marry him.
"YES!!!" : D
Standing up he swept me up in a hug and shouted, (*Shouted is an understatement!*)
"She said YES!!! I'M MARRYING SUSANNE APGAR, EVERYBODY!"
Haahaa...so that was our first wedding announcement...to the hills, squirrels, and any other hikers out that day. ; D : D
(*As you've no doubt already noted, these portions of text were written by me, Jonathan as little interjections into Susie's wonderful written account of our engagement.*)
Susie and Jonathan
The rocky shelf...
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2 comments:
Oh thank you so much for recounting the engagement story. How beautiful it all sounded.
Good job Jonathan. I can see why you cried Susie.
Your pictures are wonderful. The silouette of you guys is just gorgeous. God bless your planning. Love you guys.
Carol M.
Yay J&S! Nice picture. :)
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