The Proposal

This journal contains most of our courtship. Looking through it, I wonder how we ever had time to see each other. Scott had 21 credits as a double-major. I had 16 credits, worked as a photographer at the student newspaper, worked out with the track team, and traveled most weekends. We had a few dinner-and-movie-type dates, but most of our bonding was done in random slots of time throughout the day: a chat at his lab, a picnic outside the student center, a few miles of running in the afternoon, studying together, hanging out at the bookstore, a hot chocolate late at night. He brought dinner to me at the newsroom regularly - something he continued to do after we were married. He drove up to Idaho to surprise me and cheer me on at a track meet.

Not much has changed. We both keep pretty busy. And we support each other in that flurry of busy-ness. We make the most of the slots of free time that we do have. That gets a little trickier with Bruce around, but we do our best. A few months ago, we dropped Bruce off at the babysitter's and had a 45-minute power-date. Don't worry; we don't do this every time, but sometimes there aren't enough hours in the day and it's better to go on a short date than no date at all. Anyway, back to the journal. The exciting part.

April 28, 2003: When we were driving back from Bozeman, Scott said we had to pick up paperwork in Salt Lake City. We stopped at the post office. Scott took his bookbag in to pick up his paperwork. I thought that was suspicious. And he didn't elaborate on what paperwork this might be. We got to Provo and dropped Scott off at the financial aid office on campus. I helped Leslie unpack and then she dropped me off at my apartment. I talked to Moon and Ember about my wonderful weekend (I'd just met his fam for the first time), then I went for a run. I stopped at the fieldhouse to grab my spikes for a workout. Anika was there and I told her all about my weekend. She said maybe Scott would propose tonight. She said something to the effect of, "Maybe he will draw a standard deviation normal curve and he will put you at the top of it!" It makes no sense, but I know what she was trying to say anyway. I wouldn't be at the top. I'd be far to the right according to Scott.

I ran a 4 x 800-meter workout. Everyone ran 4 x 1200 at 5K pace today, but I decided that since I'd sat in the car for hours and hours, I'd settle for 4 x 800 at 3K pace. I was still tired even then. I'd told Scott I'd be at his place for dinner at 6, so I called to inform him how behind I was. No one was answering. I went to his place and ate dinner with him. After dinner, I helped Scott move his stuff to his grandma's house. I carried boxes and computer stuff. We talked to his grandparents for awhile. They are absolutely wonderful. They questioned us more on marriage and why he hasn't proposed yet. They're very blunt.

We went to Border's Bookstore because Scott wanted to get a book for me: Anna Karenin, a Russian novel. He had been talking about this book and how I should read it for two weeks, so I thought nothing of going to the bookstore to get it. We wandered around and found it, then Scott said he wanted to sit down and read part of it to me. I looked around and there was nowhere to sit. We wandered to the kids' corner of the bookstore and I saw a stool sitting behind an aisle. I walked toward it and more came into view...

A table with chairs and a dozen roses with a card that said "For Emily" in it. At the base of the roses was a piece of paper that said "Reserved for Ray-Dawg" (this was set up by his roommate). That's when I knew something was up!

I sat down and read a passage from the book. I could hardly concentrate, but I tried to focus on what the book was saying. Two characters in the book were expressing their love for each other. It was very beautiful. Scott asked me if I'd like to go for a walk. Of course!

We bought the book and carried the roses out to the car. We went to the Provo River Trail where it goes up into the canyon. We'd walked there before. We walked and then sat down in a field of grass and sagebrush. He put his coat down and we sat on it. He told me how amazing I am and how wonderful and so on. Then he asked me to write a message in his hand (a parallel with the scene in the book we'd just read). I traced the letters I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U in his palm, then he said it was his turn. He traced W-I-L-L-Y-O-U-M-A-R-R-Y-M-E-? He pulled the ring box out of his coat pocket. He opened the box and the ring fell on the ground! In a field of tall grass! He frantically searched for a few seconds, but found it quickly. I skipped the palm-tracing and said YES!