---

“…would you marry me?”

I turned my gaze to Jason, who was standing there (since kneeling was out of the question due to the icy tundra we were on) bracing himself for what I would say.

Shut up.

That’s what I said. And I shoved him a little. Think Elaine from Seinfeld with her “Get out!”
But it was “Shut up.” I said that. When a guy proposed to me. And not just any guy. The guy I wanted to propose to me and knew that it would be coming at some point. Because we agreed life would be better together.

How was I so caught off guard that I said “Shut up” ??? I’m not proud of it and I can’t take it back. It was a dumb thing to say. While normally I have a filter, this time it was on vacation. Or frozen. I’m just glad the slight shove I gave him didn’t send the ring over the edge of the lookout. Or him, for that matter. That would have really put a damper on things.

“Shut up?” He asked. I quickly said, “Yes! I mean yes!” and planted a kiss on him. It covered a multitude of sins.

The ring fit, it was simple and perfect. He enlisted the help of my sister Sam when he picked it out, and while I am definitely a fan of vintage looking everything, I love this ring the most because he picked it out and he was giving it to me. It was much more than a ring.

We were freezing and giddy and realized we had no more cash or change on us to get back down the incline. It was about 9pm at this point, there weren’t exactly a lot of tourists around to bum money off of, so we just went back to the incline operator and said that we were so sorry, but we only a credit card and the car was down the mountain. “And we just got engaged!” He laughed and was so nice to let us back down for free! It would have been a long slippy walk back down the mountain had he not!

We walked into Station Square to seek out any place that might still be open on a Wednesday night for dinner. We found The Sesame Inn. We love us some Chinese food. We were pretty much one of two couples in the restaurant, since it was so late. We ordered a Mai Tai and giggled our way through our delicious meals. The restaurant was closing, and we needed to get our engaged selves back to Ashland. Thursday was a full school day for me and we had a 2 hour 40 minute drive ahead of us! Jason drove this time, and I did what every new fiancee does: call everyone in their phone contacts. It made the drive go faster (for me, anyway). I’m sure Jason was tired of hearing my version of the story, with little variations for each new person I called.

So, after a whoppin’ 11.5 weeks of dating, we were engaged. A little over 7 months later, we were married on August 5, 2006. We had a lovely, meaningful ceremony in the old Park Street Brethren Church sanctuary and the best reception I could ever hope for.

[After 5 years of being married, I’m extremely happy, we have a 2 year old we can’t imagine life without, and another one on the way this coming March. I’m sure I could have been happy- even extremely happy with someone else- as well as I’m sure Jason could be happy with someone else,- even less stressed out with someone else (perhaps someone without red hair and an Irish temper), but we chose the person God had in front of us during that time in the fall and winter of 2005 and didn’t look back. We strive to be real with each other and real with others. We don’t always like each other, but there’s always a foundational love we have for each other and for Christ that our marriage is built on. It’s not a perfect life by any means, but I’m loving the chance to build this little family and have this life with my old friend Barney, for as long as we wake up in the morning.]

Updated to add: Now it’s 2025 and this August will be 19 years together. The 2-yr old is now starting to drive, is an excellent student, dedicated runner, prior baseball player, has a girlfriend and will turn 16 in June. The baby on the way was a beautiful red headed girl that is now turning 13 next week, smart and witty, has an interest in languages, talented in drumming, piano, singing, and started guitar. They have an awesome community of friends and love Jesus. We are so proud of them and I can’t even express how much we love them.

As for Jason and I, it has been amazingly wonderful and difficult and all of the things they tell you about marriage and its complexities. Not a fairytale, not a chic-flick. At the beginning, you are never quite sure what those ups and downs will look like in your specific relationship—whether it will wreck you or grow you and how you decide how much control you actually have over that.

Turns out it’s a lot of effort. I’m so grateful we’ve taken those challenging situations life has presented and decided We were worth choosing each other over and over again. We have and will let each other down, so we acknowledge it’s only because of our faith in our Savior, and submission to each other equally that our relationship works. I’m happy to be walking through life with him. As weepy as I’ll be when our kids grow up enough to leave and start their own adult lives, we got plans. A bunch of them! And we make each other laugh. That’s important.

Here’s to what year 19 and beyond will have for us. Thanks for reading. Now here’s a billion pictures of us over the last two decades.