For Thanksgiving, Kat, my boyfriend, and I all went up to Virginia Beach, Va to visit my best friend, Red, and her boyfriend. It was a blast. But I think the best part was the last night we were there.
We went to the beach about 40 min from where Red lives and stopped at a grocery store to gets some food (ie. hot dogs, buns, mustard, marshmallows, and soda) en route. We got there and pulled out the wood we had gotten from her house and built a bonfire. Kat had the great idea of cooling the soda by connecting it to a sturdy branch driven into the sand close enough for the soda to be cooled by the ocean. Let's just say the soda had better ideas. After we retrieved the soda, and after getting soaked by malicious waves, we had a nice dinner of dogs and sand. Opps. I mean dogs and buns and sand. Heehee. Anyway, after dinner, I convinced Red that she and her man should take the first "couple" walk and they did. Little did she know that when she came back she would have a ring on her finger.
She says she didn't scream, but I'm sure I heard something along those lines. Kat and I were trying our hardest not to turn around and watch them. I think it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do (I'm pathetically romantic and a certified sap, so it was *really* hard). When they came back the first thing anyone said came from Kat when she asked "if she could see it." Hugs were given all around as well as slaps on the back and not a few squeels of delight.
Red said that when they were down a ways, she had commented that it was the perfect night and she didn't know if it could get any better. Josh, her man, said something like, "Let's see," and then promptly got down on one knee and asked her simply if she would be his wife. I think that is when I heard the shriek. She said yes about twenty times and then tried not to smile on the way back, so we would know by him kissing her that the deed had been done. When they had just got back to the fire, Kat asked her question.
All in all it was an absolutely beautiful evening with a great group of friends (missing only one - Key) and I think it was the perfect night. EEee!! Okay. I'm good. It was a "Captain Planet" day because we had the sand of the earth, the wind from the ocean, the water of the waves and rain, the fire, and the heart/love of the engagement. What a way to get engaged!
Life is like off-roading in a rickety jeep-ish thingy. Some of us aren’t really very good drivers and sometimes the jeep hits potholes or rocks, and everyone gets thrown out of the vehicle. Then when you’re laying on the ground half-dead and knowing that your jeep thingy is totaled, true friends are the first ones under your hood with a box of tools. They are willing to get back in for round two, knowing full well what kind of a driver you are and not really caring because they love you enough to see you through your potholes and rocks.
I thank God every day for my closest friends.