And now for something completely different...

So, I'd had just about enough bad news in my life lately, so I thought I'd change the mood and write today about the fact that... I'm engaged! My sweet Michael proposed to me yesterday afternoon at the Genesee Country Museum, this cool little living history 1800's village. But let me back up.



First of all, we met about 10 1/2 months ago, and immediately hit it off as friends. We had a ball together, had a lot in common, and loved talking and hanging out. Several weeks into our friendship, our feelings began to evolve, and... voila. We were dating. And not long after that, it began to feel completely natural that we would get married some day.

So he started concocting a grand plan of how he would propose to me, because he knows how much I like a good story. His original plan was to propose to me in a hot air balloon (yes!). Turns out this is extremely expensive - like $800! There was an air balloon festival this weekend in a nearby town, but even that would be $400. But then we found out that at this museum there is a hot air balloon exhibit in which you can go up in what was used for surveillance during the Civil War, and it is only $15 a pop. So Michael suggested we spend Labor Day at the museum, which was on our list to do anyway. Because it was a windy day, I grabbed my kite, which I've been itching to fly. I was completely oblivious to the plan. (Well, I had a hunch, as we had talked about him proposing this weekend, but then we decided not to do it - I just don't feel equipped to make major life decisions right now. So we decided to postpone the whole proposal thing.) In the car on the way there, I was chatting about my visit to my friend Noelle, and about her cool wedding ring. I said I had shown her a bunch of rings I had picked out that I liked. And Michael says, "Were any of them as pretty as this?" and whips one of the very rings I had chosen out of his pocket! (In fact, the very one that I thought he might have chosen when I saw that it was "sold" on the website!) I started yelling at him, "Michael! You weren't supposed to do this this weekend! What are you doing?! Put that away!" But then I saw the ring and was totally distracted. Apparently somewhere in there he actually asked me and I said yes, but I insisted he ask me again at a more appropriate time so he could get on one knee, and I could jump up and down and throw my arms around his neck, like is supposed to happen. So he took it back.

We poked around the museum a while and finally ended up at the hot air balloon. But alas, the day was too windy, and therefore unsafe to take rides today! Dang. So we went instead to this beautiful little gazebo in the middle of the village - a good second option. Except it, too, was blocked off for safety reasons! Michael took my hand and led me around the gazebo, saying that we would find obstacles in our lives, and we would find ways to overcome them together. Then he kissed me, then got on one knee and held out the ring and said, "Johanna Kathryn Johnson, will you marry me?" And I giggled and jumped up and down and said yes and hugged him (like you do). Then I asked him back, and he said yes. Then, because it was so windy, we flew my kite and ran around the grass like giggly children, which was a blast. On the way out of the museum, we told the lady at the ticket booth that we'd gotten engaged, and she told the ladies in the store, and one of them drove us out to the balloon and took our picture in the basket, with the balloon behind us. So we still got that in after all. :)

We're not thinking at all about dates just yet. Michael just wanted to make this promise to me, to show me that he is in this thing with me, by my side, right now and for the long haul. Yet one more blessing for me to count each and every day... and for the rest of my life.