Our engagement

Seven years ago this month Valane proposed.  In reflection I decided to blog about it.  Be warned that I have a tendency to be long winded.

One evening Lane asked me if I wanted to go to the beach the following day.  I didn't want to because we had so many things to do.  Then I thought, "I have gone to the beach more times than I can count.  I know you have only been to the beach a couple of times.  So if you want to go, let's go."

We got a much later start than expected.  As we were approaching Lincoln City, I suggested that we go to the outlet stores first since they close so early and then we should go to the beach.  He told me he really wanted to go to the beach and asked, "Can we just go to some beach off the side of the road for like a half hour and then go the the outlets?"

I conceded.  Then when we were just minutes from the closest beach he turned onto Hwy 101 putting us at least 20 minutes away from the nearest beach.  Now there is something you need to know about me.  I hate wasting time driving.   I must take the quickest route anywhere I'm going.  I informed him that he was going the wrong way and that he should turn around.

After he told me to trust him, I thought to myself, you don't even know your way around here.

"If you want to go to some beach off the side of the road, you need to turn around."

It was evident that he wasn't going to turn around so we were now on our way to Neskowin.  Arriving in the city limits he turned off some random road, that wasn't going to lead directly to the beach, and parked at someone's barn.  It was very clear to me that it was not public parking, so I told him that we couldn't park there.

He said nothing and got out of the car and said, "Come on."

I soon saw big red block letters on the side of the barn that read HORSES.  I was so excited because I had always wanted to ride horses on the beach.  I had told him about it some a couple of months prior to that.  We proceeded to the barn and I soon discovered, by the conversation, that Lane had talked to them before.  We were told that it would be about 15 minutes until we could go.  I was elated.  We walked around and pet the horses as we waited.

A middle-aged woman came out of the barn.  "There is a kitten stuck in the rafters.  I can't reach it.  Could you get it down?"

So Lane went to rescue the kitten while I stayed trying to decide which horse I wanted to ride.  Up unto this point I suspected nothing.  It wasn't until he was in the barn for some time that i started to wonder what he was up to.  He came out and said, "let's go.  We're going to come back a bit later to ride."

I got in the car and before he got in, he went to the trunk, and then brought me this dress and instructed me to put it on.  It was a very pretty renaissance style blue velvet dress.  I don't remember where I found privacy to put the dress on but I did.  When I returned he was nowhere to be seen.  The owners of the place told me that he would be back.  She put a chair close to this dirt road and told me I could sit there while I waited.  Several people waked by and looked at me in question.  I shrugged my shoulders.  It wasn't long before I saw Valane riding towards me, in a prince costume, on horseback.  He then got off the horse to help me up on mind.  Then we headed towards the beach, on horses, in costume.

The woman from the stable rode some distance behind.  We rode around for a while,  as we approached the shore Valane got off his horse and helped me get off of mine.  He then handed the reins to the woman from the stable.  We walked towards the water.  He got down on bended knee.  He said some very sweet things to me.  His eyes were a bit teary and he was a little choked up.  Then he asked me to marry him. "YES!"

He then put the ring on my finger and stood up.  I threw my arms around him and kissed him.  When we turned around to go get on our horses, quite a crowd had gathered from a distance.  I hadn't noticed that there were but a few people on the beach when we rode up.  We continued to ride for a while and then returned.  We were engaged and I was so happy!

Lane did give his camera to the woman from the stable to take pictures.  Unfortunately, when we got them developed, every picture was so grainy you could hardly make us out.  I'm a little sad about that, but i always have the memory in my heart.

This picture was our engagement picture that we sent out with our wedding invitations.  We got married in October.  Tune in again in October to see pictures from our wedding.