in lieu of pictures, i thought i'd just share another blog feature of our wedding. i realize there are few people who actually want to read an essay on a blog so if you don't happen to be one of those people, the you can stop reading after this.
i had my "ah-ha" moment after spending an awful summer apart from ryan, followed by an intense vacation filled with honest conversations. it was fall 2009 when i knew that ryan was the man i wanted to spend the rest of my life with. but i also knew that i had my final year of nursing school ahead of me, so i stopped the thought process at that.
fast forward to spring 2010, when i last-minute changed my mind and decided that we should spend our spring break snowboarding in colorado instead of sun-bathing in arizona. of course, ryan happily agreed. day 1 at the mountains, i dropped my cousin's brand new sparkling white goggles in the mud from the run-off and pouted about it for the entire rest of the day. ryan, being the romantic guy that he is, suggested a few runs on our own or maybe a little pit stop at the mountain-top prayer chapel. my classic rebuttals- how dare he weasel me away from my few precious moments of family-time or take me down a skiiers-only run to get to the chapel? but my stubbornness & sometimes difficult temperament has never stopped him before.
day 2 at sunlight ski resort, ryan requested the first run to ourselves to give my sister time to "warm up". this time i'm thinking how thoughtful, right? once at the top, he quickly unclipped his bindings and started tromping through the snow towards the back of the mountain. i followed behind, leaving one foot strapped in. once we got to a spot with two rocks and a perfect view of mount sopris, ryan plopped down and patted the rock next to him. "you want me to unclip my bindings?" i ever so lovingly replied. after a little coaxing, we sat and soaked in the gorgeous surroundings enjoying eachother's company. i didn't think a thing of the uplifting compliments and encouragement that i am lucky enough to receive daily.
when ryan stood up, i quickly reached for my helmet and gloves, fully prepared to resume boarding. little did i know what i would find when i turned around- ryan down on one knee with my great-grandmother's original wedding ring setting in his grandmother's green velvet ring box. another graceful, well-thought out response on my part: "are you kidding me?" ryan explained to me all the reasons that he wanted to marry me [even despite all the reasons i had just given him not to] all the while i'm mumbling "are you serious?... are you for real?..."
and then he asked me "jenna, will you marry me?"
an intimate proposal in an awe-strikingly beautiful setting, with my family waiting at the bottom of the mountain to celebrate. i'm sure everyone says this, but seriously, he managed to give me the engagement story i had always hoped to have one day.
thanks to my naive interference, the day that he was actually able to propose was the day my dad had taken the camera to another ski resort. therefore, we only have phone documentation. & mind you, this was before fancy iphones.
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