A week ago, my oldest son, 28, proposed to his girlfriend.  In our family, metaphorical fireworks are going off in dazzling displays of pattern and color.  My husband and I…and our extended family…absolutely adore this young woman and her family feels the same about our son.  We are going to have a wedding in our family!

Yay!  We get to put aside the thought of prison sentences and babies out of wedlock.  We get to feel the “normal” family excitement of joyfully seeing two young people in love and planning a life together.  When my older daughter blocked us on social media a few months ago so that she could post an engagement announcement, I knew it was just another illusory bubble that would dissolve in the face of reality…her court cases and arrest.  This engagement is real though.

The proposal is such a great story, I just have to tell it.

My son wove his proposal plan around the fact that both he and his girlfriend love the outdoors.  He took her on an early morning hike in a nearby preserve.  There is a certain hike up a short but steep trail that brings one out in a saddle between two hills with a beautiful view of the valley below.  Unbeknownst to this young woman, a friend of my son hiked even earlier up the mountain with pieces of a flower garlanded arch such as is used for wedding ceremonies.

So the story goes, two friends were originally going to hike up with the arch.  One friend (not a hiker), drank two Red Bulls for energy and got sick 10 min into the hike then had to turn around and stop hiking.  The other friend (quite the friend) hiked with all four arch pieces by himself up the steep trail and then set up the arch about 45 minutes prior to the arrival of my son and girlfriend.

In those 45 minutes, word evidently started spreading along the trail between other hikers who saw the setup and surmised what was happening.  My son’s friend told those who asked, keep an eye out for a 6’7” red-head (actually my son is a strawberry-blond).  One hiker, coming down the trail as my son and girlfriend were going up evidently recognized the couple from the friend’s description and told the girlfriend, “It will be soooooo worth it when you get to the top!”  She just thought he was talking about the view.

The arch was strategically set up so that one had to come around a bend in the trail to see it.  The plan worked perfectly; she was completely surprised when they came upon the arch.  Picture a white metal arch with the two sides meeting in the middle in a heart shape.  Garlands of roses (faux, to survive the hike) and greenery threaded through the entire arch and as one views the arch, it is silhouetted against the scenic view of the valley below.

My son’s friend took a picture as under the arch, my son got down on one knee and proposed.  She said yes!  We are so thrilled.