Brian gestured Ellyn over from the tangles of brush they were immersed within. Awkwardly, she carefully walked over and around huckleberry bushes to where Brian was stood. Wrigley, a black lab, was soon sweeping effortlessly through the bushes just behind her feet. "Should we get back to refill our water and have lunch?" Brian asked, fixing the bandana he had secured above his brow. Ellyn nodded, "Sure! I could eat." After a small drive down graveled road, and following the loop around the near empty campsite, they arrived to their home camp. They had a quick lunch of chilled juice and water, deliciously sweet huckleberries and protein bars. Brian stood to grab water jugs and turned to look at Ellyn, his expression unreadable. Ellyn noticed he was being a bit shorter than he usually would be, and he seemed to be a bit more quiet than his usual self as well. "I'm about to take Wrigley down to get a slurp of water, are you coming with?" Ellyn stood up and took another container to fill. "Sounds good, I'll join!". They headed down to the cold spring near their camp. As they sauntered together, somewhat quietly, Ellyn recollected her time spent in these camp grounds. Ellyn had been coming here for as long as she could remember. She remembered hearing stories of lore, told by her father. She remembered when she had a nightmare in her parents RV when she was little, and how her mother soothed her. She remembered skinning a deer and having her first bite of venison and grouse. She smiled, as she now could place into her memory bank pieces of Brian and Wrigley. This place was alive and so were they. So were all the loved ones and ones she hadn't met who shared sentimentality and love here. Her mind came back to current when they approached the top of the spring, where underneath the ground they knew there was a glacier that produced the water. Brian set the jugs down and announced he had to walk across the creek to keep Wrigley out of the way of a family further down the stream. Ellyn agreed, but she said she would stay on the path as she wanted to view and check on the sweat lodge further down. Momentarily alone, she wandered in awe at the splendor of this space. Everything had remained as it was from how she remembered. There wasn't an easy way to determine how much time had passed since she first started coming here. Thirty years. Twenty years. Ten. Now. She could imagine herself in any of those spans of time if carefully she were to stay and think. She did for a moment, before Brian broke her from her spell by calling up to her from across the creek. "Ellyn! Go grab those jugs from up the creek, please!" He was holding a plastic bag he hadn't been holding before. "What's with the bag? Shoes or something? Feet get wet?" She mocked. "Don't worry about it." He said, somewhat curtly. "Rude" Ellyn scoffed, then laughed at him and jogged back up the creek. She came back with the jugs in tow, and went to a log that crossed to the other side of the creek to where Brian stood with Wrigley. She began walking across the log, but noticed an odd arrangement of rose petals leading a trail to where she was headed. 'What a sweet coincidence,' she thought to herself. 'It's almost as if there's - ' and her mind fell blank as realization arose. Eyes alert and mouth agape, her gaze looked upwards to see Brian on one knee, sweat on his brow and his face growing red. "Oh my god." Ellyn jabbered. "So this isn't the ring I want for you but I wanted the sizing to be - " "ohmygod" "I hope you like it." Brian opened a small box from within the bag. "holy shit" "You've been bringing me here for a few years now and I love it so much, and I also love you..." Ellyn and Brian do not remember what else was said. It is certain to know that it was sweet and sincere. They both had tears. Both had laughter. But this they do remember: "Ellyn Carlson, will you marry me?" "I'm totally about to vomit" "...." "YES I WILL".