We're Getting Married!

We met in the romance capitol of the world; a newsroom in Spokane, Washington. We both worked the overnight shift for the morning show at a local news station, bonding over our shared sleep deprivation and our love of snacks to fuel us through the grueling hours. However it wasn't until after Scott moved off mornings that we actually became close. Ever since we've been inseparable. Fast forward 7 years and we're now living in the Seattle-area and happier than ever with our outrageously fat cat named Louis.

We went to London & Edinburgh for our first-ever Euro trip. Scott & I were sight-seeing on what started out as a gloomy London day. Scott was unusually quiet but I figured it was the less than stellar weather bringing him down so I didn't think much of it. We began walking along the River Thames and the clouds parted, making way for a gorgeous sunset. Scott and I stopped along the river to take in the view when he turns to me and says, "I have something to ask you and I want you to answer honestly." I just shrugged and replied, "Sure, what's up?" That's when he takes off the backpack he's been carrying our entire trip, gets down on one knee, and asks, "Will you marry me?" all while digging furiously through our bag. I was in total shock; I just kept asking if this was a joke and if he was being serious. Eventually he was able to pull the ring box out of the bag and says, "I'm going to ask you again but I'm actually going to need an answer this time. Will you marry me?" to which I immediately squealed "Of course!" I was so wrapped up in the moment I didn't notice the crowd of strangers watching the entire time, cheering for us after I said yes as if we were in the cheesiest but best rom-com ever.

I knew I wanted to propose to Emily during our trip to England & Scotland, but just getting to that point was beyond stressful. I didn't think about how I would hide the ring from her (and the TSA) until the night before our flight. So I did what anyone would do: I made sure she was asleep, then I googled "how to sneak an engagement ring through airport security." On the advice of the internet, I hid the case in a tube sock in a backpack. I carried that bag everywhere, and refused to let her go into it once. After literally sweating until the bag made it through security without needing to be searched, the toughest part was over. I knew all along I wanted to pop the question but without a grand, pre-planned proposal mapped out. It was going to be spontaneous. It happened on our third day in London. It rained all day. After we went out to dinner, we started walking back along the Thames to the hotel. The rain stopped. The sun broke through the clouds and was setting behind the historic buildings on the other side of the river. Emily kept stopping and loudly marveling how beautiful it was. This was the moment. We stopped a little further along the river across from Big Ben. I told Emily I wanted to ask her something. "Will you marry me?" She said "What?" I turned, got down on one knee, and started trying to dig through the backpack to pull out the ring. I asked again. She said "What? Is this a joke?" Time stopped. "Oh shit," I thought, "Did I make a mistake?" My hand was still rifling through balled up rain coats, layers, and phone charger cords. Where the hell was that damn tube sock holding the ring? I thought "Well if this doesn't go well, the rest of this trip will be really awkward." Finally my fingers found the sock. She's still repeating "Is this a joke?" Me pulling out a tube sock while on one knee probably didn't help. When I got the box out of the sock, I said "I'll ask you again, but I do kind of need an answer this time." Fortunately she said yes.