It begins, unexpectedly though quite traditionally, with a drive to the mountains for the second holiday celebration of December with the Brown family. The passengers of the car--Zach and Kendall respectively--talked and laughed through the evening until their arrival at the local grocery store (Walmart) where they were to pick up a few things for the weekend. With a decade of companionship under their belt it was easy to make jokes and go about their business in comfort. So as she does, Kendall makes a joke; about them, about marriage, and the lack-there-of at the time. Nothing spectacularly unusual. But it ended with her saying: "I like being your wife." Zach was awestruck, it seemed, with the sincerity of it. He too liked her being his wife, in their non-traditional way. So they went into the store, bought their things, laughed and joked as normal, and returned to the car to leave. Kendall went inside first, cold, while he stood outside bending over and being secretive. She thought it was her tire again--always flat or running low on air! She turned to the front, then back to look at him again in the back window, and he was gone. Her door opened, he knelt down, and presented her with a handmade ring of twisted silver plated copper wire and asked, quite earnestly: "Will you marry me?" It wasn't until much later, after a fit of shocked tears and many questions of: "Is this a joke? Are you joking? If you're joking it's not funny!" That she said yes. How could she not?