“Can we turn around here?” I asked for what felt like the fifth time. I had no idea why my boyfriend insisted on continuing down this trail. It was August 15th, 2018, and I was on vacation with his family. Shenandoah had always been one of my favorite places. My family takes a trip there every year, so I loved hiking and seeing this familiar place with him and his family. Yet, it made no sense to me why we were walking into the woods when there was a perfectly, beautiful sunset about to happen outside of them in the big meadow we walked away from. I was especially confused since this was a day we had spent together as our “date day,” we called it. Because of this, we had our fill of hiking in the first two days of this vacation and had dressed up nicely for a change. Plus, not to mention the multiple bear sightings we had while we hiked. Going into the woods just did not make sense. Then, I saw a speed limit sign, another landmark, and decided this was getting weird. I decided that I was going to really suggest turning around this time, almost demand it even. At the precise moment my mouth opened to speak, I heard his sweet voice. It could wait. He was going over our day and how he missed my birthday over the summer since I had worked at a camp. He wanted to make it up to me, finally, he revealed the reason that we were here. He gestured behind me to look to my right, and following his direction, my eyes quickly found something out of place. The sweetest, woodsy picnic in the perfect place atop a large rock that rested below a tree wrapped up in twinkly, fairy lights awaited me.

This was not what I expected. We began to trek out into the brush, and my paranoid mind kept thinking about snakes and how everyone responsible always told me to never go off the path. Slowly but surely, we made it to the setup that gave the woods a little feeling of home. Upon finally reaching the rock, my eyes first saw that my favorite flowers were present. He must have discovered what those beautiful, teal-tipped white carnations meant to me through my best friend, Sara, since I had never told him. I gave him the biggest hug I could muster, already overwhelmed with the kindness of this man. Then, he pointed out a soda; Jones’ Berry Lemonade Soda, a delicious and refreshing taste with a fun picture submitted by the fans printed on the label, and a fortune-like saying in the cap. Basically, all of my favorite things brought together just for me. We drank the lemonade soda and talked while he set up his phone to play some music in the background. My mind was overwhelmed with pure joy at the kind heart of the man who sat in front of me. Next, he asked me if I wanted to see my present. To be honest, with all the things we had done that day, I hadn’t expected a present. Per his instructions, I pulled out a medium-sized red box from the picnic basket by us. He explained to me how this jewelry box belonged to his great-grandmother, and he had found it earlier that year when his family had sorted through her things after she passed. I was touched to say the least. He told me to open it, and I was shocked that there was more.

Inside, I found a small red book, and the title inscribed in gold lettering was “Emma.” Now, as the hopeless romantic that I am, I quickly realized Emma was a very popular book by Jane Austen. This particular edition happened to be from the 1800’s, and it also no longer held the book’s content. Instead, it held the 100 reasons why my guy loves me. Before I could read those though, he had a letter to read me. It was beautifully worded, eloquent as the poet he is, boasting of the life he hoped to live with me. I was puzzled because the last time he had written a letter to me that was more than one page was at our 6-month anniversary when he gave me my promise ring. My heart started racing as my mind played catch up. Suddenly, my love was turning the pages one by one with big words on each page until- He broke a sealed page to reveal the most wondrous alexandrite ring I had ever seen, looked at me, and joyfully shook out, “Emma, will you marry me?” I couldn’t believe that I wanted to turn around before. Now, all I wanted was to stay and say yes.