If you know us, you know we love the outdoors. Every year we like to take a canoe trip with the pup on a river in the Ozarks. I had never been to Jacks Fork, and John was set on taking me one weekend in May. The days leading up to the weekend had been very rainy, and I was hesitant to go, but the outfitter kept in contact with John and told him it was going to be the most perfect weekend for a float. And boy was he right. We set sail around noon on Friday (after an oversized tote issue that we had to MacGruber our way out of) and the water and weather were absolutely perfect. We spent the afternoon exploring the river, catching fish and enjoying some drinks. As evening was beginning to approach, we found the most perfect little spot to set up camp. Before long we were all settled in. As John was playing with the fire, I went down by the river to search for arrowheads. John had found one several years ago while we were fishing, and I was dead set on finding one myself. After 15-20 minutes or so, John began to look as well. Within a few minutes, I hear him say “oh my god…” “You found one?!?” I started to run over to him, excited but also a little salty he found one instantly. When I approached, I was looking down to see what he was looking at. While on one knee, he handed me a little jobo-made leather pouch. Confused (and maybe in shock), I opened the pouch and saw the most beautiful diamond ring. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes. The rest of the evening was a blur. We celebrated with my favorite camping meal, spam fried rice (don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it), and as night fell, we had the clearest open skies for stargazing. Along the tree line around us, we started noticing big waves of bright pink, green, purple, and shimmering white light. The northern lights came all the way down to south-central Missouri to celebrate with us.