I came across Adam's profile in an online dating website and I was sold. In one package I managed to find someone intelligent, funny (punny...), capable and creative (he builds his own furniture), caring (he volunteers with children learning robotics), and most importantly... he likes Star Trek (DS9, but I've forgiven him for that). We got to know each other via text message (and one very funny telephone call), and we set our first date. He picked out a great restaurant called Winston's in North Raleigh and I discovered that night how thoughtful he was, as he picked the restaurant partly because of an offhand comment about a dessert I really enjoy. We talked nonstop, really getting to know the extent of our shared interests, and had so much fun we didn't want the date to end. We decided at the spur of the moment to go bowling, which included a stop to pick up some socks for me (which I still have) and got to the lanes only to discover they had no open lanes available. Luckily there was a restaurant nearby, so we got a table on the patio and just kept talking. It was obvious, that if we wanted the date to continue that badly, we should just set up another one. Every year, we go back to Winston's for our anniversary dinner.

We were invited by our dear friends Nicole and Brian to attend their wedding in Ireland this summer and as I've never been to Europe, I desperately wanted to include Scotland and England in our vacation. The trip began in Scotland and we had signed up for a two day tour of the Highlands by minibus. One of the excursions was a boat ride on Loch Ness to the beautiful ruins of Urquhart Castle. While we were wandering around the grounds of the castle we turned down a path to what used to be the old docks. We somehow managed to be completely alone despite the hoards of tourists in other parts of the grounds. We could hear the lapping of the loch against the shore and took deep breaths and sighed about how peaceful this spot on Earth was and we said we loved each other. And then Adam turned to me and said "Do you know how much I love you?" He got down on one knee and asked if I'd marry him and held out a beautiful ring. And then I realized what ring it was. Adam had secretly collected my maternal grandmother's engagement ring setting from my jewelry box, gotten it repaired and set with stones (including a few sapphires, a tribute to how much I love the color blue) and carried it all the way to Europe. I couldn't have asked for, or imagined, a more perfect proposal.