From Lyle: Surprising Sammy is not a task for the faint of heart. But we decided that even though we designed our rings together (more about rings in a later post), the where and when of the proposal would be a surprise and when it happened Sammy would ask me to marry him at the same time. So the plans were set for Friday, March 17 just before Shabbat at the lake, a place that is a true refuge for Sammy. I had the difficult task of getting him to the lake by 5:30 pm without out him needing to make a bunch of stops on the way which is a usual occurrence for us. So I shopped for food earlier in the day, filled up his car with gas to avoid the need to stop. But in good Sammy form, we had to stop so he could get coffee. After Sammy was well caffeinated, we made our way to the lake house. With our parents hiding in the bedroom overlooking the lake, where I was going to propose, Sammy and I enter the house where he immediately takes off his shoes. But I wanted to get him outside before he ran upstairs and saw our parents. So I dragged him outside without shoes, got down on my knee and and said “With so much uncertainty, the only the that I know for sure is that I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me and be my husband?” Sammy with tears just kept saying “Oh Wow” many times finally said yes. We were showered by confetti from our parents standing on the balcony above. And we had a beautiful Shabbat dinner all together as our two families become one. We are both surrounded by so much love and can’t wait to begin this next phase of our life together.