As some of you may know, we had a busy fall in 2017. Charlie had started working remotely full-time in August, and we were making plans to move to New York around New Years. Knowing Charlie, I had my ear to the ground listening for clues about our engagement as he loves to do everything all at once. My birthday came and went without fireworks so I started to think he might wait until after we'd moved and life had settled down a little. Of course, I was playing right into his plans. The week of Thanksgiving I picked Charlie up at the Houston airport. He'd been visiting his sister Kelli in Germany and we were turning right around to drive out to my aunt and uncle's land in West Texas for Thanksgiving with the Hardings. Thanksgiving with my family is a week-long camping trip on the edge of the Rio Grande canyon, replete with dutch oven dinners and campfire stories - basically heaven. The day after Thanksgiving, Charlie found me after breakfast and goaded me into going cave hunting with him in the canyon just down from main camp. After a few hours of stumbling through cactus and underbrush we found a nice cave with a view of the Rio Grande and sat down to get a sip of water and some shade. At this point, Charlie told me he had a souvenir for me from Berlin. My heart started racing as I realized the wily devil might have managed to surprise me! He subsequently revealed.... a beer stein. Trying my best (and failing) to conceal my disappointment, I turned the souvenir over in my hands. It was at this point that Charlie urged me to open it - Surprise! My beautiful ring was inside and when I looked up, Charlie was on one knee, asking me to spend the rest of my life with him! After we hugged and cried and finally hiked back to main camp, we got to celebrate with my closest family and friends over a campfire, hot chocolate & s'mores - heaven indeed! ( Dictated but not read )