I am very giddy, excited and happy to report to you all that I am engaged!! Last night, after a long weekend camping, the boyfriend asked me to go out for dinner, which was quite a treat! We went to Moxie’s, one of our shared favourites, and then we went for a walk down by the Ottawa River locks to watch the sunset. We played with the ducks and watched the pink sky give way to dark blue over the horizon of the Alexandria Bridge, the art gallery and the museum of civilization. He began stopping in the middle of sentences and darting his eyes back and forth as if looking for someone. I asked him why he was acting so weird, when all of a sudden he said he had something to ask me. He then pulled out a box, asked if I’d marry him, and I don’t remember much of what happened next. (Anticlimactic for you, I know). There was a lot of me crying and us hugging and him waiting for an answer amidst it all. I believe I finally spouted out something like, “Of course I will!” and hugged and kissed and cried some more. When I slowed down a bit, he slid the ring on my finger and I haven’t stopped smiling since. We walked to Memories Café for pie, hand in hand, and it felt like I was floating. I was just beaming, and he told me I looked glowing, like I was on cloud nine. Over pie, he told me how everyone was in on it, that he’d had this ring for months and was waiting for the perfect moment. He’d even kept it where I could easily have seen it if I’d known where to look! I blurted out to our waiter that we had just gotten engaged. I needed to tell someone why I was smiling ridiculously! Then on the car ride home, it started to sink in and I thought to myself, “Wow, I’m going to marry him!” That excites me the most. We came home and visited my parents. I continued to smile goofily throughout these meetings and left the fiancé to do most of the talking. (Fiancé now! Wow!) I talked with my dad about his concerns, “Don’t give up your career, live a little before kids,” and went to bed a very happy Princess. It still feels a little like I’m playing dress up, but as I tell more people, with a shy, sheepish smile, it becomes more associated with actually being me that these stories are about. He’s glad it’s done because the secret was killing him and the nausea of the anxiety is over, he says. Wow!