The Proposal

How it came together

Written by Adam

I’ll never forget the first few times I heard myself say that I was thinking about asking Tina to marry me. The entire sentence was so foreign. My closest friends were so supportive and overjoyed for me. That period lasted 2 or 3 months and like any growing thing, it takes on a life of its own demanding, insisting on life.

I will have you know that I am really proud of the ring that I bought. I spent many hours learning about diamonds and the 4Cs and thinking about the film Blood Diamond and all of it. And, Tina likes to give me a hard time about this now, but I bought the ring and sat on it for over 2 months before I proposed.

I also spent a good deal of time asking my friends how they proposed, looking on Pinterest for proposal ideas, etc. No, I don’t want a plane flying a banner! No, I don’t want to do it at the beach and write in the sand… No, I don’t want blah, blah, blah… I settled on something local, simple, with dear friends. What about Lover’s Leap in Chattanooga?

The Proposal Day

Written by Tina

It was mid-August, August 17th to be exact. Adam had arranged an afternoon outing for us and friends at Rock City, followed by dinner at our house. These activities were arranged under the guise that this was a celebration for my birthday.

Let’s go back in time about a week. I was in Michigan attending a yoga retreat and catching up with family and a few friends. I told my mom, Emily, and my MI Alison with-one-L that I thought Adam might be proposing at this “birthday” gathering. After I returned home, the hunch I had subsided. I sensed Adam was too distracted with school starting and convinced myself it wasn’t happening.

The day of the “birthday party” arrives. Adam and I are eating breakfast in the kitchen and getting the house ready prior to hosting our friends (that’s normal, right?). We were talking about a friend that wasn’t able to come over for dinner and Adam says, “I’m really bummed that they won’t be able to attend our engagement party.”

…..
*insert eyebrow raise*

I heard those words very clearly. I ran it through my brain filter – do I acknowledge or let it slide? ACKNOWLEDGE OF COURSE. I turned to him and said, “ENGAGEMENT PARTY?!?!” He replied with, “I don’t know why I said that…” while emotionally imploding (how he describes it!). There was a strange energy between us as we went about the rest of the morning.

Bri arrived and she tried to sell me on the story that it wasn’t happening. What a rollercoaster of emotions!

We arrived in Rock City and it started pouring down rain the minute we parked the car. Luckily, the rain paused so we could find our group and decide if we were going to brave the weather.
Note: In hindsight, I now realize how nice everyone was dressed for a walk at Rock City.

We walked through the gardens, which were lovely. As we reached Lover’s Leap, Adam took me to the overlook and got down on one knee and proposed!

He did so well arranging the day and truly, letting me in on the surprise allowed me to prepared in my own way.

During my previous weekend in Michigan, I wrote in my journal that I felt the proposal was coming soon. I wrote about how happy I was with him and our life together. I was excited for where this journey was taking us and knew I was ready to say yes when this wonderful human popped the question!