(Are you caught up on my Summer Camp Love Story? Yesterday, I posted TWO installments! To catch up on the action, click here.)
All of my frustration and feelings of abandonment vanished the moment I saw John's white truck, wrecked on the side of the road. My heart leaped into my throat, but quickly calmed as I saw Dave smiling a sheepish grin, waving cars past them on the road.
As I slowly drove up next to them, Dave reassured me through the the window. He confirmed what I'd expected--John had been driving too fast around the wet curve, that notorious curve just feet away from our Kanakuk Kamp destination. Thankfully, he wasn't driving that fast, and his truck was only scratched up a little.
It didn't take them long to get the truck pushed back onto the road, and Dave dropped off by my car, across the street from Kanakuk's gates. I pulled my enormous golf umbrella out of my car, and walked beneath it with Dave down the hill.
I told him I was a little hurt that he had left me to drive alone, and in the rain. Dave put his arm around my shoulders and flashed his irresistible boyish grin that always melted my heart and said, "Well, I'm just glad we're together NOW. And I have you ALL weekend long!"
How's a lovesick girl to reply to that???
Plus, we'd reached the Kanakuk offices by now, and we were excited to see some of our full-time staff friends and bosses.
We saw Kay Holliday right off the bat, and her hugs and genuine welcome erased any negative feelings I'd been harboring that day. I loved these people we'd come to visit. And I felt like we were visiting home. (How's that for some foreshadowing?)
We started making the rounds, office to office, hugging and chatting excitedly. At one point, I noticed that Dave slipped out while I was visiting with some of the office ladies. I kept right on visiting and catching up, knowing Dave would soon return.
After I'd finished visiting with everyone in the office, I walked out into Kamp, looking for Dave, and just enjoying seeing Kamp in the off-season. The rain had lightened, and was only sprinkling on my umbrella by then.
I met up with Dave as I was walking through the quiet and abandoned girls' Kamp. He said he'd been looking for me, but must have just missed me leaving the office. He said, "Hey, let's go check out the zipline!" I grinned at him, both of us remembering several late-night talks sitting on the deck of the zipline, looking to the grounds 100 feet below, and looking up for falling stars. And holding hands. Always holding hands, if we could. It seemed surreal that those memories were only 4 months before. It seemed like our relationship had been blossoming for years, and not months.
As we walked down the steps to the zipline platform, I noticed something way down on the ground, below the zipline cliff. As we got closer to the edge, I could see that there were signs of some sort down there. It took a moment for my brain to register, and a quick look at Dave's face, to confirm that those signs were meant for ME.
In nervousness, I giggled, "What does it say? Is that for me?"
Dave paused for a moment. Maybe to give me time to read it, or maybe to calm his own nerves.
Then, with the biggest smile ever, Dave read the huge signs below--one by one.
"It says, 'Will. You. Marry. Me. Mary Kay?'"
And then, as he turned to look into my eyes, he pulled a ring box out of his pocket. I was so nervous and excited and smiley that I barely even looked at the ring as I squeaked out, "YES!"
Dave held the umbrella, wrapped his other arm around my waist, and pulled me into a long hug. I breathed in Dave's warm scent, and fingered the new diamond on my finger. I was completely content, cherished, and thankful, and happy in that moment. All the happy feelings a girl should feel in that big moment--I felt them all.
It was a perfect moment. A perfect engagement.
There you have it! FINALLY, we're engaged! I do have more of the story to tell. One of our biggest-ever disagreements nearly caused us to break up--just months before the wedding. To be honest, I'm pretty nervous to tell that part of the story...but, I'm going to brave up and just be real about it. I'll take a little break so we can celebrate CHRISTMAS on the ole' blog. But, stay tuned after the holidays for more of the story...
