I'm back from vacation!

And I'm engaged!

My boyfriend asked me to go kayaking with him earlier in the afternoon, but I declined because I had just taken a shower. If you know me, you know that I take my vacations very seriously. That translates to: "unless I have somewhere to be, a shower isn't necessary--you can find me on the porch with my book and a cold one."



We came back from dinner and hanging out in a town nearby. It was dusk and he'd been bugging me about going kayaking at dusk for a few days. As we turned onto the harbor road, I pointed out how calm it was on the water and suggested we should go for a paddle. We changed clothes and hopped in the water, with only an hour to spare before the sun went down. We paddled toward Knowle's Rocks, which are in view from our house and happen to be where the ashes of my grandparents were sprinkled. We kayaked there a lot over vacation, because seals are now shacking up on the rocks. It's a lot of fun to just float and watch them pop up around us. It's also pretty funny how much Pete resembles a seal.




My boyfriend asked me to pull my boat out and join him on the rocks to watch the sun set. I told him that I was quite happy just floating in the water. He was persistent and it wasn't until he gave me the whole, "c'mon be adventurous" line that I gave in. No one will question my spontaneity and get away with it. He even let me choose which one I wanted to get on, I picked the right one...because it was closer. I was worried about kayaking back across the dark harbor. Little did I know that the diamond on my finger would help guide the way. :)



He pulled our boats up onto the rocks, and I oh-so-not-gracefully crawled my way through the seaweed and onto the top of the rocks. It was there we sat just talking. I was quickly distracted when a seal started to waddle his way onto a lower rock. He used this to his advantage and pulled the ring out of his pocket.

I wish I could remember all the nice things that he said to me. I was so surprised and in the moment, that it is all a blur. I do recall him telling me that he knew I'd looked at those rocks from the porch since I was a little girl and that we'd be looking at them for years to come. There were waterworks, and then I said yes! I couldn't stop looking at my hand.

It wasn't until the next day when my family was together for lunch that we made the big announcement. I'm pretty sure that my mom and my aunt leaped across the table the second I raised my hand for a toast. We were all so excited.


That evening, we had an impromptu engagement party on the porch.






Pete even had his own plate at the party.


We're finally going to be a family! And we couldn't be happier.