About me: I work in the nonprofit sector at an organization that combines environmental work with youth development, and I’m constantly reading, starting knitting/crochet projects I don’t finish, and trying to convince people that being a “cat mom” is good practice for being a parent. Both my partner and I are lifelong Pittsburghers, and consider ourselves to be about the luckiest people in the world. It’s not that we don’t love other cities and all they have to offer… it’s just that they don’t have the Steelers, or the Penguins, or pierogies, or the rivers, or… well, you get the point. We met while we were in high school at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center’s youth group, and the rest is history. We like tasting wine and beer, enjoying local food, being outside, and taking road trips.
I’m so excited to join the SoYou’reEnGAYged community!
More about me after the jump:
As a way for you to get to know a little more about me, I thought I’d tell you my engagement story. Stacy and I were quite excited last year on Election Day, and I’d spent the day going door to door encouraging people to get out the vote. Afterward, I flopped onto the couch to watch the election coverage, and when Stacy came home she mentioned that Starbucks was giving away free coffee for the occasion. I was reluctant to abandon CNN, but she persisted, and I finally agreed. As we left the apartment, I accidentally slammed the pinky and ring fingers of my left hand in the door… hard. I was so busy reacting to the pain that I missed the horrified look on Stacy’s face when she realized which fingers had been injured.
So we got coffee, and then she suggested a walk in the park to clear our heads before a night of election madness. Again, I was reluctant– there were senatorial race results being projected that very second! I surely couldn’t live unless I saw them in real time! She managed to talk me into it, saying it’d be quick, and we stopped off on our way home.
Now, I should mention that this is Pittsburgh’s beloved Frick Park we’re talking about, which arguably spans four neighborhoods and includes long meandering paths, an environmental charter school and gorgeous trails that can make you feel you’re many miles away from anything like a city. The part that’s close to our house has a street-level section with a huge playground, a baseball field, and tennis courts, and then you can take a steep set of stairs down into a wide, gorgeous wooded valley that’s probably one of the most popular spots in the park. We became a couple in a park shelter down in that valley, late at night almost a decade ago, and even when we walk there on a Sunday morning and there are people and dogs and cyclists and kids everywhere, it still feels like that particular spot is ours alone. As you can imagine, we love this park and can’t imagine what our area would be like without it.
By the time Stacy and I got there that night, it was already mostly dark, so Stacy suggested we just walk around the perimeter of the street-level part. We were holding hands and talking about the election when Stacy stopped me and said, “Well, whatever happens, I know one thing: I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” She got down on one knee and presented me with her mother’s engagement ring, and of course I said yes!
Now, I hate to spoil the mood here, but one of the things that makes our engagement so memorable is what happened next. After Stacy had gotten to her feet and we’d sealed the deal with a kiss (okay, many kisses), I started laughing, quietly at first, and then falling into uncontrollable snickering. Stacy, understandably, asked what was so darn funny, and I took her by the shoulders and spun her around to show her. She had intended for the background to her proposal to be the edges of the forest, with the last light of the day playing in the autumn foliage. Where she had chosen to stop was in front of a construction site for the park’s new restroom building, with five-foot-deep muddy trenches exposing sewage pipes, a port-a-john, caution tape everywhere, and a harsh floodlight illuminating the scene. She’d been so involved in preparing her proposal that none of this registered with her, and so she’d proposed in front of possibly the only non-romantic part of the park. And, of course, my fingers were too swollen from the door-slamming to accommodate any jewelry, so I was gleefully flaunting my engagement ring on the pinky of my right hand, pimp-style. I was laughing so hard because that’s us to a T: Stacy’s obliviousness and my clumsiness colliding into the most romantic of moments, making sure we never take ourselves too seriously.
Later that night, we cuddled on the couch watching the joyous, tearful celebrations happening all over the world as our nation’s first black president was announced, and I reflected on how clearly love, laughter, and hope had marked the first day of our engagement. It truly felt like we had entered a new era in which anything was possible.
Gorgeous! I LOVE your story and the love and laughter eminenating from your story.
‘…and I reflected on how clearly love, laughter, and hope had marked the first day of our engagement. It truly felt like we had entered a new era in which anything was possible.’ Hells yeah.
Hello! Your engagement story is adorable. I cannot wait to hear more about your wedding plans.
Hi and welcome! What a great story!!!! Congrats!
Beautiful story. You have a fantastic way with words. You truly drew me into the story to where I actually quit what I was doing cause I wanted to keep on reading. Hope you two have a wonderful life together!
Thanks so much for the warm welcome! I’m very lucky to have stumbled upon such a great site. Looking forward to sharing and hearing more!
Welcome!