Our Son is Engaged!

On May 21, our oldest son, Ben, took his lovely girl, Deirdra, to their favorite spot on the trail, a picnic lunch in one hand, her hand in the other, a gorgeous ring in his pocket, and happy intentions in his pounding heart. She had no idea it was coming because several of us "back home" had told her things we were doing which made her think, "They wouldn't go to Philly or New York or a church meeting if they knew we were getting engaged this weekend!"

He had prearranged a pleasant spot near the water to spread out the lunch he had made and packed for them (such a sweetie) and she toted our only pink blanket (her favorite color, and more romantic that our baseball blanket). He had also pre-arranged a hiding spot in the trees for Dee's twin sister and brother-in-law to take pictures without notice. (I don't have those pictures from Siobhan yet, but trust me when I say they're something out of a summer chick flick!)

When they got back to the house, it was just me, Joel, Luke, and Siobhan waiting. Paul had gone to help friends with their big move. I got to hear all the juicy details that a mom is a bit more "into" than a dad, anyway! And I got to shoot a whole bunch of pictures of the happy couple.

It was funny watching the sisters take a gazillion shots of the ring. Ben did a great job choosing the perfect gem for Dee. (Siobhan helped; after all, who knows Dee better than her twin sister?)









In the one picture (sorry I can't line the captions up right today) Dee is pointing to a black smudge on Ben's shirt. That's mascara, she said, when I asked if she cried. "We were laying on our stomachs on the blanket and I was saying, 'Babe, it's just so hard to know how to plan for the future...for school, where to live, being apart so much..." and then she said, "Suddenly he sat upright and I'm like 'that's strange but I kept talking, and he got up on one knee and asked, "Well, would it help you to plan if..."and he pulled out the ring and said, "Will you marry me? I don't know what he said after that, I was just crying and shaking." I asked, "Well, do you remember saying "yes"? She DOES remember that!



Dee's mom hosted an engagement party in New Jersey (Dee's home state, about 1.5- hour hours north of us) that very evening, so it was a packed day. Packed with love, sunshine, love, excitement, a move, love, yard work, pictures, love, food, drinks, love, fellowship, driving, rain, love....