Proposal!

Three years ago today, on January 8th, 2010, Seth asked me to marry him and I said yes.

We didn't celebrate today other than to acknowledge that it was the anniversary of his proposal (how would you celebrate something like that? maybe it's just a good excuse for a date).

The ring (that night). 

The spot he proposed (along Ruston Way).

I went and found the story I wrote (several years ago) about his proposal on our wedding website:

Seth and I had been talking throughout the fall about getting married Summer 2010, and about getting engaged after the New Year, so I knew a proposal was coming sometime soon. 

On Friday (January 8th) Seth picked me up and we went to the Northwest Reading Room at the Tacoma Public Library to research for a few hours. I love going there, which is a good thing since that's where I practically lived throughout grad school, researching for my thesis, and I love it when he comes with me (especially to help me figure out Census numbers, ugh... it's fabulous having a one-time math major/really good with numbers guy around). 

We worked at the library for a few hours, then went and got teriyaki chicken and took it down to the water. We were going to eat it outside, on the rocks, at Jack Hyde Park, but after walking to the rocks the drizzle turned into pouring rain. So, we drove down to the end of the waterfront, by the tunnel going into Ruston, where there was no one else around (except the arsenic residue from the ASARCO Smelter), and ate in the car, with the rain pouring down on the car. 

After we'd finished eating, Seth ran out in the rain to throw away our take-out boxes and then, coming back to the car, grabbed something from the back seat. He came around and handed me a folded up piece of notebook paper and suggested we go out and sit on the rocks to read it. As soon as he handed me the note I had a pretty good idea of what the note would say, but of course I still wanted to read it. 

We sat in the rain and I read the note, which, by the time I'd flipped it over for the second page, was absolutely soaked through. The note said how much he loved me and ended with "will you marry me?" And when I turned to look at him he had the ring out and said "Autumn, I love you. Will you marry me?" And of course I said yes.