January 3, 2004

Ten years ago today Eric had told me that he wanted to take me out to eat that night. When he came to pick me up from my house, Eric happened to see my dad running on the road and dad signaled him to pull over and help him. Why... because his cattle had got out and were running up and down 421. It wasn't long before my mom and I (and I think my sisters too) were called to come help run cattle and to help get them back into the field before they ran into a car or caused an accident. Once we got the cows back in, Eric was obviously in a big hurry. I told him I need to run home real fast and change shoes before we left. I ran upstairs to change shoes, and Tiffany later told me that while Eric was standing at the door waiting she said, "Why do you seem nervous.... oh my gosh, you're going to propose!" We left there and Eric said he wanted to go to Hickory, which wasn't common for us to do at all. I had been wanting to go to a sale in one of the stores at the mall, so he said that he would take me by there. I looked at the clock and knew there was no way we could make it there in time to shop. We pulled into the parking lot at 8:50 and he tells me to hurry and run to the store and he was going to run to the bathroom. I thought to myself what in the world can I do in here in less than ten minutes. Little did I know he had already purchased my engagement ring and had it sized, and it had finally arrived back that day and he wanted to pick it up before Zale's closed. I was

January 2004

standing in the store when he walks in just a couple of minutes later, and he said, "Did you find anything?" Then he told me that we would just come back some other time and look, and we then went to Olive Garden to eat. After leaving there we headed back up the mountain and he said he wanted to drive out on the Parkway. He had a certain spot picked out that he wanted to go to, but we were unable to get there because the road was blocked with a helicopter and stretchers. Yikes! So, we went to another overlook, where he said some really sweet things, pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him. I of course said, "YES!" but then I said, "But, wait, you didn't get on one knee!" He laughed, got out of the car, and got down on one knee and put the ring on my finger. We drove back to my parent's house and by this time it was around 1:00am. They were leaving early the next morning for a cruise, and there was no way I was going to have to wait until they returned to show them the ring and share our exciting news.  I was 21 at the time and we had been dating barely a year, but I can remember telling my sisters one day while we were driving to Bristol that I knew that he was the man I was going to marry, and that was only two weeks after we started dating. We may not have the most romantic proposal with flash mobs and all that, but I know that God picked Eric for my husband, and I think him daily for sending me such an all around amazing guy.
I love you, emc!

An Engagement Picture