The Story of Us - Part 21

Every girl dreams of the day that the man of their dreams would ask her to marry him. Would he give you flowers? Would it be in a crowded restaurant or somewhere private? Would she cry? Go up to any girl and she can tell you instantly what her perfect proposal would be. But no matter how or where or when it happens, it's always perfect because from that moment on you know that you're going to be with the man you love forever.

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November 9th, 2013

You may recall that Josh and I had planned to go hike R Mountain that day after we snagged some free lunch on campus (never say no to free food). Then Josh and I jumped in Josh's jeep to head out on our hike.

I didn't quite realize it then, but Josh wasn't quite dressed for a steep hike up the back of a mountain: he was wearing one of his favorite nicer shirts and some khaki pants. Me, I was in my comfiest jeans and a sweatshirt. It was a slightly chilly day, so I brought one of my winter hats, one with a giant penguin face on it. When we pulled up, I put the hat on, and to my surprise, Josh tried to convince me not to wear it. I protested that it was chilly and I was going to wear it. Seeing that I wasn't going to give in, Josh sighed and surrendered.

I didn't want to carry my phone in my sweatshirt pocket, and so I told Josh that I was going to just put it in his backpack. Again to my surprise, Josh didn't want me to put it in there and said that he could just put it in there for me. But Josh was already wearing the backpack and so it made no sense for him to take it off, put the phone in, and put it back on when I could just put it in the front pocket and he could leave the backpack on. Josh tried to spin around to keep the backpack out of my reach, but I managed to grab on to the bag and get the pocket open. I didn't want to accidentally squish anything with my phone, so I opened the pocket up enough to look in. In the pocket, Josh had a small white box, but I didn't think anything of it, dropped my phone in and zipped the pocket shut.

It was a beautiful day outside and there weren't very many other people out on the trail, so Josh and I had plenty of time to hold hands and talk as we hiked. It didn't take long for me to get too warm, so I surrendered the hat, and let Josh put it in the backpack for me this time.

When we finally made it to the top of the steep climb, instead of going left to hike around to the front of the mountain to the "R", Josh suggested we go off to the right to look over at the view of the valley headed down towards Idaho Falls. And the view was amazing. You can see for miles, watching the Snake River wind here and there, and see the rays of sunlight cut through the clouds. Josh and I stood there together for a few moments with his arms wrapped around me. Josh then said he had a poem for me that he had written, and he wanted me to keep looking over the valley.

As Josh turned to get the poem from his backpack, I thought I could hear some clicking coming from somewhere behind me. I started to turn to see what was making the clicking, but Josh had the poem so I turned back. And this is the poem he wrote for me:

The Girl and the Bridge 

There once was a girl,

So kind and so sweet.

When I first saw her,

I knew we should meet.

The weeks went on,

Doing things here and there.

It appeared after a while,

Things were going nowhere.

Explanations exchanged,

We then each agreed.

Deciding that maybe,

We shouldn’t impede.

Breaking down the bridge

To what future there may be.

What laid in store,

We each would later see.

The days went by,

And we still kept in touch.

Though without that bridge,

We didn’t connect much.

So in an attempt,

To meet up at last,

The bridge was restored,

The same as in the past.

Time had gone by,

And we wondered if we should,

But in the middle of that bridge,

We comfortably stood.

Realizing the truth,

That something was there,

We moved forward together,

In attempt to repair.

It didn’t take long

To get where we were,

Our friendship had lasted,

Even through the little stir.

Preparations have continued,

Even up to this day.

Hoping that eventually,

We might find the way.

It hasn’t been long,

But things have gone well,

The feelings in our hearts,

Continuously swell.

Comforting each other

Through the good and the bad,

Holding one another

When we start to feel sad.

Life isn’t always perfect,

Yet it feels so sweet

At this point, Josh went to go to the third page of the poem, but it wasn't there. Josh got all flustered and started apologizing while he turned back again to look in his backpack again. I couldn't help but laugh because this was a classic Josh thing to forget something. And also, I knew what was going to happen. So I couldn't help but smile when Josh asked me to turn around, and I found the man I loved so much down on one knee with a little black box in his hand. "Because now with you Alaura Berg, With you my life's complete. Will you marry me?"

I didn't cry, but I was just so happy that I tackled him with a giant hug and kiss as I said yes, completely knocking him backwards in the process.

As we got up, I could hear a crazy amount of laughter and cheering, and all I could see was two redheads and two brunettes running towards us. I knew that the redheads were Allison and Eliza, and I assumed the brunettes were Josh's sisters, but to my extreme surprise, it was my sister Sariah and my bestfriend from high school Sarah! I was so excited to see Sarah, that I ran over to give her a big hug, completely forgetting that Josh still hadn't put the ring on my finger. When someone pointed that out, I turned back around to my poor now fiance standing there with the ring box still in his hand. 

And to add to all of the surprises, Josh had me turn and look and there was my mom just down the mountain to my right! Apparently Josh had called her that morning and told her his plans to propose today and so she had stuck around instead of leaving for Montana right away. 

Sarah took some more pictures, and we had to create what would have happened if I had still had that silly penguin hat on when Josh proposed. And then we headed home to make some dinner for our fearless photographers, and when we got to my apartment, Josh had another surprise waiting for me. One of my roommate's friends was in one of Josh's classes and so she and my roommate had decorated the apartment for me. (Isn't he just the greatest?) I couldn't stop smiling!

Best. Day. EVER!