Goodbye, New York; hello, new life
(Special Valentine's Day announcement)
I haven't posted anything here in a good while, but I figured it would be a good way to very publicly announce and record something that I kept a very private matter for a long, long time:
Four days ago, Marie (damndirtydyke) and I went to the top of Haleakala to watch the sun rise. Of course, even in Maui, it's very, very cold at an elevation of 10,000 feet before sunup, but we came prepared. In addition to bundling up against the cold, we folded the back seat of her Jeep down flat and converted the whole back section in to a big comfy bed, complete with a big fluffy comforter, so that after the drive up in the wee small hours, we could take a warm nap while waiting for the sun to get ready to come out, instead of standing around outside and shivering with everybody else who made it up the mountain.
Right on schedule, at 6:53 local time, the sun came up, throwing splashes of light and color across the sky and the clouds (which, at that elevation, were several thousand feet below us) before threatening to blind us with its bare disk and flooding Haleakala Crater with light. After the sun had risen a couple of degrees of arc above the horizon, and the sky had taken a more uniform color, we walked back to the car for another nap, both of us tired from the reduced amount of sleep, and cold from standing outside. Then, as we curled up, holding each other under the comforter, I asked Marie to marry me.
Now might be a good time to fill in with a little bit of background information. For the past four years, Marie has been my partner in life, love, and friendship. The romantic part of our relationship might be described as "on again, off again", but the love deep in the core of our relationship had always bonded us strongly together as best friends after our initial aborted attempt at romance. When Marie moved to Maui at the end of the summer, we stayed closely in touch, and came to realize how much we still needed each other. For the past few months, we have been discussing and planning our future together, and so well before the trip up the mountain that Sunday morning, both of us knew quite well that eventually one of us would propose marriage to the other, but there was just something about the words "Will you marry me?" coming out of my mouth, and her lack of hesitation in answering, and just the general magic of the moment that came together so perfectly.
Marie has no plans to return as a permanent resident of NYC just yet, nor does she plan on staying on Maui, and so for us to spend the rest of our lives together, we both must leave to live somewhere else. I have my own fair share of obligations here, which I have given myself until the beginning of September to wrap up. At that time, my current lease expires, and some time shortly before or after I move out of that apartment, Marie will come join me in NYC for a few months. We will most likely live with my parents for a few months, to wait out the winter and hang on to my a little bit longer to save some more money before we pack up and go, because after leaving New York, there will be a period of time where neither of us is tied down to anything in particular, and we will go on a long vacation together in Europe at some point in the spring of 2009, before we start our new life together in Portland, OR.
The wedding will take place in or near NYC, either immediately before the trip, or some time after we move to Portland (we will return to NYC for the wedding). You'll all be invited, but we need to figure out the specifics first.
I haven't posted anything here in a good while, but I figured it would be a good way to very publicly announce and record something that I kept a very private matter for a long, long time:
Four days ago, Marie (damndirtydyke) and I went to the top of Haleakala to watch the sun rise. Of course, even in Maui, it's very, very cold at an elevation of 10,000 feet before sunup, but we came prepared. In addition to bundling up against the cold, we folded the back seat of her Jeep down flat and converted the whole back section in to a big comfy bed, complete with a big fluffy comforter, so that after the drive up in the wee small hours, we could take a warm nap while waiting for the sun to get ready to come out, instead of standing around outside and shivering with everybody else who made it up the mountain.
Right on schedule, at 6:53 local time, the sun came up, throwing splashes of light and color across the sky and the clouds (which, at that elevation, were several thousand feet below us) before threatening to blind us with its bare disk and flooding Haleakala Crater with light. After the sun had risen a couple of degrees of arc above the horizon, and the sky had taken a more uniform color, we walked back to the car for another nap, both of us tired from the reduced amount of sleep, and cold from standing outside. Then, as we curled up, holding each other under the comforter, I asked Marie to marry me.
Now might be a good time to fill in with a little bit of background information. For the past four years, Marie has been my partner in life, love, and friendship. The romantic part of our relationship might be described as "on again, off again", but the love deep in the core of our relationship had always bonded us strongly together as best friends after our initial aborted attempt at romance. When Marie moved to Maui at the end of the summer, we stayed closely in touch, and came to realize how much we still needed each other. For the past few months, we have been discussing and planning our future together, and so well before the trip up the mountain that Sunday morning, both of us knew quite well that eventually one of us would propose marriage to the other, but there was just something about the words "Will you marry me?" coming out of my mouth, and her lack of hesitation in answering, and just the general magic of the moment that came together so perfectly.
Marie has no plans to return as a permanent resident of NYC just yet, nor does she plan on staying on Maui, and so for us to spend the rest of our lives together, we both must leave to live somewhere else. I have my own fair share of obligations here, which I have given myself until the beginning of September to wrap up. At that time, my current lease expires, and some time shortly before or after I move out of that apartment, Marie will come join me in NYC for a few months. We will most likely live with my parents for a few months, to wait out the winter and hang on to my a little bit longer to save some more money before we pack up and go, because after leaving New York, there will be a period of time where neither of us is tied down to anything in particular, and we will go on a long vacation together in Europe at some point in the spring of 2009, before we start our new life together in Portland, OR.
The wedding will take place in or near NYC, either immediately before the trip, or some time after we move to Portland (we will return to NYC for the wedding). You'll all be invited, but we need to figure out the specifics first.