A Natural Engagement

The news is out. The all-important Facebook status has changed. The package has been delivered, and has a new home on my finger. Corey and I are getting married. But can I still call him my boyfriend? Because after 2 years I was just getting used to that terminology and now I've got to change it to some strange French(?) word and somehow resist the urge to say "fiance" like Vernon T. Waldrip in Oh Brother Where Art Thou. But I digress.


Corey and I are gettin' married and I'm still pinching myself because I don't feel any different. Are you supposed to feel inherently different? I'm excited, I feel blessed, I'm full of love, and I have a conspicuous new addition to my hand, but different? I think not. But when I do think about it, natural is the word that come to mind.


And it was natural on Saturday when we were walking on the trail and looking at the beautiful waterfalls and just enjoying being together. It all happened when we were taking a break from hiking. We were just sitting on a rock near some flowing water and watching a stick. This stick was laying on the rock with the water rushing over it and looked like it was moving down hill. It went something like this:
J: "Corey, that stick looks like it's moving."
C: "Yeah it does."
J: "It just moves a little bit every once in a while."
C: "Wait, I don't really know if it's moving."
J: Still contemplating, Is the stick moving or is it not?
J: Mind wandering to some random thought, food more than likely.
C: Digging in backpack then getting on his knee.
C: "I love you, Will you marry me?"

And as naturally as that, we got engaged. I'm excited about the next few months where I can use all of the knowledge I have gained about weddings ever since I was tearing out pages of wedding magazines in 5th grade. But more than that, I'm excited to start a lifetime love affair, friendship, and partnership. I'm excited to have someone around that actually likes to do the dishes and doesn't tend to forget things like house keys after you already locked the door. And I'm excited to bring my depth of emotion and sawmill gravy making abilities to a marriage that will surely be very hard but by the grace of God, a blessing to us both.


Enjoy the pics!

The swanky steakhouse where we ate after we got engaged.

Fireflies

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!"

I can't remember the last time I saw a firefly. I feel like they somehow disappeared from the South in recent years or I had just been too busy to notice them. I remember being fascinated by them as a child, mesmerized by the off-beat flashes that crowded the sky at dusk.

Tonight, after a long day of work I was drawn out of my somewhat stuffy house by a cool June breeze and the sounds of the birds and kids playing on the street. I walked down the hill to a little bench where I sit that is just a few feet from the woods. It looks out to a large grassy area that doesn't belong to anyone in particular but borders several houses and gardens. I go there in the evenings alone or with Corey to sit and enjoy the fresh air and smell the flowers and trees and earth. That sounds crazy but if you grow up with the smell of dirt and then you move to a place where that smell is not so easy to come by...believe me, you miss the smell of dirt. It is always refreshing but tonight was different. Tonight there were fireflies, everywhere. I imagined that it was the most spectacular fireworks show little ants had ever seen. I watched them, I watched them for a while and just soaked in the smells, the sounds and the little flickers of light--summer at its best.

When I woke up this morning, I didn't know I would end up being blessed by a firefly. I'm a believer. His mercies are new every morning, great is his faithfulness to me.