Most of you have probably heard this story in some form or another from either Philip or myself. I think it is about time I formally share the story of the day Philip proposed from my perspective.
Thursday, September 20th, 2012.
Started like any good visiting weekend. Philip drove the 6+ hour trek from Ottawa to London across the ever interesting 401. Little did I know at the time, this particular weekend his trek was quite a bit longer. It included a stop-over in Oakville.
Friday, September 21st, 2012.
A little bit of class for Vanessa. A lunch date (Korean food). A board game night with friends (Ticket to Ride and For Sale).
Saturday, September 22nd, 2012.
We had initially made plans to visit Philip’s sister and Grandma in Kitchener, in the afternoon. On the way there, he thought it would be fun to do a driving tour in the Waterloo area and stop in at St. Jacobs afterwards. I had been trying for days to convince him we should first stop in Stratford – it is such a cute little town to begin with, and there was even a food festival on (how could he say no!?). With a few puppy dog looks from me, I finally convinced him to make a stopover, and off we went.
When we drive, I am often the navigator. This is mostly because I am not yet a pro at driving standard, and partly because of my awesome map reading skills. We took the back roads from London to Stratford, enjoying the unexpected sunny day. Stopping in Stratford, we had fantastic gourmet burgers for lunch at Downie Street Burgers, then walked around and explored a little. Philip got a phone call from his sister (they were pretty concerned, as we should have already been at his Grandma’s in Kitchener – I obviously didn’t think twice about our time consuming stop-over).
Finally, we headed off on our drive towards St. Jacobs, about to start the real driving tour. Philip had printed off this quirky map from the internet, and we followed it through country roads. The drive took us past a whole lot of horse-and-buggys, some really neat farms, and even a stone castle. It took us over several bridges, and each time there was a “point of interest”, there was an option to read more about the history of the area.
At one point in the drive, Philip asked me to show him on the map where we were. I remember pointing about midway, and him saying “whoa, we are really moving quite along here”! Maybe at the time I should have read that as nerves, but I really had no idea there was anything out of the ordinary.
I remember looking slightly ahead on the map and proclaiming “Oh, we get to go right over the Kissing Bridge… I have always wanted to see it!”. “Well obviously, that’s why I picked this route!”. The West Montrose Covered Bridge (also known as the “Kissing Bridge”) is the only remaining original covered bridge in Ontario, still standing after more than 100 years.
As we pulled up to the bridge, it became clear that we were not going to be driving through it any time soon. The bridge had recently been closed to vehicles, and we could only get through on foot. So we parked at one end, and proceed to walk through to the other, with our arms around each other. I tell you this because Philip will now say that I basically held him up walking through that bridge, his legs were like jelly!
Once we made it through to the other side, Philip took a picture of me with the bridge in the background. It had turned out to be such a nice day, and I was marveling in the sunshine. Before I knew it, that boy was down on one (or two) knees in front of me, holding something that was glistening in the sun.
I remember saying yes, and sitting on the grass beside him in excitement, thinking about how surreal this all felt. Things started to make sense, as Philip explained the phone calls from his sister (where are you guys?!), the long drive from Ottawa to London (with a stopover in Oakville to officially ask my parents’ permission), and the resistance to Stratford (clearly throwing his schedule off kilter). He showed me the stunning ring box, hand crafted from wood in the workshop back at the farm.
We spent the rest of the weekend visiting with family and making phone calls to break the good news. It’s amazing – waking up that morning was just like any other day, yet I still remember these details like they were yesterday!
Thank you to everyone who has followed along with us, leading up to our wedding day. The day was better than anything we could have ever imagined. We were so happy to have our closest family and friends there to help celebrate.
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