gatherings | Lily's Birthday (and big proposal!)

On Friday morning, Lily's boyfriend called me at work. The conversation started with small talk, thought I had a feeling he wanted to talk about something substantial. And he did. He was asking to marry my sister. After a lot of squealy excitement (mostly on my part, but not entirely), he let me in on the plan to propose the next day at her Birthday Boat Bash. Which worked out perfectly, since the hoopla of her birthday would hide every hint that something even bigger was about to happen ... and I only had to keep the grin off my face for a few-hour car ride. My part in the big plan was to make sure Lily left for the lake before 9:00 ... no easy feat, since the Shoreys can be a little slow moving in the morning and she would be spending the night in the nearby town after a wedding. 

But the next day, I caught the bus under a highway overpass (where I watched a bum wake up - gooood morning), commuted to Clackamas, bought bagels and coffee and was ready to go by nine am! on a Saturday!

To get some alone time - proposing isn't a three person activity - AJ told Lily he had planned a "birthday" hike for them and that I could stay to decorate. I asked myself : how would I feel if Lily was actually skipping out on setting up for the party to go on a hike. answer : annoyance, thinly masked with enthusiasm. Luckily, years of passive aggressive behavior primed me for the roll of a lifetime - I nailed it, and Lily was none the wiser.

By the time they got back the decorations were done, making the whole day feel like magic for her. She was so excited she got a bloody nose.

My other pictures from the day were a blurry blownout mess, but the proposal was captured on a Go-Pro. The recording survived for three whole hours before it was accidentally dropped in the lake when her new fiance dove off a bridge in a burst of enthusiasm/manliness.

So, the rest of the day will have to live on in memory. and it will.

(photos) on film with Pentax k1000