Well for those of you that haven’t heard, this girl got engaged this weekend! While Jordan and I had talked about getting engaged in the near future, I was not expecting it to happen 4th of July weekend. He had been playing it off for weeks that he was still saving money for a ring and still needed to talk to my dad and step-dad for their permission, so despite a few slip-ups such as my sister telling me Jordan had asked my parents’ permission and Jordan mentioning something his mom said about us getting engaged, I believed the ring wouldn’t be coming for awhile, though I definitely hoped it would be coming sooner.
Jordan’s family had invited me months ago to go camping with them and as the weekend drew closer, Jordan and I decided I would pick him up from the winery where he worked maintenance on Friday since he had to work a half day and then we would drive to Watkins together. I showed up around 1:30 and had to wait until 2 for Jordan to finish up. By the time he was done I was starving, so Jordan offered to buy me lunch at the winery’s restaurant. Little did I know this was delaying his plans to propose, but he knew better than to try and convince me to do anything until my stomach was satisfied. While we were eating he casually mentioned that before we left for camp, we should go on a walk to a place he and sister had found earlier in the week. I love going on walks and was up for spending some alone time with Jordan before we spent the rest of the weekend with his family, so I suspected nothing.
We drove down the road a ways and then parked by the winery’s warehouse, which is next to a set of railroad tracks. He led me down the railroad, asking me to look for railroad spikes along the way because he needed them for some project he was working on (turns out this was just a way to distract me!). We talked about random stuff along the way, catching up after a few weeks apart. It was a beautiful day out, the sun was shining and it wasn’t too hot, and the railroad tracks ran through a wooded area. I asked how far we were walking and Jordan assured me we weren’t going much farther, just around two more bends and then we would reach a bridge. After probably about fifteen minutes, we reached the bridge he was talking about, which spanned a gorge and looked over Seneca Lake. “We’re going out on that?” I asked hesitantly. I’m not super afraid of heights, if the thing I’m standing on looks and is solid and I can’t see through the bottom of what I’m standing on. I didn’t doubt that the bridge was stable, trains had to cross it after all, but I was not a huge fan of having to stand on the maintenance portion of the bridge, which had plenty of places where I could look through the bridge. Eventually Jordan was able to coax me out onto the bridge, saying that the view would be worth it.
This is the scary bridge I had to stand on- definitely worth it though!
When we reached the middle of the bridge, I realized Jordan was right, the view was more than worth it. We enjoyed the view for a bit and then Jordan told me he had a “re-gift” for me. I gave him a puzzled look, and then he pulled out a small slip of paper that had originally been a part of the “365 Memories Jar” gift I had given him for our 1 year anniversary last July. The paper read, “You deserve a love that is willing to risk everything.” I smiled at the thoughtful gesture and tucked the paper safely away into my pocket. Jordan led me a few steps further before he stopped me again, wrapping an arm around me and then asking, “Have I been a good boyfriend?”
View of Seneca Lake from the bridge
“Of course!!” I responded. “Why are you even asking that?”
“Well, would I make a good husband?” He replied, and I still somehow had no idea what was going on.
“Um yeah,” I answered, not really looking at him because I was still kind of freaking out about how high up we were. Suddenly I felt him pull away and I turned to see him reach in his pocket, pull something out, and get down on one knee. “Then, will you marry me?” he asked.
“Wait, you’re doing this here? Right now? On the scary bridge? What if the ring falls through the bridge? No, you can’t do this here. I don’t even know what to do right now!!” I said, freaking out in excitement and disbelief.
As always, Jordan showed extreme patience with me, and somehow, successfully calmed me down. “Yes, I’m doing this right now. Just like the paper I gave you said, love takes risk, just like being out on this bridge. And you can start by saying yes.”
“Oh, yes!! Of course! But seriously, can we put the ring on when we’re off the bridge?” I insisted, still worried about dropping the beautiful ring into the depths beneath us. However, Jordan persisted, and we managed to get the ring on my finger successfully. I couldn’t stop smiling as we hugged and kissed, and then Jordan and I prayed over this next step in our relationship, before we started our walk back, during which we began calling our friends and our family.
Us after I said yes!
I couldn’t have asked for or imagined for myself a better proposal, and I am so blessed to have a Godly man in my life who is willing to risk everything for me, as he allows God to direct the steps of our relationship. Though I’m sure it will be overwhelming at times, I’m looking forward to planning our wedding and our future together!
Navigating Nashville 