The Water Tower, the Moose, and the Ring

Once upon a time I decided to get married.

I thought that would be pretty easy to do, because I had it on good authority she wanted to marry me too. I figured, all I had to do was ask. Turns out that was a little more complicated than I expected.

I had a plan: My friends would prep the scene on top of a mountain water tower. Some chalk art, some flower petals, and boom. Perfect proposal.

Enter my first obstacle: I hadn’t told my girlfriend because I wanted it to be a surprise. So when she called me that morning to ask me out that night, I panicked. I told her I had to work late. Lying is a great way to start a lifelong commitment, right?

Fortunately I had a way out of my web of untruths. I just called her up that night and said I got off early, and did she still want to go grab dinner? Crisis averted. So dinner was gotten, and I suggested a picnic in the mountains. Very romantic. Except then we hit obstacle number two: Bees.

We tried to eat at a pavilion in the canyon, but huge swarms of bees settled over our meal. Apparently bees really like KFC. I’m not normally scared of bees, but it was bad. Eventually we retreated to the car to finish our feast. Not so romantic. She suggested we just drive home to finish, but I wasn’t ready to give up. I voted to take a little hike instead and because she was desperately in love with me, she went along.

Finally, things started to go right. We traveled a little way up the path until we spotted the water tower. I suggested we climb on top to see the view. Atop the tower, she stared in wonder at my beautiful decor and I popped the question. She couldn’t say no to such a handsome face. Everything was perfect.

Except then we hit obstacle number three: it began to get dark. I suddenly realized I had not adequately prepared for this eventuality. We found ourselves halfway up a mountain at dusk with no lights. We decided to make our way with haste back down before we couldn’t see anything at all.

That’s when we found obstacle number four: as we ran down the trail trying to beat the darkness, we rounded a corner. And there was a huge moose just off the trail. I don’t know what you know about moose, but everything I had heard suggested a pretty rough reputation if you startle them. We beat a hasty retreat.

So now we were in almost full darkness, a half mile from the bottom of the trail, penned in by a potentially aggressive moose. It was not how my future wife thought we would begin our time as engaged individuals.

But once again, luck favored us. A large group of hikers came down the trail a few minutes later on their way back to their car. They had lights, and they were friendly. Plus their noise seemed to scare the moose away from our trail.

Happy ending to the story: we lived. We made it home. And we got married. So you see, if at first you don’t succeed, try try again. Obstacles will appear, but perseverance brings success. Also flashlights. Flashlights lead to success. Take my word for it.