What is happening now? Well, to catch everyone up, I am still working on completing my commercial days for the DGA (only 20 more to go!), Abbey is still working hard to keep the lights on, our house is still in the escrow maze of agonizing time delay and confusion though we should be closing soon (possibly even next Friday), and just three weeks ago, we got engaged!!!
To head off the immediate question...we think it will be sometime in Oct. 2009. For more information, check out our wedding site in the Cool Links section below.....well wait a bit..the site isn't quite up yet, but soon...
THE ENGAGEMENT
Where to begin...
Well, first there was Brandon and Lisa's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and it was great to see so many friends and family. I was asked many times by several different people when I was going to "step up to the plate", but of course no one knew the plan.
Well, almost no one. There was of course Abbey's father who had just visited Los Angeles to offer his professional advice on the new house. And at the end of his visit, he and I had a breakfast that neither of us will soon forget (Abbey being at work of course!). On Friday, before Brandon and Lisa's wedding, Abbey and I arrived home in CT just in time to rent a car and drive to Saratoga to meet up with our sisters and Abigail and Raghu. (By the way, they too are in a home renovation project. Check it out here!.) During that afternoon, Eliza mentioned that her date to the wedding would be Olivier Francois. Now who is he you might ask? Well of course he is the brilliant jeweler that actually MADE Abbey's ring! And so, there we were, all headed to the wedding with my secret plan known only to Mr. and Mrs. DeRocker, Kristen, Todd, Olivier, and Raghu, so almost no one right?
I made it through the weekend without a slip, and to everyone's credit, the secret plan was still secret. The plan? Go to the lake and "open it up" for the season. Now just getting Abbey to stay in upstate while her family was working and mine was not was a challenge. Why, she kept asking (but never figuring out) why would we stay there when my parents were just 2.5 hours away? But she was sold on the idea of opening the lake so that it would be ready for our return the following week.
Monday:
So we were headed to the lake right? Nope. Come Monday and the rain showers, it was decided that we would be productive around the farm by moving the house (the post and beam from across the street that had been disassembled and piled in the yard) into the barn to protect it from the weather. Good idea, yes. Big project? YES. And so when Mr. DeRocker returned from work on that Monday afternoon expecting perhaps some big news from the lake, instead he was welcomed by a rental pickup truck and several hours of backbreaking work. Now all the while I had been trying to convince Abbey that the night would be cooler and we would sleep better if we went to the lake, but to no avail. Mr. DeRocker even tried to help by suggesting it at dinner that evening.
Tuesday:
I forgot to mention that the plan was to leave for Connecticut on Wednesday, followed by a combined family picnic on Saturday (and nope, Abbey didn't get suspicious over that either, though most of my family did.) So it was Tuesday, it had to be, or there would be a family picnic without and big announcements. Abbey promised. We were going to the lake.
Now earlier that morning Mr. DeRocker tried to help me get some alone time at the lake by coming up with a list of tasks for Eliza, but Abbey told him that it was ridiculous because we were home to visit. So after some preparations we set out for the 40 minute drive to the lake at 10:30 am. Plenty of time to get there, clean, unpack, and settle down by the dock to move ahead with the plan around sunset before her parents got there right? With a car packed with 6 black garbage bags of linens, two miniature poodles, one standard poodle, supplies, Abbey, Eliza, and myself, we set off...not down the highway, but down the back roads for the scenic route to the lake. After the tour, a stop for lunch, and groceries, we finally arrived at the lake at 2:45pm....and it was now raining! I had been noticeably antsy on the ride as Abbey pointed out several times, but we were finally there and it was time to get to work.
We swept, washed, wiped, and vacuumed. At one point Abbey's dad called to "see how things were going" and of course...we were cleaning. Abbey mentioned the malfunctioning power washer and he immediately took the opportunity to talk to me. "What's happening? How can I help? Should I come up there and get Penny and Eliza and leave?" I appreciated the efforts, but told him to just come up. That it would be done by then. Somehow. And then we could all celebrate together. She would want that. And so there I was on my hands and knees wiping down the porch floor, one hour till her parents would be there, and it was still raining. Suddenly there was a break in the clouds and the sun shone through! That was it. It was time.
I got up, changed my shirt, went to the kitchen for two glasses and a bottle of wine, and then went down to the dock and sat. I waited. I whistled our whistle. Abbey says now that she saw me sitting there with the wine waiting. It had been a crazy few weeks in LA and I had been saying that we would know we were through it all when we could sit on the dock at sunset and have a toast. So she figured that that was it, that I was done with the house moving and floor cleaning, that it was time to take a break and have the toast. She changed and came down to the dock (Eliza was still inside vacuuming).
The sun was out, the lake was beautiful, she was beautiful. It was time. I started into my long ago prepared and well rehearsed speech about the lake and my first time there, about the first time I had realized that I was in love while standing on the dock, and told her I wanted to remember those times someday standing there when we were 80. I also wanted to stand there someday and remember when she said yes. "Said yes to what?" she asked? And that was the moment. I went to try to take my knee...but I had been sitting on the rail and Abbey's arms were wrapped around me. I couldn't move. "What are you doing? Don't do that." she said as I tried to stand. She thought I was trying to move away. She was enjoying the closeness and my saying sweet things. She didn't want me to get up and move away. With a little step back I was able to reach into my pocket and pull out the ring and simultaneously drop to my knee.
And so there on June 24, 2008, on the shores of Lake George as the sun was setting. . . She said yes.
And, as a side note, it did not rain again after that moment the entire remainder of the time we were home.
So that is the story for now. We are back in LA after two incredible weeks at home celebrating with our families. And for now it is back to the grind while we wait for the house to close.
More to come soon!
Thanks for checking us out!!
Gregg
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