Yes!!

Since I haven't shared it yet, this is the story of our engagement.

A few days before, my dad asked me to have lunch with him on Tuesday. He laid out his schedule for the week and said that he really wanted to spend some time together before my move to DC and that it was his only chance for the week. I happily agreed. Fast forward to the big day, dad and I decided to meet near the High Museum of Art on Peachtree Street because it was close to his office and there were many restaurants within walking distance. I arrived early and he was late, so we decided that I would just wait in front of the museum until he arrived. Unfortunately for me, it began to rain, so after a few minutes I called him and he casually asked if the restaurant inside was open and said I should go try to get a table so he could just park and come straight in.

I made my way inside, found a table, and he met me inside. Being that it was Mr. Shirlington's and my anniversary, I once even joked with dad, asking if he was going to appear somewhere and propose. He shut down my meddling by pointing it out that I should be happy to be there with him. What was he? Chopped liver? So we ate our lunches and as we did, he mentioned that he had called ahead about the 1:00 highlights tour of the museum and that he thought it would be something cool for us to do, as the current exhibit features numerous pieces from the Louvre.

Already a few minutes late, we walked to the building where the tour was meeting, and since we were members, quickly joined the waiting group. Glenda, our lovely English docent, lead us into the main building and began telling us about the architecture. We made our way through some Chinese and Dutch porcelain pieces from the 1500's and into a room where a huge map showed all of the Dutch trading routes, a huge interest of Mr Shirlington's. I began to think about him and how much he would have loved to see this map, how I wished we was there with me and how I would just have to find something similar to buy him.

We followed Glenda into the next room where she began telling us about a painting by Charles-Joseph Natoire from 1774, one she had just added to the tour. It depicted the Biblical story of Jacob falling in love with Rachel at first sight, working seven years for her father Laban to win her hand in marriage, and another seven years when Laban offered her sister Leah, instead. Glenda then said that love at first sight and overcoming youth and hard times to gain the love of your life...that all of of those things still happened today in modern times, especially with couples like Mr. Shirlington and Miss Shirlington. At first I didn't believe my ears. Within a half a second, I thought to myself, "Did she just say Mr. Shirlington and Miss Shirlington?" I looked to my dad on my left to see if the same question might be puzzling him, too, but he stood there observing the painting, stone-faced and listening as if she had said nothing out of the ordinary.

Then she continued. "Mr. Shirlington fell in love with Miss Shirlington at first sight but knew that she was young and wasn't ready for the love he could offer." I began turning circles and searching the room for him, realizing that she was talking about us! "He stood by her through the years as a friend, waiting patiently, knowing that the day would come in which she would fall in love with him. As friends, Miss Shirlington worried that she wasn't ready...."

Then, Mr. Shirlington came around the corner with a long-stemmed white rose and said, "But love had a different plan. We fell in love and over the past year, both realized we wanted to spend our lives together." He got down on one knee and said, "Miss Shirlington, you are the love of my life. Will you marry me?"

I immediately began crying and shaking and said yes!! He put the ring on my finger, stood up and kissed me while the other 20 tour patrons clapped. We left the tour at that point and went down to the administrative office where Mr. Shirlington had made all the plans. The whole morning I thought he was in DC working as usual,when in reality, he had arrived in Atlanta at 6:30 am and had been materializing the plan since! We went back to the museum restaurant for champagne and took a few pictures.

That night, we went to dinner at the Sundial, which is a revolving restaurant on the 79th floor of the Westin Hotel. We also checked into a suite, which his parents had decorated with pictures of us and more than 120 roses!!!! It was beautiful. The next day, Josh took me on a helicopter ride around the city for an aerial view of all of our favorite and most memorable places. The most wonderful part of his whole plan, however, was that he proposed on exactly the day he promised my mom he would. :)
**Aerial view of The High Museum from our helicopter ride.