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You probably know us, or else you wouldn't be at this website, but even if you know who we are you may not know our entire story. So here it is, immortalized on the internet where information lives forever. And if you have any doubts about that, post some naked pictures of yourself and see what happens.
Meeting
Back in 1995, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, Chris and Leah went to high schools in different parts of the state. These schools had one thing in common, aside from the obvious (they were schools, they taught classes, etc)... both schools subscribed to a teen newspaper called The 21st Century. This newspaper was given out in English class and was full of original stories and poems by teenagers (yes, I'm sure they were angst-ridden and emo), as well as articles of interest and a pen pal page. You could list ten things about yourself and a PO Box and people would write to you.
Well Leah did this, and Chris was one of the nine people who wrote to her. At the time, he was a junior and she was a freshman. They wrote for two years the old fashioned way, no IM-ing or emails, wracking up a small debt to the US postal service. They had other friends, Leah had other pen pals, and they went about their normal lives.
Dating...Well, Sort Of Dating
They began talking on the phone occasionally that summer, but communication was predominantly through letters. They wrote for two years while living their normal lives. Some time during that first year, they acknowledged feelings for each other, but two hours distance is pretty far when neither person is driving. They remained friends. Chris took someone else to his prom, and Leah got a boyfriend. A year passed.
Chris graduated high school and Leah went into the 11th grade. Their other relationships ended as relationships often do, but they remained friends with each other. He sent her a dozen roses for her sweet 16 that year. Leah, easily wooed by pretty things, was understandably flattered, and this grew into a conversation about hopes and dreams and feelings. A month later, on May 17th, he asked her out. They met for the first time on June 19th, 1997, exactly two years to the day from when Leah got Chris's first letter in the mail.
They dated from afar for a year, and then Leah went to school in Chris's part of the state, out at UMass Amherst. They stayed together through her four years of school and graduation, through different careers and several moves. Marriage has always been a foregone conclusion: it was a matter of "when" rather than "if"...although the persistent questioning about "when" did get old pretty quickly. They went ring shopping in December 2007, but several months passed with no engagement. She didn't know he had already bought the ring and was hiding it.
It was during a good-natured but heated conversation one evening in early February when she said, "I'll bet you $50 that by our 11 year anniversary in May, we still aren't engaged." He hesitated (convincingly) and said, "Well, lots of things can happen, so I don't want to take that bet." Leah completely believed him, and figured then that it would be at least the summer before the topic came up again.
The Proposal
The end of February brought the annual trip to North Conway, New Hampshire for a skiing vacation. Chris and Leah were driving in the WRX, followed by their friends Barney, Holly and Teayanna in their car. Chris stopped several times along the way to Geocache. (Geocaching is like earthy-crunchy treasure hunting, or "how to feel like a pirate when you're in the middle of the woods." Feel free to Google it.) They Geocached first at the Vermont visitor's center, where Barney accompanied them. They found the cache successfully and were on their way.
They Geocached again at another rest area about a half hour later. The snow was very deep, and Leah sank through a snowbank to everyone's amusement. They didn't find the cache and returned to the car unsuccessful. About two hours later, they were on the Kangamangus Highway, which has a scenic overlook and trails and a little rest stop at a hairpin turn on the road. Chris told Leah that this would be their last Geocache of the day, since it was getting dark.
They pulled into the rest area. Unbeknownst to Leah, Chris had asked Barney to stay behind on this one. Barney made an excuse to Leah about the depth of the snow. Leah, thinking nothing of his failure to accompany them, strapped on Chris's snowshoes and followed him off down the trails into the woods. He found the tree where the cache was supposedly hidden and had her break off a big stick to use for digging around in the snow. (It turns out that the cache really is there, by the way: it's up higher in the tree, not under the snow.)
She dug for a few seconds without noticing that he had stopped for a very long time to tie his shoe. Finally he had to nudge her and say, "Hey," to get her attention. When she looked over, he was down on one knee in the snow with the ring, and he proposed. She stared for a long time, uncomprehending, before agreeing. There was a lot of laughing, crying, and flapping. (It was at this point in her life when Leah realized that, when very excited, she tends to flap with her hands as if attempting takeoff.)
Chris had already called Leah's parents a few days prior to get their blessing. Making that call wasn't important to her, but it was important to him, and her parents were suitably impressed by the gesture. He was glad to have done it, and it explained why Leah's parents had been so weird to her on the morning of the proposal when she called just to chat... they were waiting for news that didn't come until much later that night.
Chris and Leah were going to wait to tell his parents in person, and so didn't let them know while they were away, but it was taking far too long so Leah called them later that week. Both sets of parents had the same heartfelt sentiments of "Well, it's about damn time," which should be put on a greeting card and yet isn't. (To this day, Chris still insists that Leah owes him $50 on their anniversary, but she knows the truth: he never took the bet.)
The End... or the Beginning?
So that's our story so far. We're very happy and very much in love, and we're thrilled to be sharing our lives with each other. We look forward to adding many more chapters onto our story as time passes, although probably not on this exact web page because it's kind of long-winded anyway.
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