How did he do it?

It’s the second question people ask after “Let’s see the ring” (which isn’t actually a question come to think of it).

Well, here’s how:

At 6am, on the morning of our last full day in Cortona (a place you can read about in my previous post), Brendan stupidly decided to go for a run.

Usually he wakes up before me and I don’t even bat an eyelid. But this particular morning I wanted to sleep in and I was really rude to him. I got really mad and told him he’d woken me up for good.

This annoyed Brendan no end and he frustratingly ignored my half-awake rants as he slipped out the door.

Turns out Brendan wasn’t just going for a run. He was going to call my dad back in Australia to ask for permission

Following a successful phone call, Brendan then actually did go for a run – a frantic one up the steep hills and around the entire circumference of the city. Why? He was trying to find a nice place to propose.

He ended up finding one and later that day we were headed off for a picnic there. Brendan had been building up this idea of us having a ‘picnic’ because we’d never had one together, yet 8 years ago in Senior Biology class we’d jointly written a ‘picnic list’ on a scrap piece of paper, and said we should do one sometime.

We were friends in high school, and Brendan actually asked me out once, but I said no.

So because of all this back story I simply figured Brendan was making a big deal out of the picnic business because he always likes to remind me how ‘he was right’ the first time he asked me out.

Anyway, we grabbed some pesto, crusty flat bread, cherries, strawberries and cherry tomatoes from a cute little Italian grocer and headed off for our picnic.

The walk to Brendan’s ‘picnic spot’ was grueling. It was boiling in Italy and I had no idea where we were going. All I knew is that we were winding up a maze of cobblestone streets at a 60 degree incline.

Eventually we came to a lookout point and Brendan, desperately trying to remember the complex route to his spot, assured me we weren’t far away.

Instead, I said “What about this spot?” and pointed to a little grassed area just off the makeshift road we were walking along. Brendan said, “Yeah, it looks better than my spot actually,” and we sat down to cool off and have our picnic.

No surprise, the food was amazing. As was the view. And we had a great time.

Then Brendan said, “I have a present. Go to the edge of the cliff and close your eyes.”

At this point I wasn’t thinking anything really, and Brendan had to decide whether to push me over the cliff without a soul ever knowing, or pull out the engagement ring and propose. Big life decision.

Fortunately, he chose the later…  And the rest is history.

Brendan actually chose the engagement ring without any help from anyone!

He also managed to hide it from me (and thieves) in a pair of socks for 5 weeks while we travelled around Europe. Even more impressive! And I couldn’t be happier because of it.

Now the wedding planning begins.. and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on the progress.

See you next time.

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