So I asked...and she said 'yes'
My hand and Arjan's left hand earlier this afternoon standing out front of Gimme on Cayuga Street in the City of Ithaca.
Short Version: I asked, she said yes.
V2: On Father's Day I proposed to Arjan on a hillside in Ithaca, she said yes.
V3: Arjan's parents came to visit us in Dryden over Father's Day Weekend. We met at the Farmer's Market, had lunch at Ithaca Commons, visited the Der Rosenmeister Rose Nursery, had grilled burgers for dinner, watched Soprano's episodes. I proposed somewhere in that day, she said yes.
V4: About six months ago when Arjan and I were talking about getting married she suggested that I ask for her dad's permission. When her dad and mom came to visit over Father's Day weekend I asked him while we were sitting front of Trader K's on the Ithaca Commons. Arjan and her mom were inside buying boots. He said yes, then later, Arjan said yes.
V5: Arjan and I and her parents got a personal tour of Lee Ginenthal's Der Rosenmeister rose nursery on Father's Day. After the tour, while Arjan's parents picked out a rose bush with Lee, I asked Arjan to climb up onto Lee's hill to see the view, she said yes.
V6: In 2005 I taught a class at Alternatives Credit Union on "Getting Found Online." One of the business owners in the class was a teacher at Boynton that was building a rose nursery. In 2006 Lee and I discussed building a website for his business. In January of 2007 Lee emailed me again to see if I could rebuild his website, I said yes. We worked on the website this past winter. After we launched he invited me to come see the nursery in full bloom. I wanted Arjan to join me in seeing the nursery, I asked, she said yes.
V7: I joined a networking group called BNI in 2005 in Johnson City (50 minutes south of Dryden-Ithaca). For the next 16 months I drove to Johnson City every Tuesday morning to meet business owners and pass referrals. I built my business in the Southern Tier from BNI referrals. In April of 2006 a BNI chapter started in Ithaca. In May of 2007 our chapter in Ithaca had a tremendous growth due to a great visitor day. A new member joined named Micky Roof. I contacted Micky about purchasing a ring, she said yes. I bought the ring on the Friday of Father's Day weekend, brought it with me to the hill, asked Arjan and she said yes.
V8: I signed up for Match.com in June or July of 2005. I looked around but never talked to anyone. I rewrote my profile and added some recent pictures in June of 2006. I saw pictures of a cute woman, but didn't make contact with her for almost two months. One Friday night in August around 9pm, I saw that she was online. I winked at her. She winked back. We emailed back and forth for about two weeks. On a Thursday night after Labor Day in 2006 she asked me out on a date, I said yes.
The ring, the jeweler, the rose gardener, the parents visiting, the wonderful afternoon on a hill - I will remember all of this forever - but most of all I will love Arjan forever. She makes me love to be in love.
