May 7th, 2007-- Neither Brian nor I realized that morning that we would be engaged by evening. Our plan for the day was to catch the bus to Eze le-village and then maybe Nice. The first indication that it might be a rough day was learning that the French train workers were planning to strike,and we intended to train to Italy in 48 hours!.

Eze was great, although catching the bus there was not. Afterwards, we cut out Nice for a more relaxed afternoon (thinking we were doing ourselves a favor). But instead our transit troubles started up again, and the drama continued... A few snubbed buses, a distorted map (grossly not to scale), a silent and beautiful (although grumpy) hike along the Mediterranean coast, and a failed laundromat visit later, we resigned ourselves a little defeated, to picking up dinner at the local town grocery. Some ham, cheese, bread, apples, cookies, and cheap wine were all we could deal with.

We took our simple meal and sat on the deserted beach in Villefranche Sur Mer. It was our first relaxing moment of the day. And then sometime, as the sun was setting, our sandwich half-eaten and the two of us sitting side-by-side, Brian asked me to marry him. He then unzipped the side pocket of his track pants and pulled out a necklace he had brought along (no ring - long story). Brian felt that as a couple we had recovered well from a difficult time --- one trying to brighten the day when the other saw it cloudy. This is how a lifetime commitment should be, and so he recognized it as the most opportune time to propose.

Although I would have imagined neither a half-eaten sandwich nor track pants associated with our engagement story, in the end the moment was spontaneous, down to earth, and honest... and felt perfect to the both of us!

PHOTOS:
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