This story
doesn’t really end with the question of “Will you marry me?” – instead that
feels like the beginning, the beginning of an adventure that I have dreamed of
for a very long time. But for the sake of containing this in one entry, let’s
back up just a little bit….
Seth and I
were on our way down to San Luis Obispo for a quick weekend trip to watch my
friend Maria run a marathon. Maria and I have run half marathons together over
the past few years, and while I had no intention of joining her in twice the
insanity, we wanted to cheer her on as she took on the infamous 26.2 miles in
one of our favorite places. Seth asked a couple weeks before we were supposed
to go down to SLO if I would like to get lunch in Carmel on the way down. Of course the answer was yes, and since we
had stopped off in Carmel on previous trips down the coast, I didn’t think
anything of it.
Seth had
picked out this adorable French bakery called Lafayette. We ate simple baguette
sandwiches that had just a little ham and butter on them. We sampled delicious
French pastries, bought a few extra things for the road, and were on our way.
As we were driving through Carmel, I noticed Seth’s’ GPS was set for a local
destination. Surprised since I thought we were getting back on our way to San
Luis, I asked him where we were going. “Oh, did I not tell you?” he says.
“We’re going to tour Tor House.” Grinning hugely, he apologized and said that
things had been so busy at work he had forgotten to tell me and that we didn’t
have to go if I didn’t want to (what if I had said I didn’t want to? J). I naturally said that we could do
that. He had planted the idea of the house weeks before, and since my
sweetheart is an architect, and we both love Carmel, touring a nice home in the
area seemed like a fun excursion.
We pulled up
to Robinson Jeffers’ Tor House on the edge of Scenic Drive overlooking the
ocean, and my first comment was that it looked like England. Seth had chosen
the location for exactly that reason, and he was inwardly thrilled that the
house delighted me without even going in. Seth also chose the house because the
Jeffers owned a beautiful Steinway piano that famous musicians like George and Ira
Gershwin played and also because Jeffers is a famous American poet…that
ironically I had never heard of. Still the effort and attention to detail was
not lost on me. That said, as we started touring the home and beautiful grounds
overlooking the crashing waves, I was still blithely unaware of why we were there.
The real
reason this property is so well known is a 40+-foot tower that sits beside the
Jeffers’ home. Jeffers’ wife loved the towers she had seen in the British Isles,
and so Jeffers built her one, painstakingly placing each stone himself. There were
two top levels that people on the tour could climb to. I suggested we let a few
of the other tour members go ahead of us not knowing how large the topmost
lookout would be. We clambered up after them clinging a bit too tightly to the
precarious stones and chain "railing". The second we got up there I took out my phone and hurriedly
took pictures of the grounds below and pulled Seth in for a quick photo, since
we were expressly told that we were not allowed to take photos on the tour. The
view was breathtaking. It was hard to imagine that the Jeffers family had
once owned, not just the two parcels of land that their home now sits on, but
thirty-two parcels of the stunning Carmel coastline.
When we came
back down, the tour guide asked, “anything special up there?” Again, completely
unaware, I replied, “Yes – so beautiful.” I thought her comment was a little
bit strange, but didn’t think of it again (clearly she was aware of why we were there). She finished her short commentary on the tower and the home, and then Seth asked if we could go back up
for a minute. I thought he wanted to take another picture since our first
attempt wasn’t great. When we got to the top, we stood there a moment looking
out over the view. Seth with his arm around me looked at me and said some
really sweet things, the most important of which included a heartfelt “I love
you”, and gave me one of those kisses that makes you inwardly sigh because
you’re just so happy.
And then my
sweet Mr. Mann knelt down, pulled out and opened a ring box, and said, “I have
another question for you.” He hadn’t asked a first question, but I finally saw
where this was going. I said, “Are you kidding me?” not so much because I thought
it was a joke, but because I was so surprised. Seth said he’d like to spend
time and eternity with me. I said yes before he’d even gotten to the question. I
repeated that yes, when Seth asked, “Will you marry me?” And I will continue
saying yes every day forever.
April 25, 2015
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
