Dearest friends and family and blog folks,
It has been a crazypants extraordinary week, entirely out of
time. For most of you, Sandy was the cause. For me, partially so… but even more
extraordinary… I got engaged last weekend.
I know, not art… but you guys,
you guys! There were 3 dozen red balloons and 300 playpen balls involved. How can I not write about it? (If you need to save time and want just the abbreviated version of the story, please scroll down for the last photo.)
We did our best to get in touch with folks, but phones have
been down and inoperable; busy signals and digital operators echoed over the
lines with each attempted call. For those of you we couldn’t get in touch with,
here’s the whole story…
I left for Massachusetts on a Wednesday to celebrate J’s birthday on the 27th.
With all of the preparation for the party, there would be little time to hang
out and catch up, so she suggested that we spend Sunday after the party romping
around Smith and Northampton. So, on the morning of the 28th, I said
goodbye to two Smithie friends who’d driven out for the party (little did I
know I would be seeing them later), and J, my sister, and I drove into
Northampton. We parked by admissions and then stood looking down across
Paradise Pond. (For those of you not familiar… this is what it looks like).
It’s a familiar and comforting sight, but on that Sunday,
there was something different. Red balloons dotted the landscape, and one such
balloon was tied to the swing. J was curious and suggested I find out what the
balloons were for.
Shrug. Okay.
So, I trotted down the hill towards the swing, where a
mother and a little girl were swinging. I asked them if they knew why the
balloons were there. A scavenger hunt of sorts, they thought.
Hanging from the balloon was this Polaroid picture:
Pause… I know you’re going to read this next bit and think
that I’m lying. But seriously, if you’ve ever been to Smith College and seen
the chalkings for birthdays and the crazy crap my dear Smithie ladies do for
one another, my next thought will not seem odd to you.
So my first thought – Aw, cute! It’s someone’s birthday, and
her friends made her a scavenger hunt. And her name is my name. That’s
adorable.
And I turned to head back up the hill towards J and my
sister. J pointed towards another balloon, and, like a farmer shooing an errant
chicken, she waved me away.
Shrug again. I guess she wants me to see what that one is.
Okay.
So I trotted back down the hill towards one of the benches
overlooking the pond. There was a second balloon tied to the bench, and on the
bench lay a beautiful bouquet of flowers and this Polaroid:
I looked back up the hill. J and my sister were gone. With
audible clanking, the gears started spinning.
Wait a minute… I’m Lisa.
Dawning realization. It took a while, but I got it. The
balloons were for me! I turned around
and around a few times. Still no sign of J or my sister. There was nothing left
but to do as the Polaroids instructed. So, with a Cheshire cat’s grin, I picked
up the bouquet and set off after the trail of balloons.
The red balloons were tied all along the path down by the
pond. They led past the Japanese Tea Hut, past the path to the Quad, around the
pond and down to the Mill River. This is what it
looked like:
I followed those balloons for quite a ways. I didn't know I was getting engaged... I took my sweet time and a bunch of photos.
Finally, I rounded a bend and saw a big bunch of the
balloons tied to a downed tree… and Ezra in a fedora and a suit jacket. And
then I burst into tears. Not only were there balloons and flowers, but my dear
boyfriend had made me a ballpit in the woods. Because we’re grownups.
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He helped me over the log that was serving as the edge of
the ballpit, and then there were many wonderful words and a question and a
black velvet box with his Nana’s ring inside.
Of course.
And there was much hugging and weeping (on my part) and
laughing and grinning and dancing in the woods in our makeshift ballpit
beneath a bunch of red balloons. Because the future is bright and filled with
all kinds of plans, and we’re going to spend our lives together.
We may have sat there in the woods by the Mill River for twenty
minutes or an hour or six… it was a moment outside of time. But eventually, we
packed up our ballpit, tied our balloons on tightly, and made our way back
along the path. Actually that's not true... first we took a whole bunch of photos. HE HAD A POLAROID CAMERA!!!
As we went, we slowly untied all of Ezra’s three dozen
balloons until we each had quite a handful.
When we finally arrived back at the swing above the pond,
not only had my sister and J reappeared, but my two other Smithies (I told you
they’d be back) were also waiting with champagne and glittery confetti and hugs
and congratulations.
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And that’s pretty much the end of the engagement part of the
story. After that, we were stranded in Massachusetts for four days during the
storm, but Sandy did it’s absolute best to completely miss most of Western
Mass. We made the most of it and had ourselves an excellent little half-week
away outside of time.
The end… for real this time.
As promised, the abbreviated version:
