At the time, Bobby and I had been dating for four months. He was up visiting me in Boston one weekend in late October and we took a drive out to Marblehead to visit my family. They live on The Neck and Bobby and I love to hang out at the lighthouse. We have a favorite tree and we always sit there to watch the boats go in and out of the harbor. I didn't know this at the time, but Bobby had gotten up early the following morning and asked my Father if he'd like to go to breakfast at The Landing with him. Knowing that I am a late sleeper on weekends, they both knew they would have plenty of time until I would be up. Bobby used the opportunity to ask my Father for his permission to ask me to marry him. My Father adores Bobby so he happily welcomed him into the family.


I woke up around 11:00 and Bobby and my Dad were already back from breakfast so I didn't even know that they had been out at all. Bobby asked if I'd like to take a walk to the lighthouse to watch the boats with him. I said that I'd love to and we headed out. I noticed when we were walking hand in hand that Bobby's hands were really clammy, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. We got to our favorite spot under the tree and Bobby pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses. He then got down on one knee and started reciting a poem he had written me that chronicled our relationship up to this point. My whole face was covered in tears before he even got half was through. The poem ended with the words "...a destiny that has brought me to you. Will you marry me?" At first, I wasn't sure if he really did just ask me to marry him or if it was a metaphor of some sort. Then he just stared at me and looked as if he was waiting for my answer. It dawned on me that this was really real and I screamed "yes, I will marry you!"