White Coat Ceremony 2009

Joy being cloaked by Dr. Roush, Small Animal Surgeon Extraordinaire!

My parents, older sister Amy, and David came to town to celebrate.

Watching a movie after a family-filled day. 

The Story

On our first date we went to Konza Prairie for a walk. Toward the end of it, D caught a small snake (a racer) we saw in the leaf litter.  He told me all about it, and I thought to myself, “This guy is awesome!”

Our first Valentine’s Day together, I got D a Mexican Red-Knee Spider. Although he never told me directly, I’m pretty sure D thought to himself, “This girl is awesome!”

Through the past couple of years, our relationship has grown, and we are both very happy to have taken the next step:

Engagement!

I went to Tucson for Spring Break, but as usual, I had bad luck with flights. My Tuesday flight through Dallas was cancelled because of bad weather, so I got rerouted through Chicago on Wednesday. (Thankfully, my best friend who lives in Kansas City was able to send her boyfriend to save me from the airport!)

To help me feel better about missing a night in Tucson, D said, “Well, let’s go out for a nice dinner the night you get here, so we don’t waste any time.” We planned on going to Café Poca Cosa, a great restaurant for ‘gourmet’ Mexican food that we enjoyed going to once before. When I finally got to Tucson, D played nonchalant and didn’t make a big deal about dinner. I sure did, though! We got a reservation for an early dinner, dressed up, and had a delightful meal. Dessert was a chocolate cake to die for!

As we left the restaurant, hand in hand, I was pretty sure I couldn’t be any happier than I was at that very moment.

D suggested we go watch the sunset at Gate’s Pass. It’s Spring in Tucson, so there aren’t many clouds.  We figured the sunset would still be nice. As we got out to Saguaro National Park West, D flew by Gate’s Pass, which I thought was odd. He kept driving, commenting on too much traffic, too many cars, etc. We kept driving through the park, not finding a parking spot free of sunset watchers until the last pull-off. We couldn’t see the sunset very well from there, which could explain why no one was there! We walked up the trail for a little ways (with me in high heels!).

As we watched the beautiful sunset D was standing right behind me. He whispered, “Will you marry me?” in my ear. I was shocked!  I turned around and said, “Seriously!?” In the brief pause that followed, his pounding heart clarified the sincerity. 

I said, “Yes! Of course, Yes!” Then made a mess of my make-up with laughter and tears mixed.  Sappiness ensued and we drove back to D’s apartment in a blissful fog (or at least I did). 

It has been a blast sharing the news with friends and family! 

I’ve tried to tell those of you in town in person, most of you by phone, and some of you may be hearing this for the first time.

We aren’t in a big hurry to make plans because I still need to graduate, and D needs to settle into his residency. We’ll keep you posted on our progress!

  

 

Overlook.

Spring Training

Graduation Last Year

Water One.

Look.

Smile.

Lick!