(yes)

this is my new favorite picture of my three favorite handfulls.

nine years ago, 

matt came to visit me for the weekend 

(he lived in southern california & i lived in oakland).

he told me not to make any plans

(which of course i did anyway-unintentionally uncooperative)

i had my regular 6 a.m. friday coffee date with my friend courtney,

and he showed up to kidnap me.

(courtney kept saying,

"he's going to propose to you today!" 

but i wasn't so sure)

matt made a list of what i needed to grab from the house,

and off we drove,

headed south.

matt knows i love presents,

so the back seat was full of presents wrapped in newsprint for me to open.

(24 presents to open to be exact, how awesome is that!)

i won't go into all the details

but suffice it to say,

it was a wonderful day of adventuring

opening little presents

enjoying the sunshine in santa cruz

coffee

falafel

dancing along highway 1

 big sur

hiking down to the ocean

watching a little seal frolic

and then

sitting on the rocks

as the pacific ocean lapped against them

matt asked 

me

to marry him

and i said 

yes!

and now i forget the rest

(except that i kept opening presents the whole drive home-

and that my sweet husband to be was so exhausted from preparing 

that he fell asleep on the drive back)

it was the best answer i ever gave to anyone about anything

i'd say yes all over again

every day

for the rest of my life