“I had to wear this vest all day”.
The moment had arrived. My heart was ready to leap out of my throat. Both of our families gathered around us at Inspiration Point, and believe me, I felt more heat from everyone’s gaze than the brutal sun beating down on me. Ridiculously, the example I had thought of that morning in Laramie popped back into my head – this was like giving a presentation in class. And I was standing in front of the class, notecards in hand. To be clear, I knew Elizabeth would say yes. She had more than a little clue that this was coming sooner or later. I wasn’t worried about her response as much as not fucking this moment up. Elizabeth turned to me. “Yeah…”
I don’t really remember what I said next. I *know*, because the moment is on video, but I don’t remember. I do remember grabbing Elizabeth’s hands. I remember remembering which knee to go down on. And I remember fumbling around with my vest zipper to get the ring box out while Elizabeth’s eyes became as large as saucers. The words themselves aren’t in my memory. They would be lost to history if Pam hadn’t been taking a vertical video on her phone. I’m not sure I can get it to post here – WordPress isn’t great with videos. However, the video does exist on YouTube, which I’ll be sure to link with the trip homepage as well. As for me? I do not want to watch it, just like you’d never want to watch a video of a presentation you gave in class.
What I do know is eventually I could breathe again. Elizabeth was sobbing. I slid the ring on her finger and we hugged each other tight. Our families and the surrounding tourists at Inspiration Point showered us with applause, reminding me of the real world. I somehow maintained the presence of mind to introduce Elizabeth to Janelle. There were hugs all around – parents, siblings, cousins. Finally, I extricated myself from the scrum, a man who was engaged to be married. What did I do? I found a rock up there on Inspiration Point, towering above the hazy scenery below us, and I plopped down on it. Few things have felt better than I did shucking off the sweat-soaked vest.
The next 45 minutes were a bit of a blur – heck, I never even stopped to enjoy the view from Inspiration Point. I’ll try to recount this time as best as I can remember. Janelle got down to the business of taking pictures quickly – time was ticking, after all. We started off at the proposal spot. Some pictures were with family members, some without. Taylor had done an awesome job bringing “proposal props” that made the pictures more fun. Our family members were good sports about being shuffled in and out of pictures. At one point, we took a break to FaceTime Winston, who was unable to make the trip due to his looming LSAT. He took the call and kept the camera pointed above the neck the whole time even though he was in the shower. The true miracle was that we were even able to FaceTime him at all somehow, despite the spotty signal.
Speaking of being good sports, the other visitors at Inspiration Point had been quite patient while we hogged the good spot near the drop-off for photos. It helps that Inspiration Point is rather large, but still, it felt like the right time to move to a more secluded ledge a little north of where I had done the deed. Here, Janelle largely focused on Elizabeth and myself. Unfortunately for me, this drew attention to how bad I am as a photo subject. Janelle was quite kind and continued to patiently remind me to tuck in my pants pocket or lower my chin. The other focus of the photos, besides my chin angle, was Elizabeth’s brand-new engagement ring. I felt a little stab of pride every time someone oohed or ahhed over the ring, which did sparkle in the hazy sunlight. Sure, Elizabeth had joined me at Diamonds Direct, and sure, my criteria was mostly to just to buy the sparkliest and most expensive ring she liked, but hey, I’d done well.
We started back down the trail toward Hidden Falls. After all. who doesn’t want engagement photos in front of a waterfall? Along the way, though, Janelle stopped us at the tricky drop-off near the top of the trail. She saw an opportunity to get pictures of us framed against the splendor of the Tetons. Even though the ever-present smoke may have taken a way from the backdrop a bit, these are still among my personal favorites.
In retrospect, though, maybe my actual favorites were the shots taken at Hidden Falls. When we got there, I realized: Hidden Falls is a pretty big waterfall! Finding a picture that captured that had proven to be difficult, even for a Google Street View fiend like me. We didn’t really have a plan of what to do here, but Elizabeth and I gamely climbed down the rocky slope into Cascade Creek, waterproof boots and all. The footing was precarious, but eventually in the middle of the creek we both had our feet on rocks that seemed unlikely to pitch us into the glacial water. After Janelle took standard pictures of us, we got into a slightly staged water fight for the benefit of the camera. Planned? Yes. Still fun? Yes. Memory that will last a lifetime? Also yes.
Our hour had essentially gone by. Elizabeth and Janelle briefly wandered off to get more close-up shots of her ring. I sat down again and tried to just take on the vista at Hidden Falls, having realized I barely knew what the view from Inspiration Point looked like. And then, just like that, we were done with our hour of pictures. We thanked Janelle profusely and she and her family packed up to head back to the other side of the lake.
Our combined families needed to regroup and head out, as well. The shadows were starting to lengthen among the trees near Hidden Falls, and everybody needed some dinner; furthermore, Elizabeth, Pam and myself hadn’t even started to set up our campsite. Rich used his walkie-talkies to direct traffic, and we all began our hike back to the lakeshore. Shockingly, the downhill trek without my soaking wet puffy vest went a lot easier. Along the way, we ran into Michael and Irene, who were trying to find us coming the other way. They had dropped off Tucker in Jackson Hole, too late to see the proposal but just in time to waltz up, singing: “Going to the chapel and we’re gonna get married…” repeatedly.
I’d wanted to walk the Jenny Lake trail back, since it’s one of the higher-rated trails in the park. Unfortunately, given the late hour we all agreed that it was probably best to take the shuttle boat back. Seated in the crowded boat next to Elizabeth, feeling the coolness of the lake breeze and surrounded by some of the most majestic mountains the United States have to offer, I turned to her and admitted that yes, this view maybe was an A.
