The Proposal by Matt

The first date that Nedra and I went on, the second time around, was to a small Cuban restaurant called Havana Café. It did not take me long to realize there was much more to Nedra than just her looks. During the meal we talked about our favorite books, the numerous committees Nedra sits on and the many places we’ve traveled. (Unfortunately, we did not talk about the Red Soxs). As I dropped her off that evening I remember thinking: “this is the type of woman I am looking for.”

Fast forward to October 6^th, 2008. Those who know Nedra understand that there are two types of hikers: normal, human type hikers (Matt) and superhuman hikers (Nedra). I knew I wanted to propose to Nedra away from the noise and commotion of the city so I asked her to pick a hiking/picnic location for us. I wanted to ensure I would not pass out from the hike thus ruining the opportunity to propose to Nedra so I continually bugged Nedra about the distance and difficulty of the hike.

Monday, October 6^th rolled around and I was prepared. I’d slept well the night before; I’d eaten a solid breakfast and lunch. I’d consumed plenty of electrolytes and mentally prepared myself to “summit K2” so I would be in some kind of condition to ask Nedra to marry me. We each had a backpack and started the accent. The weather was perfect and the sun was setting low in the sky. Nedra was in her element and talking away like she was sitting in a recliner. I was sweating and not talking. We found a beautiful location with a log to sit on and a flat area to lay our blanket and food out. Nedra started the meal off with a taste appetizer then we quickly moved to the main course- turkey sandwiches! My favorite!

The sun was starting to sink low and I wanted to propose before it got to dark so I pulled out an atlas and began pointing out places we were going to visit later that week as we were schedule to visit my parents in Massachusetts. I then turned to Vermont and pointed out a few possible towns we could visit during our quest to see the fantastic fall foliage. I then suggested Nedra turn to the map page for New Hampshire.

In all honesty, I was never really nervous to ask Nedra to marry me. Although we had never discussed marriage I was fairly confident she would say yes. As Nedra turned to the State of New Hampshire (my second favorite state) I got down on one knee and pulled the engagement band out waiting for her response. I waited…waited…waited and waited. The wonderful state of New Hampshire had been replace with a red piece of paper with what looked like 3^rd grade cut out letters spelling “Nedra, will you marry me? (Matt)”. I stared at Nedra as Nedra stared at the note. Finally, she looked up at me and said yes, twice. It was pretty hard to hear her so I asked her if she was saying YES to which she replied, “YES”.

I feel very blessed to be with Nedra and admire her many talents. I love her more than I can explain and look forward to our future and adventures.

Matt