Our Story

Our Story (as told by David)

We met at the children's coloring book table at a wedding in Long Island. I criticized her color choice for the fish she was coloring, but my opening query of "What do you think of the relationship between math and music?" had her hooked, and I promptly ignored my family and a passing conga line to talk to her for the entire reception. We discovered that we were both planning to go to the 2006 Burning Man festival later that summer. Because there are no phones or any way to communicate at the desert festival, we agreed to meet at 2:00 on Tuesday at the base of the Burning Man effigy.

When that day came, I went to the base of the Man, and I realized that it was a huge, crowded, place. A lot of planning can go wrong in the middle of the desert, and time had gone by since the coloring table. "Maybe she won't be here..." I thought. And then I turned around, and there she was! We spent the rest of the week together, and it was one of the best times of my life.

Then Christine went back to Oregon to round up naughty teenagers, and I went back to Orlando to round up naughty squirrels. We stayed in touch, and Christine travelled to Orlando twice to visit me. I never stopped thinking about her. I made moves to get out of the wildlife business, and I asked Christine if she wanted me to move to Seattle where she was living, and she said yes. I arrived in time for the 2007 Burning Man festival.

Now we're getting married!

Our Story (as told by Christine)

While attending a wedding on Long Island during the summer of 2006 I found myself peacefully coloring a fish at the children's table when a handsome and gregarious man sat down to my left and loudly declared that I was coloring it all wrong. Having won a coloring contest when I was 12, I immediately knew this man had no idea what he was talking about. He then quickly proceeded to win me over by asking the question that pretty much summed up my undergraduate education, "What do you think the relationship is between math and music?" We spent the rest of the wedding talking and completely ignoring the festivities around us. During the conversation he asked me if I had ever heard of Burning Man, and I coincidentally had just purchased my ticket to attend my first Burn. We agreed to meet up there Tuesday at 2:00.

Tuesday at 2:00 rolled around and I found myself wandering aimlessly around the base of the man wondering if I would even recognize him. Amazingly we did find and recognize one another and proceeded to have a whirlwind desert romance over the following week.

After Burning Man David went back to Orlando and I went back to my job backpacking with kids in the Oregon desert. We kept in touch and David sent me letters out in the field - always a treat. I visited him in Florida a couple of times and when he asked if he should move out to Seattle (where I had moved to in 2007), I of course said yes! He moved out in August 2007 and we have met up at the base of the man at Tuesday at 2:00 every year since.

The Proposal (as told by David)

Christine came to visit me when she lived in Oregon and I in Orlando. On the second visit, we went canoeing at Wekiwa Springs, which is a beautiful spring-fed river that flows through the Florida jungle. We floated down the river, then Christine was kind enough to paddle all the way back upstream, backwards, while I sat around, eating snacks. We had a carton of tasty blueberries, and it got down to the last, fat delicious berry. I made sure to point this out, then I made sure to pop it in my mouth, even though I could tell that Christine wanted it. She later gave me a gentle and joking talk about "In a relationship, you make deposits and withdrawals...." and eating the last blueberry was definitely a withdrawal!

Exactly four years and one day later, we again went to Wekiva Springs and paddled a canoe down the river. I asked if she remembered when I had eaten the last blueberry four years earlier. She said yes. I then stripped down, dove into the water, and emerged with a blueberry for her, and the intention of making a relationship deposit. I asked her to marry me with a blueberry, and she said yes.

The Proposal (as told by Christine)

While visiting David in Orlando in February 2008 he and I went kayaking at Wekiwa Springs. We floated down the river and when it came time to paddle back up I paddled the entire way backwards while David enjoyed tasty treats and a free ride. When it came down to the last blueberry he ate it without even offering it to me despite the fact that I clearly wanted it. I had recently finished a job doing wilderness therapy with kids out in the woods and one of the tools we used with them was the concept of an emotional bank account and I explained (lightheartedly) that this was an emotional withdrawal.

Fast forward 4 years. David and I are once again in Orlando and like usual, we spend a day at Wekiva Springs. This time we took out a canoe and hung out in the lagoon looking at alligators for awhile. David asked me if I remembered the blueberry incident. As soon as I said that I did he started taking off his shorts. I thought he was going to moon me and say, "Haha! I got the last blueberry!" Instead he jumped into the water and I then thought he was going after the alligator, but instead he surfaced next to the canoe and presented me with a bluberry and a huge relationship deposit of a proposal. I of course said yes.