I Do.

The other day the mother of my very oldest, very dearest and very best friend dropped off an engagement gift for Evan and I at the cafe, the Le Creuset casserole dish you see pictured above. This particular gift is dear to my heart because the woman who gave us this present met Evan when he was a spry 12 year old, and I was 11. In other words, she is one of those people in our lives that has watched this whole thing happen. It truly is quite amazing. The whole me knowing Evan for over half our lives thing.

For my nineteenth birthday party I had a "Where Will You be in 10 years" themed party. Guests were asked to dress and act accordingly for the evening. At the time (as I had for most of my life) I fancied myself a writer. Supposedly living in New York, dressed head to toe in all black, pack of cigarettes stuffed in my back pocket and a long cigarette holder pressed firmly to my lips All. Night. Long. A sort of Audrey Hepburn crossed with a Charles Bukowski. Evan was an Outward Bound Instructor, long-sleeve button-down over a generic t-shirt, wearing loose-fitting khaki pants and hiking boots, a Nalgene water bottle hooked to his pants by the oh-so-appropriate carabiner. Obviously it was clear that we didn't see each other in our respective futures. Or did we? Was Evan leading backpacking expeditions during the summer months and wintering in the icicles of NYC? Was I an avid chain-smoking, Pulitzer-prize coveting rock climber? It certainly didn't look like it.

Well, we are shy of that 10 year marker but from the looks of it, Evan isn't heading off to the Bigelow Mountain Range any time soon, and my long-standing fascination with certain self-deprecating lifestyles has faded with maturity. Yes, things worked out differently for us. Six years after that party we are still together. Not rock climbing (though we did our fair share in New Zealand). Not spending afternoons writing in Central Park (though many afternoons are spent dedicated to this blog). But Together. The most important thing of all.

Tonight I will take this lovely engagement gift and I make a White Bean Cassoulet for me and my fiance. We will light a fire, drink French wine and I will have the great fortune of reminding myself that in 9 short months I get the opportunity to marry this man.