How Do I Tell This Story? Charlie The Rabbit Would Know

Saturday the 26th of May was a beautiful day in Sydney. This was the seventh day straight that the city would see nothing in the sky but deep blue during the day and Lite Brite pin-holed black at night. Dana woke up with a sore throat, but after 11 hours of sleep, we were well-rested and ready for a full day.

Dana had lunch plans with Jenny, while I finished back-ups of our hard drives and sorted through paperwork. Afterwards, we set off to Glenn & Alexis's for dinner. They live across the harbour, in Neutral Bay, so we decided to walk the Harbour Bridge one last time. It's a nice walk - long but not excessively so. We popped into The Australian Heritage Hotel for a middy of Little Creatures before the big journey across the bridge.

We were supposed to be in Neutral Bay fairly early, so we were crossing the bridge just before sunset. At Milson's Point I decided to scoot back down towards the water for one last good shot of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. There was a little secluded area, surrounded by an old stone wall, so we check that place out. Someone had laid out a picnic blanket with some champagne, cheese and chocolate-covered strawberries right on the grass.

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Nearing the bridge, I realised that we were running a bit early, so I figured that a stop into The Australian would be a perfect way to buy some time, calm my nerves and use the toilet. I don't think I've ever ordered a half pint at the Aussie, but Dana didn't seem to notice the anomaly.

Up on the bridge we took some photos in the same positions as ones we took two and a half years earlier. As we neared the end of the bridge, I noticed a man sitting in the park near the water. I knew this guy. He was wearing his signature "Communist Party" t-shirt, with Castro, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Mao having a few cocktails. This was my friend Glenn, and he was also stroking his bushy beard as he flipped through a book next to a picnic rug.

Once we were off the bridge and on the street I gave Glenn a call to see if he needed anything else. He didn't, and we jumped down closer to the water for a shot of the Opera House as the sun set.

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I had to stop into the Aussie for a quick one to calm my nerves and to buy some time. My goal was to get to the spot at 4:15, leaving just enough time for us to enjoy the sunset.

The walk across the bridge was nice, except that Glenn stood out like a sore thumb. Dana glanced down and noted that there was a picnic, but she didn't recognise Glenn... somehow.

As we neared the water, my call to Glenn was the cue for him to abandon the site.

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Those are three different ways to tell the story up to that point, but the next part is the most exciting: she said yes! Well, first she said no... but then she said yes!

That's right, on Saturday, May 26th, I asked Dana to marry me. She was extremely surprised and her first response was disbelief, so she covered her face, laughing, shaking, jumping up and down and saying "no! no! no!" before I asked her if she was really saying no. She clarified: "No, I mean yes!"

Dana did not realise that the picnic rug was ours, but she understood when I got down on one knee. It was a wonderful sunset that night, and we enjoyed the goodies for a solid hour and a half before swinging back into the city for a drink at the Shangri-La Hotel and dinner at Dana's favourite restaurant in Sydney, Sushi-e.

Luckily, there was a woman out walking her rabbit, and she offered to snap a few shots to mark the occasion. Sadly, I did not get a photo of the rabbit.

And so we are heading back to the States, ready to start a new life together!

Some photos of the day here.