Now THIS is news!

I have left planet Cambodia for eight days to be with my honey, Lizzy, in London. As I write this entry I’m sitting in the Dublin, Ireland airport getting ready to board a flight back to London. I was here, just for the day while Lizzy was working with one of her clients.

I arrived in London on Friday from Phnom Penh after flying a cool 14 hours in two flights while chasing the sun. It’s a great flight because it isn’t overnight, which is the bane of my international flying experience. Plus, jetlag is never bad for me when I fly westward – this was just a six hour time difference. The downer was that as I got on the plane to fly west, Tyler and Katie got on their plane and flew east, back to the United States. We had a great “final” two week holiday before Tyler officially becomes an independent income-earning adult, teaching English on the idyllic enclave of Izu Oshima, a small volcanic island off the coast of Japan. Big changes for all of us.

It is so good being with Lizzy. It’s been over five weeks now and that’s about four and a half weeks too long for me. We just celebrated her 40^th birthday on Sunday and as a special surprise, I asked her to marry me. She said yes, so we are officially engaged!

I was a bit nervous doing this in front of 30 other people, but all were close friends and relatives. Many of them were expecting us to get engaged, but all were surprised by the occasion. What was absolutely wonderful was that we have it all on film, thanks to many cameras that were present. You can click here to see some of the pictures. You’ll be able to figure out the proposal – it’s toward the middle of the photo album, just after a series of 8 photos of Lizzy and I standing outside the restaurant having a conversation.

When I was at home in May for Tyler’s graduation I went to my jeweler, the same one that Lizzy and I had visited back in February when we began looking at stones. I knew what she wanted and all, so I made my selection and asked them to hold it until mid June when I would let them know. After I gave the go-ahead, my daughter Katie picked it up and couriered it to me in Cambodia. Then I brought it to London.

Now, how to do the deed?! I thought long and hard about it and settled on Lizzy’s birthday party with everyone present, at the same small, lovely Italian restaurant where we had our first date. Very poetic.

I designed a “special birthday crossword puzzle” and inserted the printed copy in a $2 crossword magazine and wrapped it up. The funny clues all added up to the proposal words. I thought this would be a good way to honor Lizzy’s dad as well, since he loved to do crosswords and she would sometimes join in with him. And the guests at the party jumped right in to help with the puzzle’s clues. Then Lizzy read the completed answers in no particular order and then everyone knew what was going on.

So that’s how it happened. We’re thrilled and I hope you are too.

My trip here is short and I’m returning to Cambodia on Sunday to complete my assignment over the next two months. I’m sure it will fly by and before long I’ll be back home, first in America for awhile, then in London for some time, while Lizzy and I sort out our next steps, together.