Our love will shine on forever.* My husband Paul has quite a romantic soul. Our engagement, 9 years ago today, still makes me weak-kneed to remember... It was a Friday night in February; and I thought we were going to his mom’s for dinner. It wasn’t until we arrived at our church instead that I realized something unusual was going to happen that night. He unlocked the doors of the darkened church, and led me down the aisle to the first pew where we first met when we both joined the choir. Arranged in front of the church were his guitar and a music stand. He serenaded me with a song he had written specifically for us, just for that night. On the music stand were the words of the song, matted and in a beautiful frame. When the song was finished, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I was so overcome, I said, "Sure!" instead of Yes, a fact I get teased about to this day. (I did eventually say yes!) He then said we weren’t done yet – we had to return the keys to the church to a priest who was a very good friend of ours. He gave us a special blessing that night, and was the one who married us a year later. And then, there in the parking lot, Paul said, "There’s more…" I didn’t think I could take any more! We were off to a B&B by the shore, driving through a snowstorm to get there. I’ll never forget the look on the owners’ faces when they threw open the door and shouted, "She said yes! Congratulations!" We were all snowy and freezing and in love and everyone was just as starry-eyed for us as we were. And yet, even after that tremendous engagement, I can honestly say it’s only gotten better and better. Nine years later, we have the twins and Sophie, and my definition of romance has expanded to encompass all sorts of things. In past weekends, Paul did 9 loads of laundry (including mine!), folded and put them all away, watched the kids so I could nap, made dinner, and then encouraged me to have time to do artwork in the evening. And I find that incredibly romantic. *from the song Paul wrote and serenaded me with on our engagement