So this weekend marked a special occasion in my life and that of my family. My sister has been dating a guy named David for the past two and a half years. The week before Christmas he mentioned to me that he had bought a ring. I had a feeling they were preparing for an engagement but didn't really have any idea how soon. Anyways, he gave the ring to me to watch while they were down in Southern California. He asked for my Dad's blessing, which was given, and planned to ask my sister over New Years weekend. Meanwhile, my sister had invited me to accompany David's family up to Tahoe with them for their weekend here.
One of the nice things about being back at home from China is the fact that I can be a part of things like this. I mean, I only have one sister and so being as much a part of the big events of her life as possible is really special. Besides, I had never been to Tahoe before and it was pretty cool to get up into the snow and beauty of the mountains.
We spent the week eating at great restaurants, hanging out in our hotel sweets(fully equiped with personal hot tubs!), visiting the casinos to watch Ultimate Fighting Championship, taking sleigh rides through the snow, and of course no trip with my sister would be complete without shopping.
One of the days I decided to go on a little hike and I decided to find a good look-out spot. As it turned out, there was a small hill half a mile away from our hotel which was right across from Heavenly summits that overlooked the whole valley. It was one of those moments when beauty just overwhelmed me. As the cold winter air brushed against my face I stared down on the crystal diamond of lake Tahoe and watched the purple sunset glimmer of it's reflective glow.
New Years was pretty quiet which I was used to after grading my paper in my Chinese apartment last year. Dave has bad back problems and spent the whole day in bed, which had ruined his plans of asking my sister on New Years eve. The next day, however, he was determined to make it happen and asked Christine to go out just with him to make up for not going with us the previous night. Christine had bought an elegant red dress for the occasion and was dissapointed she couldn't use it on New Years eve. They both got dressed up in their finest clothes, Christine in the red dress, Dave in a suit and tie, and returned to Lake Tahoe Chart House. They had a nice quiet dinner overlooking Lake Tahoe. At the end of the dinner no one was around and they sat talking to one another. Christine was ready to leave and David sat looking nervous(Christine said that she could feel David's leg anxiously jittering under the table). David was confused about what to do, because the restaurant had seated them in such a way that he couldn't get out to get on his knee. So with one last breath he gathered himself and asked Christine, "I have one question before we leave tonight, will you marry me?" as he opened up the ring. Christine said, "Yes" and soon after they joined us back at the hotel and we toasted to the newly engaged couple. It was a very special time for them both and though different than how I would imagine my own engagement, it was very special to them and exactly how Christine had liked it.
It's really weird to see your little sister whose hair you used to put gum into grow up to become a woman. Though I still have urges to put gum in her hair, I'm pretty proud of her.
