The Proposal©

Yesterday my youngest son, Jess, proposed to his girlfriend, Erika, while we, along with Erika’s family watched. Let me tell you about it.

About five years ago Jess accepted a new and challenging job in Bavaria, Germany which is located just north of the Alps close to the quaint European city of Regensburg. Jess’ office is adjacent to an old WWII Nazi Prisoner-of-War camp which is now leased by the US Army and used as a NATO training facility. He and his team design and develop training exercises for NATO forces and assess their readiness to achieve their mission if called into a potential or ongoing conflict. Afterward, they assess the exercise and revise training protocols to close gaps in their readiness. The training can involve thousands of troops from multiple nations.

About three years ago he met Erika, a young, intelligent and beautiful, Colombian woman fluent in Spanish, German and English. Her job is writing computer code so surgeons can use her company’s robotic equipment for surgical procedures. If your surgeon is planning to use her programming to operate on you, then you will know how important her job is!!!

About two years ago Jess brought Erika to meet us while we were still living on the farm; we gave a resounding “Thumbs Up”! Recently, Jess invited us to come to Bavaria for an extended visit and we rightly suspected he may have had additional plans besides touring Europe together.

Yesterday Jess and Erika prepared for us and Erika’s extended family an incredible dinner that was served and enjoyed in three languages: Spanish, German and English; very different than in Middle Georgia! After dinner, Jess suggested we all go for a walk before we sat down to the beautiful dessert that Erika’s sister and mom had made for us the night before. So walk we did, up and down through their charming village with very hilly, winding, narrow streets up to a grassy mountain plateau that looks almost identical to the one that Julie Andrews danced through in The Sound of Music. I’m sure most of you seniors remember that classic from the spring of 1965 as fondly as I do. I still love the music from that movie!

Then, all of a sudden, Jess dropped down on one knee, pulled out a beautiful diamond and asked Erika "Do you think we can make a ring out of this?” Of course she was totally surprised as were the rest of us, all standing with our mouths wide open, but she managed to say “Yes” through tears of joy. As the rest of us looked on, you could almost see and hear Julie Andrews dancing in a distance singing…”The hills are alive, with the Sound of Music…”. As Erika turned to her dad, he presented her with a freshly picked flower to celebrate the moment; I don’t think it was edelweiss, but it could have been! It was a moment in time, and a place in space that none of us will ever forget!

So that was “The Proposal”.

Thank you Jess for asking her; thank you Erika for saying “Yes” and thank you readers for sharing this magical moment with me.

Erika, I can’t wait for you to be our next daughter-in-law!

Thanks for reading All About Seniors…..see you next week!

Bill Milby, CSA, is a Certified Senior Advisor and a Director of Visiting Angels® of Macon, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors.  If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or  search for  us at www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA/