Yesterday, my boyfriend Matt and I took a trip to
Longwood Gardens, an absolutely breathtaking, inspiring, HUGE garden/botanical garden. The visionary behind the gardens, Pierre duPont - as in DuPont Chemical, was a tree conservationist like me, but on a much grander scale! He bought this
huge property because he heard they were going to sell it and turn the beautiful trees to lumber. What began as an effort to save a few trees seemed to turn into a mission to educate and inspire others to enjoy nature. I've been to my fair share of botanical gardens, and this one was absolutely STUNNING.
As the day progressed, we walked through the huge indoor conservatory where, to my surprise, Matt found a specific tree and got down on his knee and asked me to marry him (!!!). I said yes, of course. He's so wonderful. We're both so happy and excited!
It wasn't any generic tree - Matt proposed under a date tree (Phoenix reclinata - Senegal Date Palm, to be specific). On our first date, we were waiting for our table outside Giordano's pizza in downtown Chicago when a homeless gentleman approached us asking for some change. I didn't have any change, but when I offered him my apple, he said he wanted to give us something in return - some knowledge. When we told him it was our first date, he described for us the reason why its called a 'date':
A date refers to the date tree - there are male date trees and female date trees. They won't produce dates until they find their perfect mate, even in an orchard of date trees. Once they find their perfect mate, they work together, listen to each other, and will live a long and fruitful life together. And that's why it's called a 'date.'
We're still making all sorts of phone calls and filling everyone in on the great news. But first thing's first - after we let our family and friends know, I'm hoping we'll take the time to sit down and work out our goals and vision for the wedding (thanks for the idea, 2000 Dollar Wedding!).
