Elshonner

When my now-husband, Frog (he has been called that since he was six-months-old) proposed to me it was everything a girl could hope for - romantic, dramatic, sentimental, except the ring was just something he found in the shed!

Knowing I had come from the city, and ‘outdoorsy adventures’ were still relatively new to me when we first started dating, Frog suggested we take some time out to visit his family’s station in the Tanami Desert.

We set out on the long drive and on the way we used our brand new swag to sleep under the stars and I visited my first community. Frog talked to me about the station and his family and about how when his mother passed away suddenly years before, she had been reunited with the property she had grown up on, the place where we were headed.

Frog’s family was huge compared to the five people of my childhood and there was absolutely no way I could have remembered everyone’s names. 
As the afternoon was at its peak on the day of the big party, Frog asked me to go with him to visit his mum’s memorial on the top of the hill that overlooks the homestead. I knew it was difficult for him - he hadn’t been to the station since that tragic time years ago - and I was glad to be able to be there with him.
Just as the sun was setting we held hands as he remembered her, then he slowly got down on one knee and looked up with so much love and passion in his eyes I could hardly breathe.

When he said the words “will you marry me?” I couldn’t wait to say yes! In fact, I think I may have said it two or three times! Frog told me that although I would never meet his mother, he wanted her to meet me and be there the day her youngest asked his wife to marry him.  

Frog then reached for something in his pocket and pulled out my engagement ring. It didn’t look like a ring to me! He had to explain that it was a hose-clamp he had tracked down in the shed and he hoped it would fit!

I tried it on and it was the perfect size! I wore that ring so proudly for weeks until we bought a newer more sparkly version, but I have the original locked away safe and sound as a permanent reminder of that very moment.

- Elshonner