It was on a ski slope. I wanted to make it as ridiculous as possible, but also secluded, so there would be no onlookers to torment me. It was her birthday, December 21st, and we had taken the day off of work to go up to Waterville Valley in New Hampshire. The weather was iffy, and I wasn’t really sure when I should do it. It was early afternoon and things were looking dicey when the sky cleared and the moment presented itself. We were on the “Old Tecumseh” cutover trail, but Meghan has decided to misremember it as “Old Temucsuh”. When we later were in a souvenir shop that sold replica trail signs, she loudly asked for, “One Old Temucsuh, please!”

We went down a hard trail, and I was ahead. I stopped and she pulled up behind me. “Why are you taking off your skis?” She was about to get angry. I got down on one knee, which is always fun in ski boots, but I managed not to fall over. I had the ring in my jacket pocket in its little box, it had been there all day. I didn’t have much to say, really. Some people say I’m a man of few words. Others strongly disagree. Anyway, I asked her to marry me.

She said no and slapped me in the face, then skied off.

Nah, just kidding.

Some group was skiing by as I was getting up. A guy shouted something unintelligible in our general direction, and an excited Meghan said “we just got engaged!” and held up her ring hand. “Fine,” he replied, “but is she OK?” A girl in their party had fallen further up the slope. He wasn’t impressed by our engagement. The girl was fine. We took a picture and skied on down.

The ride back to Massachusetts was mostly filled with Meghan calling every family member she knew to fill them in. I called a few people in between her calls, but I’m not really a phone person. I figured word would get around. Meanwhile, Meghan’s cousin whom we were bringing down from college, while perhaps honored that he was the first to know about our engagement, was slightly less thrilled to have to sit through two hours of the same conversation repeated over and over.

We decided to stop for dinner in Davis Square before going home. We walked in the door of the restaurant and the second person we saw (after the hostess) was Meghan’s ex-boyfriend. He said hello. She said nothing, stared at him for a second, and then slowly held up her hand.

The bar fight was one for the ages.

Nah, kidding again. All three of us are still good friends. Heck, he’s even in the wedding party!

And that, children, is the story of how Meghan Reilly and Daniel Silverman got engaged.