Yesterday was an exciting day. Not only was it gorgeous out (until it poured in the afternoon, which Chicago loves to do randomly) but even better than that, Adam and I got to head out to Wisconsin to re-visit the place where we got engaged. 

I am not sure if I ever wrote about this in past posts, but Adam had the great idea to surprise me and propose after we decided to skydive together for our 4 year anniversary. He knows me very well and I told him from day one that if he ever proposed, he better do it in some cool crazy way because that will make me say yes for sure. Well he heeded my advice and last July we went to Skydive Midwest to jump out of an airplane. He jumped out first and had it all planned out to surprise me with the ring when I landed. Everything went perfectly and I was totally clueless and it made for probably the most romantic and wonderful moment of my life thus far. There is much more to the story but I won't bore you will details only he and I can appreciate. However, I do need to mention that Skydive Midwest happened to be holding a fundraiser for their Tandem For Troops program the same day we were jumping. So our waiting time was filled with cheap hotdogs, rock music and numerous games to keep us occupied. 

There was also a raffle going on, and Adam is a fan of donating to a good cause via raffle ticket. He is very lucky, you see. This particular day, he was luckier than usual because he won like 3 prizes (not to mention a brand new fiancée!) They kept calling his name and it was pretty hilarious. Finally they pulled a ticket for the grand prize--a FREE flight lesson at the tiny airport they used for flying jumpers out--Aeris Aviation. Of course, the name they called was Adam's. So we walked away newly engaged, newly experienced at skydiving, and with prizes to boot. It was a heck of a day.

Back to the present. It has been almost a year since we got engaged (wow time flies!) and Adam's flight lesson was just about to expire so we decided to hop in the car and drive back out to where the magic happened so that he could reap the rewards of his raffle luck.

Our instructor, Monty, was an absolute joy to hang out with and we had a blast with him. Our little plane was cute and fun and Adam got to learn the ins and outs of being an aircraft pilot. I myself sat excitedly in the back of the tiny Cessna, enjoying the ride and secretly hoping we did not crash. But I had nothing to worry about—Adam was like an old pro, according to Monty. We took off easily and soon Adam was steering us through a cornflower blue sky. We were just below the clouds for the most part, and every now and then we got bumped around by them, which was fun and terrifying all at once (my personal favorite of all feelings).

Here are some pictures of what it was like:

We ended up flying over Lake Geneva and various other little Wisconsin lakes and farms. Pretty freaking cool. At then end, Adam helped land us easily and we were done with that adventure. We lingered around a bit to reminisce about last July when he got down on one knee. We watched the skydivers jumping into the great white clouds above us and I remembered what it was like to taste those clouds, how it felt to free fall and feel like they were choking me as I flew through them at an intense speed. What a rush!

This time around Adam and I were in the air together in a different way. But we still needed the trust between us to be strong like it was when we skydived. This time, Adam had our lives in his hands and he steered us along just fine. At the end of the lesson, Monty commented that we were a very cool couple and that that helps when he is teaching someone to fly. He said we seemed fearless, which was so important not only in flying an airplane, but also in life. I laughed and said that I was secretly a little nervous but was good at pretending I wasn’t. Then I added that Adam makes me feel safe and helps me stay fearless.

And I realized suddenly what a true statement that is. When you think about it, isn’t that what everyone hopes to find in a partner?

Adam may be luckier than me when it comes to winning raffles. But I think I got pretty lucky too when he decided to spend the rest of his life with me.