The Liz & Russ Wedding

As told by Russ. Edited by Liz. (We’re a team!)

Began dating:

We spent the first four years of medical school at Albert Einstein in the Bronx, living and hanging out with all of our classmates together in the medical school housing, but we didn’t start dating until the last night she spent on campus before her last year of medical school. By then, I had started my PhD studies, and she had just finished her third year of med school, after an extra year to do research and spend time with her family. That night, it was the final day of Liz’s lease and she was finishing her move into the apartment she got with her brother in Astoria. I saw her moving out — in fact, we had even been living on the same floor, two apartments down from each other, that whole year! And on that very last day that she would be living on campus, I finally got the courage up to ask her out for a drink. She said yes, and we talked for a couple of hours. I  hoped to give her a kiss, but she was so excited talking about her possibilities in her upcoming final year of med school that I didn’t see a good opportunity. So, to keep the night going, I asked her if she wanted to go see a movie, which she agreed to. Halfway through the movie, I went to the restroom, and when I sat back down, I put my arm around her. Afterwards she said she could feel my heart beating as I put my arm around her. A few moments later I kissed her and we’ve been together ever since.

Proposal:

We had been dating for several years, and I had decided to propose on her favorite mountain to hike, Mt Katahdin. I got permission from her parents and got my grandmother’s engagement ring, with a plan to propose at the top of the mountain. I also got the permit we needed to hike the Cathedral/Knife’s Edge trail that Liz loves on Mt Katahdin. As luck would have it, I ended up choosing the permit for the day before Hurricane Irene was supposed to hit New England. Liz almost called off the entire trip. But I convinced her to go, and even though the morning was windy and somewhat cloudy, we went. On the way up, we had a great time, and I remember being 15 minutes away from the top, thinking, “Well, I guess I’m not going to get nervous after all.” But on the fog-covered summit, I got extremely nervous, and with my voice quavering, I went through the speech I’d planned out, and got to the end, finishing with:

Russ: “So will you?”

Liz: “Will I what?”

Russ: “Will you?”

Liz: “Will I what?”

Russ: “Will you?”

Liz: “Will I what?” (then, whispering loudly) “… You have to actually ASK me the question!”

Me: “Oh, sorry. Will you marry me?”

Liz: “YES!”

In my rushed nervous speech telling how much I loved her and how we should be together forever, I forgot to specifically ask her to marry me! But she said yes!

So, happily engaged, we started to hike down the mountain. And within less than an hour, the skies cleared, the sun shone brightly, and the ponds and trees and mountains were stretching themselves out below us. It was perfect.

… Almost. As it turns out, hiking down took much longer than expected… and two-thirds of the way back, Liz badly sprained her ankle. She soldiered on, hobbling, but as it became dark, we were still several miles away. Knowing that Irene would be coming fiercely overnight, we knew we couldn’t stop and rest, so we kept going, despite being exhausted. Then one of our headlamps went out. So we had to walk very closely and carefully in the dark, slowing us even further. At one point, we found some minimal cell phone reception and called her sister Katie (aka Ting!) to tell her that if she didn’t hear from us by 11pm, that she should call the state police to let the park know we were stuck out in the park — right after which, of course, the phone ran out of power. And for the next 2 or 3 hours, we kept feeling like we had lost the trail. Fortunately, we would inevitably find the next trail marker, and by the time we got back to the trailhead, it was ten minutes before 11 and we started to celebrate… only to immediately realize we had no reception nor any phone power to let her sister know we were safe.

Uh-oh.

We barreled out of the park in my car, speeding down the highway at something like 90mph, charging the phone, hoping to get reception. At 11:20pm, the phone turned on and the cellular reception bars on Liz’s phone miraculously appeared. We dialed Katie frantically, who answered: “Oh. MY. GAWWWWD!!!–”

Liz: “Don’t worry, we’re okay! We’re okay!”

Katie: “– I am ON the other line with the Maine state POLICE!”

… and then later, after she got off the phone with the police…

Katie: “WHY WERE YOU GUYS HIKING UP A MOUNTAIN ON THE DAY BEFORE A MAJOR HURRICANE?”

Liz: “We got ENGAGED!”

Katie: *bawling* “I’m so happy for you!!!!!!” (Hurricane ignorance forgiven.)

We were able to get to our lodging safely that night and spent the next day recuperating and waiting for Irene to blow over so we could make it home safely.

So it was perfect after all.