a lil' annoucement

Dearly Beloved,

Its honestly been awhile since I've been on the blog to check up on the lives of my fellow MESPers. We're spread throughout the world now I guess, but I love that life is bringing some pretty exciting things. Mandy, it was awesome reading about your internship... what an opportunity with such a great organization. Has Alissa gotten back from her expeditions yet? Also, I've been wondering what the heck Phil has been up to at the State Department but have been too afraid to ask. Matt and Suzannah are right in the middle of wedding plans and Julia is probably... well... really enjoying being married. I heard a bit about the road trip to her wedding and heard it was beautiful and fun. I wish I could have been there.

Now here's what I've been up to.

I moved to Atlanta about a month after graduation and have an entry-level marketing position for the new at&t. Basically, talking to businesses about their phone bill, while not the most stimulating thing I've ever done, has allowed me to find a reasonable place to live and many peanut-butter-and-jelly-meals (hmm, reminds me of my diet in Cairo). And I'm near Lauren. Al-humdulilah. Its been SO good to not be across the world or across the country from each other...so we've been hanging out a lot.

And this past Friday night, we hung out at something called the Fernbank Museum. Every Friday they have an event called Martinis and IMAX where they set up a bunch of little dinner tables in this massive rotunda area and have live jazz music while you sip martinis and order over-priced (but tasty) food. At any point in the evening you can mosey on over to the IMAX theater and check showtimes for a number of films. We showed up, checked everything out and went to see one of the films and then came out for a late dinner around 9pm. In the middle of dinner, a waiter casually set a pretty spiffy arrangement of a dozen roses on our table (which I had dropped off earlier, but of course, acted oblivious). She was pretty taken aback and kept asking me about what they were for. She was soon to find out, because several moments later the jazz singer approached our table and said, "Lauren, Matt wants to dedicate this next song to you and we are playing it in celebration of you all and your love." As the band started into Etta James' 'At Last', I took Lauren's hand and led her to the front of all the tables and started dancing with her. She was still pretty confused but happy to go along with me and as the song was ending, I stepped away, reached for the ring in my pocket and dropped to one knee. Her face got white, her eyes wide, and her sobs were only drowned out by the cheering and clapping of about 100 onlookers. I never actually heard a "yes" ...but I did see her nodding her head profusely as she cried. It was a glorious moment for me. I had actually pulled it off without peeing in my pants or losing the ring or giving away the surprise somehow.

It was perfect.

And I'm one happy boy.

Its sort of weird to be talking about all the wedding stuff now, but I guess that's what happens. We don't have any definites in place yet besides that the wedding will most probably be in Houston. We're working on a date and I will certainly let all of you know because you're all very warmly invited. And maybe you'll all cram in with Becca. :)

If you want more juicy details feel free to call me. 304.382.4297. I just thought the news would be spread quickly if I posted. I love all of you and miss you very much.

-Deakin