It took another year for Lowell to get me up in a plane with a parachute on my back. We had plenty of adventures between our champagne toast at sunrise on the shore of Lake Michigan and the challenge of a skydive.

We traveled to Costa Rica and sailed along on zip lines through the cloud forests. Lowell was extremely excited, and once I got over my fear of the first line, I learned that it really was a lot of fun.

A job opened up in my bank that was suitable for Lowell’s level of experience and his college degree. It was a low level position working with the public, but the salary nearly matched what he was earning in retail, and it provided many opportunities for future advancement.

Lowell was one day away from turning in his two weeks’ notice when his retail supervisor announced that he was leaving the company. Lowell asked me, “Do you think I should apply for the position?”

I said, “I don’t see why not.” It’s almost a year since that promotion, and now Lowell is the manager of the entire store.

I nudge him regularly about how staying the course in his job has brought significant rewards, and then he reminds that the supervisor’s exit was a “random event out of the blue.”

The Soft Serves won their first league championship, and we had a blow out celebration at the Toolbox. Victory in our first game of the new season defending our title was the occasion for Lowell to ask me once again about skydiving.

I made a bet with him. My parents raised me to avoid gambling, but I thought this was pretty close to a sure one for me to win. Lowell bet that he would hit a home run in our second game of the season. If he did, his reward was planning a skydive together. If he didn’t, I had a month of Saturday morning breakfasts in bed lovingly prepared by Lowell coming my way.

It should be obvious by now who won that bet.

The morning of the dive, I woke at 4:00 a.m., and I could not go back to sleep. We weren’t scheduled to be in Racine until 8:00 a.m., and it was less than an hour’s drive away. Lowell slept peacefully, and I finally slipped out of bed at 5:30 to make myself a morning mug of coffee.

I slipped on shorts, an old T-Shirt and old sneakers. I decided to check out the back patio. It took us more than a month of weekend work to complete the project, but the patio roof was a joint project completed successfully by Lowell and me. I crossed my fingers all winter long that it would hold up under the burdens of both snow and wind through the winter. The structure proved to be sturdy, and I saw it as some sort of metaphor for our growing relationship.

The backyard was also slowly turning into the kind of flower garden that I envisioned when I first purchased the house. Big clumps of perennial flowers spilled out on to the edge of the lawn from the borders of the yard. It was stunningly beautiful when so many things burst into bloom during the month of June.

When I returned to the kitchen, Lowell was up wearing just a sexy pair of briefs and raising his arms over his head yawning. He smiled at me and said, “You’re so eager to go that you couldn’t sleep, Sven!”

I said “I suppose that’s one way you can look at it. It’s still not too late to call it all off.”

Lowell gave me a hug and said, “I’m convinced that you will thank me when it’s all over.”

As it turned out, I had something that was a much bigger surprise to thank Lowell for when it was over. It wasn’t just the skydive.

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We signed up for a tandem skydive which meant that a seasoned professional tethered to each of us individually was in charge of the technical aspects of the jump. It was a quick process. We received some quick instructions, and then we were each fitted into harnesses. Within minutes it was time to board the plane.

Lowell gave me a hug and he said, “If you really don’t want to do this, Sven, I’m not going to force you to.”

I laughed and said, “Now you tell me!” I said, “I’ve come this far now. I’m going through with it.”

Sitting next to Lowell as the plane climbed to jumping altitude, I finally felt excitement instead of just nervousness about the jump. I thought about how I would feel when it was over, and how exciting it would be to tell anyone who would listen that I’d jumped out of a plane.

Just before the jump, Lowell had a big surprise for me. With our instructors looking on and clipping our harnesses together so that we were attached and ready for the jump, Lowell knelt down on the floor of the plane.

I looked at him and watched as he pulled something out of the pocket of his jeans. I suddenly realized what he was doing, and I shook my head in disbelief.

Lowell grinned up at me and asked me the obvious question. He held out a small box containing a ring and asked, “Sven Paulsen, will you marry me?”

I reached up and wiped at my eye with the back of my wrist. I said, “Yes, of course I will.” I reached down and took the ring and placed it on my hand. I shook my head and looked down at Lowell. I said, “I think I’m dreaming. This is like one of the wildest of my dreams.”

He stood up and gave me a sweet kiss. “It isn’t a dream. This is phenomenal reality, Sven!”

Fifteen seconds later, I stepped out of the plane and fell thousands of feet through the air. Life had never felt more exhilarating, and I’d never been more eager to see what the future had in store.