LOVE ON THE ROAD
This week ZoË and train man
go mountain climbing
THIS WEEK ZOË IS FEELING DREAMY AFTER BEING ASKED A BIG QUESTION
There have only been a few times in my 32 years when my life has flashed before my eyes like a Dallas dream sequence, and most were alcopop induced. But it happened just after sunset over Australia's Red Centre, when Train Man asked me to marry him.
It all came crashing back: the longing I felt on the 8.21 to King's Cross, the nerves over handing him the note, the utter despair when he said he had a girlfriend, the flush of happiness when he asked me out eight months later, and the elation of the first date when I looked at my reflection in his bathroom mirror and quietly whispered "I love him" to myself.
And what a setting! We were on the train. Not just any train either, it was The Ghan, which is one of the world's great train journeys – think the Orient Express with kangaroo views. And I totally didn't see it coming. We'd watched the 187th sunset on this trip and suddenly the sky outside our cabin window went all inky and moody.
"Look at me," Train Man said softly, turning my gaze away from the window to lock eyes with his. Then he asked me. I said yes of course – between the squeaks and squeals.
As I'm about to depart on this next exciting journey, I can't stop thinking about how I spent months plucking up the courage to give him that note and, if I hadn't, then being his wife would have been a crazy stalker daydream. So the moral of my story is to do the Fabulous thing: take a chance and follow your heart, because it's better to regret the things you have done than the things you haven't (unless it was a perm in 1988).
So it looks like this particular adventure will have a happy ending. So thank you for sharing it with me. Now you'll have to excuse me, I have a wedding to plan…
Miles travelled: 23,090 in total
"Oh my gods" exchanged: 24
Carats dangled: 1 huge one
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