One Year

Yesterday was the mark of being engaged for a whole year! I can't believe how fast it's gone by. So I decided in order to celebrate that day a whole year ago, I would share with you how F went about asking me to be his wife. Please forgive me the tear stains on this Blog entry, I cry every time I think about it.

A week or so before he proposed F had the opportunity to go Back East with a friend for the weekend. I hugged him and sent him on his way, happy to sit on my deck and read a book for a few days.

He came back happy to have visited friends and family and I thought nothing of it. (He had spent his time picking out my ring with FIL and MIL's help). Several days later he received a call while we were having dinner at my house. He spoke in his native tongue which I'd become accustom to, but something about his tone made me pause for moment, but I dismissed it.(he was talking to the jeweler about shipping my ring here from Back East). He called me on Friday and said we needed to go to dinner to the place where we had our first date, a lovely steak place. Again, I thought nothing of it, we'd gone there several times in the past. When he didn't propose on our vacation the month before, I figured I had at least until November when we started dating. A whole six months away. Plus, we never really TALKED about being married. It was more along the lines of, "When we have kids..." OR "When we get married...." OR "I'm not moving anywhere unless I have the BLING...." those kinds of things. I was beyond clueless that within the next 5hrs that day, I'd be engaged.

I met him at the restaurant. He was quiet while we waited to be seated, but I figured that was just because the restaurant was noisy and it was hard to hear. We were seated side by side on a couch while we waited and I swore I felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. So I patted his pocket and said, "Is your cell in there? I swear I just felt it go off." His eyes widened as he informed me that his cell was in his other pocket. "Oh." (THE BOX was in the pocket I was just patting, he thought I knew what was going on, I didn't.) We ate dinner joking about our past visits there, how things had progressed since our first date and how it was about time we each found someone new. I even told him, "I guess it's time for me to break up with you. I'll wait til after you pay the check though." (if I have to explain that i was kidding here, i mean really people.) He suggested that we go for a walk around the nearby quaint town to work off some of the heavenly steak we just ate. I agreed. We walked all through the town until we ended up at the park, which had a river and a little historic village. In the center of the village was a gazebo over looking the river. As we approached the gazebo in my head I thought, "Hmm that would be a great little place to get married." We stood in the gazebo chatting for a few minutes and then F told me to check out the tree across the river and how the water had left it's mark on it. (this was his diversionary tacit) I looked but didn't really see which tree he was referring to, so I pretended I did. My back was completely turned to him. I was chatting away about the tree when I heard from behind me, "DH."

"Hmm?" I mumbled as I turned towards his voice.

And there he was, on one knee, with a black box in his hand.

Do you want to know what I thought when I saw that box and the shiny ring in it? "Why is he showing me a ring he bought for his mother??" It did not in anyway register that he was DOWN ON ONE KNEE. My mind was swimming.

I stared at him, dumbfounded.

"DH, will you be my wife?"

My hands went to my face. I started to cry. "Are you sure?" I half whispered.

"Yes, I'm sure." he chuckled.

"YES!! YES!! OH F, YES!!!!"

Requisite hugging and kissing followed.

"Your mom has known for a few days." He confessed.

"What?"

He'd gone and ask her permission for my hand in marriage. (and she'd kept quiet for DAYS, it was killing her, she told me so.)

And the ring fit! He'd secretly tried on my class ring, which I wear on my right hand, to get the proper size for my engagement ring.

How could I not love him?