When DG proposed to me on December 5, 2012, I literally had no idea it was coming. We had been together for about 2 years at that point. The year before at Christmas, I thought he was going to propose to me. I know, I know... crazy. We had only been together for a year, and for some reason, I convinced myself it was going to happen. I had always said I wanted to date someone for 2 years before getting engaged, so it was an absurd idea, but anyway.
I bought myself this diamond engagement ring ornament from Pier 1 to commemorate the occasion that I was certain was about to happen that Christmas. I hung it dead center on our Christmas tree and was constantly making reference to it any time he was around. And then, he didn't propose. And I moved on with my life and went back to not worrying about when his proposal would happen.
We once had a conversation after that craziness about my "expectations" of a proposal. I had mentioned that I'd like someone to take a picture of it because I knew I'd be shocked. I also asked that he make sure a) I had showered and was somewhat presentable.
b) that I had on decent clothes... not holey sweat pants and a disgusting old t-shirt.
c) most importantly, that my nails were painted.
d) asked my dad for permission prior to proposing.
Fastforward to the next Christmas. We were decorating our tree with Winston, and I found that stupid ornament. I pulled it out of the box and said, "Last year, I was going nuts thinking you were going to propose to me. I even bought this stupid ornament just in case." He said "Well, what do you think about this year?" And I laughed out loud, said "No way." And hung it on the back of the tree. That was Tuesday.
Notice, no ring.
The next day, we were taking Christmas card pictures. He told me he had to run out to get a haircut and he'd be back. His friend was coming over to take the pictures for us. I took a nap, showered, and got ready and he was no where to be found. When he got back, I asked him where he had been. He said that there was long wait at the salon and he ran a couple of errands. I didn't think anything of it and asked what time his friend was coming over.
He told me that "they" were coming over in about 30 minutes and I lost it. I remember telling him that his friend shouldn't bring his wife and daughter because I had papers to grade and a bunch of other random things to do so he needed to come alone. So, DG said fine.
His buddy comes over and is snapping a couple of quick pictures using DG's tripod. I started getting annoyed because they started wanting to do silly poses, like a stepbrother's pose. Remember, I had papers to grade, so I was pretty anxious about getting those done.
So, when they started acting silly and I got annoyed, DG's friend asked me to come look at some of the pictures he took because if I could use some of those, then we'd be done.
When I got to the back of the camera, he was scrolling backwards to these pictures of DG. He was wearing the clothes he wore to school that day (which he had asked me if he should just wear for the pictures and I told him to change), and he was on his knee with something in his hand. I also didn't recognize where he was in the picture. The screen was pretty small, so I couldn't make out what was in his hand and I got PISSED. I thought they were playing a prank on me so I started asking a bunch of questions like "What are y'all doing? Where was this? What's going on?"
His friend told me to shut up and turn around and when I shut up and turned around, DG was on his knee with a ring box in his hand.
Notice that they moved the coffee table out of the way so there would be room for him to be on his knee. And of course, Winston photobombed.
I literally don't have any idea what he said when he proposed. I was crying (I have two cries... loud and uncontrolled or silent... this was loud and uncontrolled) and I fell backwards into the wall. I also kept saying "No" in disbelief, and then I realized he might think I was saying no to the proposal so I started saying yes. I put the ring on and walked around in a circle for about 5 minutes. I asked him if he asked my dad for permission and he told me he had, so I said "Okay, then really yes, I'll marry you."
I was so excited and in complete disbelief. I wore my engagement ring that night to sleep in. It was too big, and I needed to get it sized down, but I had a hard time parting with it even for an hour to get it sized.
I had nothing to do with picking out the ring. He picked it out himself. Realistically, I would have picked a platinum band, which is retrospect would have been dumb because of how much gold jewelry I wear.
That day still goes down as the best day I've ever had.
9 more days, y'all!
xoxo,
Labels: my life, wedding
