For those of you who haven't heard through a phone call, e-mail, facebook or twitter, Josh and I are engaged!
Here's the story ... So the two of us met about 2.5 months ago. And while that may seem like not a very long time to know you want to marry someone, we knew we wanted to get married around about 3 weeks into it. They say that "when you know, you know." And I can attest that it was true for Josh and me. Of course there was a lot of discussion about all of life's issues surrounding marriage and spending a life together: family, children, where to live, faith, morals, goals, football (he's Auburn, I'm Tennessee), jobs, finances, dreams and everything in between. But we just seemed to know from the beginning that this was it for us.
And it hasn't been a secret to our friends and family that this relationship was serious ... the engagement would probably happen as soon as we got our ducks in a row. (We were in this for good.) My mom and grandmother had graciously given me my great-grandmother's wedding and engagement rings to use for my own.
About a month ago Josh and I went looking for the perfect ring setting. We planned to put my great-grandmother's diamond into a new setting and I had a good idea what I was looking for and so I didn't think it would take very long to find it. That Saturday, we had planned to shop around at several places, but after the second store I was getting overwhelmed with all the choices and was frustrated that I couldn't just pick something. So we stopped and went to dinner. We had no plans to go back and look anymore that weekend because we weren't in any hurry. But on Sunday afternoon we were spending time with my best friend and her husband and I decided I needed a best friend opinion. We went back to the first store and it was just a few minutes later that I knew which setting I wanted. I was shocked that I knew, but I did, and April agreed with me. Before we really had time to process what was happening, Josh was putting the setting on reserve and would come back later with my great-grandmother's ring.
The fact that he lived in Huntsville would make it hard to him to maneuver getting the ring all squared away without me knowing, so I thought. We'll come back to that in a minute.
So this past weekend rolls around. Josh had been telling me that he would probably not propose before September. I thought that was perfect since it would be about three months after we started dating. I knew he had been back to the ring store once, but I didn't think there was any way that he could have the ring yet. So, I wasn't suspecting anything.
I left work on Friday around 4:45, as I usually do, in order to get a head start on the traffic going south on I-65 to Huntsville. I knew we would be spending the weekend at the lake with his entire family and I wanted to get there as quickly as possible. I was making great time and was about 15 minutes away when Josh called. He was just leaving his mom's house after picking up his four-wheeler and going to grab a bite to eat. I told him that I hadn't eaten yet and was getting hungry. So, he decided to head for his house and wait for me to eat.
When I pulled up to the house I saw him run inside and leave his dog outside. I thought that very strange, but when I questioned him about it, he said something to the tune of "I was just going to see if my dog would jump on you." OK? (I found out later that he had to run inside and put the ring in his bag before I came inside.) So he got ready to go to the lake and told me we were going to go to a nice restaurant (The Chef's Table) in Huntsville before we headed out of town. It's one of my favorites, so far, so I agreed - even though I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and flip flops. I was totally underdressed, but he convinced me it didn't matter. (I don't know anyone else in Huntsville, so I decided I didn't care.)
We had a nice dinner and then ran by the grocery store on the way out of town to pick up some weekend essentials. By the time we got down to the lake, it was nearly 10 p.m. and I was beat. We grabbed a drink and headed out to the deck for a few minutes when he suggested that we walk down to the dock. His mom just bought this beautiful lake home and the dock had just been completed. I kind of wanted to go to bed, but I thought I would humor him and go see the dock first.
We found our way down to the dock in the dark and were just admiring the stars, talking about how amazing stars were. If anyone knows me very well they know that I LOVE stars. One of my favorite verses is about stars. I also have a star tattoo and love viewing the sky sparklers from my parents home out in the country. So star gazing is a favorite thing for me to do. And they were gorgeous on Friday night.
While we were gazing at the stars and talking ... I started to think that this would be the perfect place for a proposal. I knew it wasn't going to happen - because he didn't have the ring. So, I was SHOCKED when he pulled me to him and said "I have something even cooler to show you." That's when he dropped down on one knee and proposed with the ring I picked out and my great-grandmother's stone. I said "YES!"
Surprising enough, there were no tears. I always thought I would cry when I got engaged, but really it wasn't too emotional. I was really just very happy. So, we walked back up to the house and toasted to our engagment and sat out on the deck for a little bit before going to bed.
Like me, you might be wondering how he got the ring by this weekend! Well, a few weekends ago he had told me that he had an extra football meeting and that he wouldn't be up to Franklin until late on Friday. Come to find out, he had no meeting and had busted his butt to get up to Franklin before the jewelry store closed. Then that Sunday he told me he had to be back to Huntsville early in order to do laundry and get ready for the week. I kind of got upset because I had wanted to spend the afternoon at the park, which we ended up doing. He told me later that afternoon that he told me he needed to leave early, not to go back home, but to go to the jewelry store. I then instructed him that he needed to be a better liar in order to trick me and get to the jewelry store. HA! He had already done that and only needed to go to pick up the ring! So the next time he was in town he went to "get coffee" after church and I went home with my parents. I knew he was going to the jewelry store, but I thought he was only dropping off my great-grandmother's ring - NOT picking it up! I was surprised by the proposal, even though I thought I could never be surprised. (My parents tried to throw two surprise birthday parties for me in my lifetime, and both I knew about - so my all-knowing streak has ended.)
So there it is. The story of how we got engaged. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures of ourselves this weekend, but I did take this picture of my ring the morning after. It's hard to get a good picture because the ring is so sparkly. :-)
The wedding date is not set yet, but is looking like it will be sometime next spring or early summer. I've already bought bridal magazines and have started getting overwhelmed by all that goes in to a wedding. But I'll just do one thing at a time ...