Officially Engaged!

Well, it is past my bedtime on Sunday night, but I can't let the weekend end without posting this blog.

It's official. We are engaged, ring and all! Saturday evening, Brett got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

It was so surreal. I have been waiting for that moment my entire life, at times not believing it would ever come, at times not really wanting it to. But it's always been in my head. I have imagined it a thousand times through the years, with different faces, in different places. In the last 3 years alone, I have imagined Brett's proposal at least 50 different ways. I've always wondered, will I cry? Will he cry? Will we be alone or (gulp) in front of our loved ones? I didn't have any expectations, and there were a million possibilities, but I have to say, in complete honesty, it was perfect. Brett is so amazing. He put so much planning and preparing into the proposal. It was a day I will never forget, and I am so happy, my face is aching from the smiles.

So here is the story.

First, I have to say, he had been setting it up for a couple of weeks. Friday was his regular payday, but last week he came home one day telling me a story about their pay schedule being changed over the holiday months because of an issue with the bank that the company uses. It didn't make sense to me, but I didn't think much of it either. We had too much else going on for me to consider it for long. But all week, he kept saying that he was sad that he wouldn't be able to pay the ring off because his check was being delayed. I felt like he could just be trying to throw me off, but there was no way to know, so I just didn't think about it. He also spent the last few days of the week "getting sick". He played the part well, and I really thought that he was feeling bad. (Actually, he played it a little too well. All of that fake coughing led to an actual cough. hehe... now that's dedication!)

Work was so busy for me last week that when I left on Friday, I realized that I would need to work for a few hours on Saturday. Brett and I originally had planned to go look at a few more apartments on Saturday, but since he was starting to not feel well, or so I thought, we had decided to just take it easy, so I thought if I had to work a little after Weight Watchers, it would be okay. I mentioned this to Brett when we were leaving Bible Study Friday night and he immediately got very still and was silent. So of course, the eager voice inside my head said, PROPOSAL! I back tracked and told him that I could work some other time if he wanted me to stay with him during the day, but he recovered and made sure that I was planning to go early in the day so that we could go to dinner if he was feeling up for it. But I was hopeful that he was up to something!

And then when I got to Brett's apartment, Melanie called me and asked me to pick her up from work at 4:30 the next day because we were going to put her car in the shop. I told her that I wanted to say yes, but I thought that Brett might be proposing on Saturday so I didn't really want to make plans. She told me that she really didn't have any other options and that it wouldn't take long, so I reluctantly agreed. When I told Brett, I expected him to freak out a little like he did in the car when I said I was working, but he reacted completely nonchalantly, so I tried to tell myself to stop thinking about the proposal, because I didn't want to get my hopes up and I couldn't tell if there was something going on, or if I was just being eagerly suspicious.

So Saturday morning I went to Weight Watchers without Brett because he was "too sick" to go. After the meting, I picked up lunch for both of us and then took it to his apartment to eat with him before I went to work for a few hours. When I left his apartment, I went straight to work without going home to change out of my WW clothes. That is the only part of the day that I regret. If I knew that I would be experiencing something that I would always remember, I would have changed into something nicer! Melanie told me that she actually wasn't getting off until 5, so Brett said not to rush and just to come over around 6 when I was done with Mel. Well, when I picked up Melanie she was carrying a bag with a letter R attached to it that had a dozen roses inside. She handed it to me and smiled and told me to take her to the church. I felt so many things all at once! I was nervous, I was embarrassed by my clothes, but mostly I was dazed. But Melanie assured me that everything would be fine and said to just follow the plan and go with the flow. When we got to the church, Jenina was there holding a bag with the letter I on it. It had an I Tunes gift card inside. Jenina said "you're coming with me" so I got in her car and then she told me that we had to stop to pick something up. She took me to Chipotle and who was inside? Jeff Moss. (It sounds random, but that is where we always go to lunch with him when he comes in town). He drove in from Tulsa to be a part of it all. He had a bag with the letter N on it that had an awesome neck massage gadget inside! And then Jeff drove me to the park where Brett was standing holding a bag with the letter G on it and a really cute pair of gloves inside!

When I say "the park" I mean the park where we will be getting married. And guess what? There was a wedding going on. It was so special. He took my hand and started to walk me along the path. I barely remember now what we said while we walked. I thanked him for my gifts and smiled a lot. And then he stopped by a tree and got down on one knee and told me that he loved me. He pulled the ring out of his pocket and said "will you marry me". I couldn't speak. All I could do was nod. But I nodded as happily as I could and I hugged him as tight as I could. Then he whispered "put it on". My hands were shaking so he held them while I took the ring out of the box and put it on my finger. And then some people who were nearby applauded and it was just perfect.

After the park, he took me home so I could change clothes and then took me to dinner at Boston's Pizza Kitchen where about 25 of our friends and family were waiting to celebrate with us. It was so much fun and so special. It really was the perfect proposal for Brett and I. I am so thankful that he loves me enough to want to do special things like that for me.

I have a few pictures from that night that I will post tomorrow. For now, I have to go to bed. Last night my eyes wouldn't stay shut because they wanted to stare at my gorgeous ring. We'll see what happens tonight =-)