Engagement
Having talked and shared
everything as early on as possible, I knew right away that my husband
wanted to go to Minnesota and continue his education at an art school
there *I remembered from geography class that Minnesota was
"somewhere up north", but I didn't want to share my ignorance on the
matter, so after we talked, I went right away to the library, and looked
it up on a map, and realized that it was actually just beneath Canada!
That's about as north as you can get in the US!* We never seemed to
question whether I was going to come up with him or not - it merely was a
given between us, and when we had only been together for six months, we
packed up all our stuff and found ourselves the smallest studio
apartment in Minneapolis.
When we had been dating a year, we discussed marriage, and how we
were definitely heading in that direction (we knew we were committed to being life partners, and marriage was always going to be the intended goal between us, but we still wanted to take the time to practice that commitment first, by living together, and seeing if we could handle the day-to-day stuff - like housework, bills, etc. - as well. We knew we wanted to same things out of life, and one another, but it doesn't mean much if you're dating a slob, or a shopaholic. You need to know these things about one another, *before* you get married). So, having finally sat down and talked about wanting to get married sooner, rather than later (and how good we seemed to be doing living together): we shared the news with our
family, but technically, he hadn't proposed yet! But man-oh-man, did
they run with it! Before we knew it, our whole wedding was being
planned, and I didn't even have a ring yet. We were
ready, but the moment didn't feel right, especially with how things were
happening with the wedding preparations (we loved everyone's ideas, and
wanted to incorporate everything, but we simply had to find a way to
compromise on all accounts, because there was simply no way we could fit
in all the ideas logistically - church wedding/court house
wedding/America/Germany) - this wasn't going to end up
happy, and quickly
getting overwhelmed, we just finally had to say, "Not yet".
So, we moved forward with our relationship, and headed with my
family to Germany (my Mom's German) for six weeks! Besides my husband
coming down with mono, it was actually quite the trip ~ including a
weekend to Paris. I think since it had been almost six months after all
the "wedding talk", I was done thinking I was getting a ring anytime
soon. But the trip did seem like a romantic backdrop for a proposal, so
I was actually hoping for one . . . and didn't hide the potential
excitement for him to "get going" on that ;] Of course, what I didn't know, was
that he had picked out a ring - with the help of my German family - and hid
it in his pocket when it first arrived at the door (in fact, I was
cuddling him on the couch, before he could put the box away, and felt
his full pocket against my hip, but he usually has his pockets so full
with art supplies - pens, pencils, erasers, and a wallet - that I
actually thought it was just that, while my poor husband was probably
sweating bullets, praying I didn't ask what was in his pocket!). We get to go to Paris with my cousin, and her boyfriend at the time,
and though he had meant to propose to me at Versailles (specifically the
Queen's Hamlet, near the Petit Trianon), we got lost in the gardens,
and so he took the next best thing: the Eiffel Tower ♥
Now of course, that is a story in and of itself, too!:
We
had reached the top, and I was so taken by the Paris skyline, that I
stared out onto the horizon, completely oblivious that my husband was
trying to kneel down beside me (I say "trying", because there were
literally so many people there, that he kind of lowered himself on
bended knees, but never quite reaching the ground). He held up the
ring, and said something, and still, not even bothering to look back at him - I just respond with a "What?", before I finally look and see the ring! I quickly asked him what he had just said, and he repeats: "You are the best thing that has happened in my life, and I want to keep it that way. Will you marry me?" Obviously, I said yes!
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