The Day I Got Engaged

I had planned to link up last week with Momfessionals for Show and Tell Tuesday, but then I got a three day migraine and forgot to join them.  But since it's still February, I thought I'd share our love story today.

I think I've mentioned a time or two that my husband and I are high school sweethearts.  We went on our first date in ninth grade.  I think G actually had a crush on one of my best friends, but she already had a boyfriend, and asking me out was the next best thing.  We were only fifteen and neither of us had a driver's license so his mom dropped us off for dinner at a local restaurant.  

Throughout high school we dated off and on - mostly on.  Every once in a while one of us would decide we wanted to date other people, and the usual teenage drama ensued.  My poor parents.  But we always ended up back together, and by the time we were seniors we were pretty inseparable.

We attended the same college for four years, although we never did live together.  My Catholic mama would have had a heart attack!  In May of 1989 we graduated from Washington State University, and being the romantic that I am, I started expecting a proposal any day.

But I waited.  And went to lots of weddings.  And waited.  And watched friends pick out dresses and flowers.  And waited.  I was like Waity Katey, before that became a thing.

We were both living at home with our parents, working full time, and seeing each other as often as we could.  We talked about marriage on occasion, and I figured a proposal had to be coming any time now.  Right?

But I was still waiting.  After the fifth wedding of college friends, I was getting kind of....angry and impatient.  We were adults, and had been dating since we were fifteen.  Obviously we knew each other well.  G said he wanted to get married someday, but I was starting to think that our definitions of someday were different.  In my usual "worst case scenario" fashion, I had talked myself into thinking that he didn't want to marry me at all, but didn't know how to break it off after so much time.  I finally told him that if he didn't see our relationship moving to the next level, we should go our separate ways.  

While I was busy being difficult and ridiculous, he was saving money and researching diamond rings.  G can be a man of few words, so while I was ranting and raving, he was quietly making plans, waiting for just the right time to propose.  Oops. 

In April I planned a special dinner out in Seattle for his 23rd birthday.  G was going to pick me up from work in Bellevue and we would head across the bridge and into the city.  I left the store and headed outside to wait for him.  He finally pulled up in a big stretch limousine.  When he jumped out wearing a suit, I was speechless.

He seemed nervous and a little distant.  Well, this is it, I thought.  He's finally going to break up with me. We stared out the windows as the driver took us into Seattle.  I was waiting for the bad news, and he was about to pass out from anticipation.

Suddenly G turned to me and started talking about our relationship - where we had been, what we had gone through.  I was barely listening.  All I could think about was how this was really the end - after eight years he was breaking up with me in the back of a limousine on his birthday.  

When he asked me to marry him and pulled the ring from his pocket, I was completely stunned and unprepared.  A moment earlier I had been planning what to say about our inevitable break up.  The poor guy had been hoping for an immediate yes, so he just stared at me, wondering why I wasn't answering.

I eventually came to my senses and said yes.  G had planned to propose at the restaurant, but he was so nervous he couldn't contain himself.  There are no pictures or video footage, but I can assure you that the love and excitement we felt that day was worth the year of waiting. 

Our engagement photo, taken by my brother

It's been almost 25 years since he proposed, and I'm still so thankful that I said yes.  My husband is the kindest, most loyal man, and he would do anything for me or our boys.

Plus he loves me even though I'm a crazy person who thinks my wedding proposal is a goodbye speech.  Who would rent a limousine to break up with someone?  Only I would go there.  Apparently I should be writing bad romance novels instead of this blog...