Tuesday, February 14, 2012

How did he pop the question?


Since today is the day of LOVE, I thought I would give you the opportunity to brag on your special someone.
 
I would love to hear the story of how you got engaged.  The good, the bad and the unfortunate!  Everyone has a story, so go ahead, share it!

For my younger readers, please share what you imagine would be the perfect way to be proposed to. 

My proposal mishap:
To my husband’s credit, he had an amazing proposal all planned out.  What happened to ruin it?  ME!

I was visiting my husband in England for 6 months to decide if I wanted to cross the big pond for good.  We knew having a long distance relationship (4,000 miles!) was too hard to keep going, so one of us would have to leave everything behind for the other.  (I won!)

After a few months of being in England, I had settled into a normal routine.  On Saturday’s the house was all mine until my future husband would get off work at noon.  This was great at first because I really didn’t feel comfortable around my future in-laws.  Imagine living with them for 6 months while you’re only dating their son?!!

This particular morning, I got bored.  I’m talking bang my head against the foot thick brick wall kind of bored.  So I decided to surprise my husband by meeting him at work.

Now let me explain something to you.  Although I knew how to get to his office, I had no real sense of distance.  BIG MISTAKE!

Four hours later, with blisters covering every inch of my feet, I hit a roadblock: a roundabout.  The biggest darn roundabout I’ve ever seen!  For those of you who aren’t familiar with roundabouts, they are large circles in the middle of the road to keep traffic flowing.  No STOP SIGNS!  Amy gets squished into a pancake kind of crossing!

So, I limp into a nearby pub and call my wonderful savior, who has the good grace to only laugh his head off for a couple of minutes over the phone before he comes to get me.  Apparently the distance between his home and office was around 10 miles.  Who knew?

Bundled into his car, moaning about my feet, he tells me, rather awkwardly, that he needs to make a stop.  In the center of town.  Near the jewelry store that we visited only a few weeks before.

Let me tell you, those blisters faded into the background pretty darn quick!
For those of you who know me, I’m pretty observant.  Little details are HUGE to me.  The bead of perspiration on his brow despite blissful AC pumping through the vents, skin pulled taught over his knuckles as he pulled into the parking lot near the jewelry store, and the waver in his voice when he said to wait in the car. 

Oh yeah…I knew what was coming.

So what would you do?  Yep…you guessed it.  The instant he settled into the car, I pounced.  I nagged, whined, begged, and pleaded.  I’m not proud of my reaction (snigger) but by the time we got home I had my shiny new ring on my finger, just to make sure it fits, mind you.

Now that I’d seen the ring, the surprise of proposing to me at the base of a waterfall in Scotland was ruined.  Bummer!  That would have been awesome!

So we headed down south to the coast and my husband proposed to me on the beach.  Not at sunset like the movies or on pristine white sandy beaches.  No it was the middle of rush hour and amongst the rockiest beach I’ve ever seen.  

But I wouldn’t change those memories for the world! 

How about you?  What’s your story?

Thank you to scottchan for the photo.

2 comments:

  1. Lol! I like your story! :D
    Here is our story... it's a bit long... lol.
    Alex and I had been dating for about 4 years when he decided he wanted to join the military. He'd always wanted to be a police officer. He could do that in the army for a few years and then have the ability to secure a state police job when he finished his military contract because of on the job training and schooling.
    I was definitely not wild about the idea at first. I knew that it meant basic training and AIT. 6 months of time he would be away and I wouldn't be able to see him, save for a couple of days in the middle during the transition from the first phase to the next. In our entire relationship we'd never spent more than maybe 24 hours away from each other. And that was near the beginning. We did everything together. Church, spent all of our off time together and we even WORKED together for quite a while. Of course, at this time, I would young and insecure. I dreamt that he would meet someone while he was away and dump me or just decide that I wasn't good enough for him any more. He assured me that everything would be fine and he wanted me to write as often as possible. Needless to say, I was brokenhearted when he finally left. Even though nothing had changed. I just knew I was going to miss him terribly and like I said before, I was riddled with worry.
    He left in February. It took a while to get that first letter, but I was soooo excited when it finally came. He talked about all the stuff they'd been doing and ended it with how he had a surprise for me but I would have to wait until we came to see him... in MAY! He talked about it in every letter he sent. Never in a million years did it cross my mind what it could be. Alex always said that he never wanted to get married. And although I hoped that would change, this is why a proposal never crossed my mind.
    May finally rolled around after what felt like the LONGEST 3 months of my life. I'd dropped 35 lbs during this period and was surprising him with THAT. haha. I barely recognized him when he got out of the taxi he took to our hotel. But, he looked GORGEOUS!! He'd dropped 40 lbs since I'd seen him last and he was so tan and in his dress uniform. I will never forget it.
    After hugs and tears we all decided it was time to eat. We went to Ryan's and then walked over to Walmart. Alex, myself, one of his friends, his friend's family, and Alex's family all went to Walmart. He'd declared that he wanted some Oreo's. We go in and walk right past the grocery section, make an arc, and are walking around the store sort of aimlessly. I wondered aloud if anyone was actually leading or if we were walking in circles for fun. We get back to the front of the store and Alex stopped. So I stop next to him. He turns to look at me and said, "Pick one out." I looked at him confused. I said, "What?" He pointed at the jewelry counter and repeated "Pick one out. I want you to be my wife." For a minute I just stared and then started laughing and crying at the same time and hugged him. He said, "Is that a yes you will?" I could only nod. It was so sweet and worth the wait. We were married 69 days later and we will be married for 5 years in July. :)

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  2. Brandi,
    Thank you so much for sharing your story. I love that you were completely clueless! Alex must have been very pleased with himself :) And look at how well it's all turned out for you. You're daughter is sooooo adorable!

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