On July 1, 2008 the love of my life asked me to marry him! Here's the story: (I'm not sparing any details because I want this to serve as a memory blog for me as well as share it with others.. so buckle up it's going to be a long one!)
There are several back stories you MUST know to get the full sweetness of the proposal...
Back Story Number 1: We went shopping in May and I bought an amazing pink dress! Seriously, it's perfect. Josh was with me and when I bought it he decided to take it and was going to randomly surprise me with it some night and take me out on a fabulous date... but then he finished that thought with.. "and who knows, maybe it'll be the dress you get proposed to in!"
Back Story Number 2: I'd say it must have been late March or April or so.. but he said... "Leslie, you should expect a ring by July 1" yay!
Back Story Number 3: I have a friend who is very, very dear to my heart. Her name is Betty Yeiter and she is 84 and I love her dearly. She has been following our relationship since the very beginning and is always checking my finger for a ring! haha anyway, when we went ring shopping we decided to tell her. We also decided to go to Fox Jewelers because she and her husband bought their diamonds from Mr. Fox himself and thought we should check them out. When we told her this Betty was just tickled and made a call in to "help us get a deal" because she has sent LOTS of business their way.
Now even though Josh said I should expect a ring by July 1 I didn't think it was actually going to happen. He closed on a house just last Thursday, June 26 and made it very clear that anything he had saved was going towards the house and the down payment. He also made many "genuine" comments of disappointment that an engagement wasn't going to happen any time soon. and with things like the soccer ball/piggy bank full of change (change that he said he had been saving for years for a ring some day) sitting in the open completely filled to the brim-still- I had no reason to think anything was going to happen any time soon. and THEN he texted me June 30 saying something like.. "hey... Jason and Heidi always do date nights... i think we should get into that habit to... lets go on a date this week to start... how about tuesday?" (The conversation never actually happened but I bought into the whole thing anyway!)
So Tuesday, July 1, finally arrives and I'm really excited because we're going on a date, a surprise date! and here's where the story starts to unfold.... At around 3:00 Josh stopped by my house and dropped off The Pink Dress! I was so excited! BUT I didn't even let my mind wander to "maybe you're getting engaged tonight!!" because I didn't want to ruin a great date with false hopes and be sad at the end when I should have been very happy the whole thing happened.. right? right.
So anyway, he drops the dress off... I get all dolled up and he picked me up at 6:15 looking mighty fine himself :-) We drove downtown and went to the Cygnus, a really REALLY nice restaurant at the top of the Amway Grand Plaza that I have always wanted to go to but never had before. We had a lovely (and expensive) dinner and then proceeded to head out to Grand Haven for some roller blading. He told me to bring extra clothes, so we got there.. changed.. bladed the boardwalk down to the pier and watched the sunset. It was amazing and there were a couple of times when I thought, "hmm is he going to propose?" but he didn't. He definitely didn't.
So we drove the hour back home and he got a couple of texts that he said were from his sister and his friend Rob, when they were actually from my mom- they were setting their plan in motion and I was completely oblivious. He even told me what Rob "said" in the text (something about a pump? haha!) and we proceeded home. He walked me to my door, kissed me goodnight, and I floated inside quoting the movie Elf, "I'm in love! I'm in love! and I don't care who knows it!" and talked to Brian and Kyra about our fabulous night.
Five minutes later.... my mom comes walking over. Now mind you it's like 11:45 at night, and she never ever comes over to my house... she said she just wanted to hear how my date was and talk to me for a minute... which kind of freaked me out... I figured someone had died or something and she needed to tell me about it.. anyway, that wasn't the case because after a few minutes of chatting she pulled out from behind her back a beautiful red rose and a note that said, "Daisy, meet me at our house. -Hero" (our knicknames for each other) and I just about freaked out! I was so excited! He said "our" house about HIS brand new house! I quick grabbed my camera, grabbed my purse and ran out the door.
It was the most exciting 10 minute drive of my life! The whole time I was thinking, "ohmygosh I could be getting engaged right now!" and I kept rubbing my ring finger thinking... "there might be a ring here soon, there might be a ring here soon!!" and then I finally just said out loud, "Lord, I am so nervous right now!!" and I immediately had this picture of Jesus sitting in the passenger seat, beaming, so excited to share the moment with me. It was amazing...
So I got to the house, walked in the door... and I found a trail of rose petals leading in to the spare room. There was a silver gift package about 8 inches long sitting on a table, with a note inside that had a key to the house taped to it. I thought it was great, but also kind of thought.. "oh.. is this it?" So I proceeded to go find Josh who was hiding in the house and noticed more rose petals leading to the master bedroom....
He also had the song I told him last week that I want to walk down the aisle to playing in the background... I would tell you on here but I want it to be a surprise! Anyway, it was absolutely amazing and by far the most amazing moment of my life. He walked out from his hiding spot in the closet, told me to the open the box... when it was opened he took it from me, got down on one knee and said, "Leslie, will you marry me?" aaand what do you think my response was? YES!! YES!! YES!
After that I just about tackled him with kisses. Kept saying "you just proposed to me! you just proposed to me!" about a thousand times, seriously! and he made me the happiest woman alive at that exact moment :-) We drove back to my house and shared the excitement with my Mom, Greg, Brian, Kyra, and Brad. It was perfect! oh and they all knew it was going to happen that night, I was the only one in the dark.
Later I found out that he had put the soccer ball full of change in an obvious spot, so I would feel it, realize all of the change was still in there, and have no idea that he had already bought the ring. THREE WEEKS EARLIER! haha I was so completely clueless. He also had me carry the ring in when I was helping him move. Not the box itself, but it was in a bag that was in a bag and I carried it in! And it DID happen on July 1 like he said it would! And it WAS the night I wore the pink dress! He asked my permission from my Dad, my mom, Greg, and Brian. They all wholeheartedly said yes!
and probably one of the most beautiful details is that he took my sweet, 84 year old friend Betty to pick it out with him....
It was by far, the most amazing night of my life!
2 comments:
this is such a great story! what a romantic proposal!
That is such a great story! I am so glad I finally read it.
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