Wedding Wednesday: The Proposal

January 16, 2013

Remember how I mentioned having a wedding countdown app on my phone? Well today it reads that I am 261 days away from marrying the most amazing man! Time is starting to speed up and the big day is getting here sooner and sooner! So as time widdles down, it's time I jump back into planning this big shebang! So every Wednesday leading up to October, I am dedicating the post to something weddingish (like my new word?). Today I am going to share where it all started with our proposal story...it was the best day of my life (that is until I marry him)!
------------------------------------------
Picture It: I'm sitting in my pajamas, with yesterday's make-up on, hair pulled back into a low pony tail, glasses on, and black chipped nail polish on my fingernails. It's midday and I'm waiting for Pete's arrival at the local airport, scheduled for 9 that night. In order to make time faster (because I can control that) I have decided to procrastinate on getting ready for the day and instead have opted to do homework and small chores around my apartment.

When two o'clock rolled around I got a phone call from him letting me know he was out of work and finally on the way to the airport in Indiana. After talking for thirty minutes or so, I interrupted our conversation by blurting out, "I really wish you were here now. I miss you so much!"

Jokingly he replied, "Go to your front door, say some magic words, and check to see if I'm there." It was a no-brainer for me; of course I refused to check the door and continued sitting on the couch. He was persistent though and insisted for a second time that I check. I merely brushed it off and told him to stop teasing when a loud knock echoed from the front door. A rush of excitement and confusion filled my entire body and I have never gotten to a front door faster. 

Sure enough there Pete stood with a huge smile on his face and phone to his ear. I was blown away and struggling to understand just how he had gotten to me when he was supposed to be hundreds of miles away. If I have ever felt like I was dreaming, it was in those first twenty minutes after his arrival. I just couldn't stop hugging him.

In my whirlwind of emotion and still with a giant grin on his face, he told me to get dressed in warm clothes, that we were going on an adventure. My mind couldn't grasp much and I just did as he instructed, still  too concerned with how he had gotten to me. Even the car ride to our destination was filled with questions of how he had so magically appeared and the thought to ask where we were going never occurred to me. 

He took us down to the New River and parked along the railroad tracks. From the car trunk he pulled out a backpack and informed me we would be climbing. And climbing we sure did; not just typical hiking, but climbing up a steep incline.  We made it to the intended place, a lookout point a quarter of the way up the mountain. There we spread a blanket out on this rock that jutted out of the mountainside and plopped down next to one another. Once seated I realized just how tucked away in the mountain we were with bare limbs hiding us from below and framing the river and the lowering sun's reflection on the water.

Pete pulled a small notebook out of his bag. It was the notebook he had written our story in and given me that year for Valentine's day. I was completely shocked to see it since it had been in my desk drawer. Turns out he had had it all along, having gotten my sister to sneak it to him. He started reading from the beginning and we relived our relationship as the words drifted out in the chilly fall air. We got to a certain point in the book when I finally realized that he had added on since February; he had written the rest of our story up to that point. 

As we came closer to the end I started to wonder what was going to happen next... As he turned the page, there was an empty ring pop wrapper glued to the paper. See from the beginning, our inside joke was that he would propose with a ring pop ring. And sure enough there it was, well the wrapper at least. 

He instructed me to reach inside (and silly me, so lost in the day's events, thought that a scavenger hunt would certainly be next, that a clue for me to follow was inside the empty green wrapper). Instead my finger didn't hit paper, it hit something solid and hard...I knew instantly what it was. I got a grip on it and pulled it out gingerly. In my hand was a gorgeous solitaire diamond ring. Instantly, I made a fist so as not to drop it the many feet below us. And that's when he asked me to marry him. In all honestly I can't remember exactly what he said due to the joy and rush of emotion I was feeling. Truly, I couldn't think straight, but after saying yes I knew all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around him. So that's just what I did and once I finally let go, he slipped the ring on my finger and there it's been since.

We sat there for a while longer and Pete told me of how he had been with my parents all day up to that point to ask their permission for my hand. That he had flown in from Indiana in the early hours of the morning and from there grabbed lunch to share with my mom and dad at their house. That my parents thought the world of him and couldn't think of anyone better to marry their daughter. That they were happy for both of us and fully gave their blessing. That once he left he came straight to me to ask the most important question of his life. My whole life changed for the better in those hours and God has blessed me beyond measure with a man seemingly made for me.