Sunday, October 31

The Engagement

I've picked this post up a couple of times, tried to put what has happened in the last...oh...4 months into words. It fails me every time. So here I am, hoping that Brooke will sleep for just a few minutes longer so I can possibly finish this post once and for all!

I know posting has been pretty scarce over here at The Single Sister. I know you all know things have been happening over here at The B&P household. Some of it has been fun, some exciting, some downright miserable. All of it blog material, but it doesn't leave me a lot of time to actually blog about it.

The #1 news at The B&P household. The news that will force me to come up with a new blog title? The news that I'v been doing a horrible job at keeping a secret? Mara put it best, "Worst kept secret ever!"

I'm WE are engaged!


Yeah, I know, none of you are surprised. But that doesn't put a damper on the excitement, right?!? And everyone reading this probably already knows. This is big. I mean, I'm going to have to change my blog name, big. ;) I'm going to have a husband. Big. I'm going to have a step-daughter. Big. Wow, that just sounds weird. Step-daughter. I'll have to process that one later.

When did this happen? Oh, like 4 months ago. Why has it taken me so long to update? I'm lazy. I can no longer use the wait-till-you-see-what-happened-next excuse. Life just gets in the way sometimes. Want the how-did-he-do-it-? story? Here it is:

I knew, I've known for over a year. I knew right away that I wanted to marry this man. We half jokingly, half not so jokingly, had our wedding date picked out in the first week or so that we were together. Ok, so it really did start out as a joke but in the months to come we realized it wasn't a joke anymore, that we wanted it to be reality.

Over the last 6 years or so every time I imagined how I would become engaged for some reason I pictured it being a complete surprise to me. I imagined dating a guy for a year or so, most likely living with him, and having him surprise me with a ring. "What? I didn't know this was coming!"

Yeah, right. Why I thought this fit my personality, I'll never know. I guess thats how I saw it played out on TV and in the movies. I'm more of a take charge kind of gal. I want to know what's coming and when its coming. I wanted to find the one, get married, and have kids. Of course I'm going to know when I meet the one, and I'm probably not going to sit around and wait and see if he feels the same. :)

A month or so into our relationship we started talking about rings; ring styles, colors, sizes, etc. Talking about it turned into internet searches to explain the styles I liked. The concept of halos and emerald cut baguettes were new to him. No Mark, a baguette isn't a crusty loaf of french bread. ;)

Looking online turned to wanting to see the styles in person. The first time we looked was on our trip to Duluth. That trip turned into more trips, a quest to make sure we found the right one. By Thanksgiving I had told my family. By December we put a setting on layaway in hopes that we would have the whole thing paid off by the next fall. I had told Mark early on that I wanted to have been together for at least a year before we were technically engaged. Formality, I guess.

January we took a trip to the wedding fair to see if our dreams of a New Years Eve wedding in 2011 would be possible. Would venues fill up quickly with holiday parties and weddings? Would prices be too expensive since it's a holiday? Things were looking good. Now to just pay off that ring, still keeping that Fall time frame in mind. I always wanted to be able to announce my engagement at one of the family crafting weekends we have in Wisconsin.

Mark kept asking me if it was ok with me that I knew it was coming, concerned that I would feel like I missed out on the big surprise. To me finding Mark was the big surprise, I knew I wanted to marry him. Now I just wanted everyone else to know.

In May we had the opportunity to buy a house, does this make sense? Should we keep renting to save money for the ring and the wedding? We went for it, best decision ever, even after what happened a few days after our engagement...

Ok, so finally the engagement. I knew when the ring would be paid off. I had us on a pretty tight budget to get it paid off. I wanted that ring dam-it! LoL

For a couple of days after I knew that it was paid off, I would frisk Mark as he walked in the door, looking for a ring box, trying to figure out if he would have had time to run up to Shane Co after work. On Tuesday the 21st of September he proposed to me, on one knee, in our living room.

I knew it was coming, I knew the ring by heart, and it was still perfect.

4 comments:

  1. Love the blog! Love the ring! Love you both!!

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  2. Sweet, super sweet!
    Now you need to blog about wedding dress shopping!

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  3. Oh, Emily!
    I know I am an emotional sap, but I LOVE this post! It just might be my favorite of all time from you. It's just so sweet, so good and so REAL.

    My favorite lines?
    *** To me finding Mark was the big surprise, I knew I wanted to marry him. Now I just wanted everyone else to know. (This was the line that caused the tears...)
    *** I knew it was coming, I knew the ring by heart, and it was still perfect. (This was the line that made me smile through the tears...)

    Of course it was perfect! :)
    Here's to the new "Single Sister" and all the adventures you will have as a married woman. I am just so genuinely happy for you.
    Love you!

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  4. Yep, I second and third 'loving this post'... I've been waiting for something different from the baby shower cookies! :) I'm so happy for you! Plenty of times it is the things in life that you 'know' are going to happen that are still just as wonderful as the suprises! :) Congrats again - I can't wait to hear more about your adventures as you plan for your wedding!

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