The engagement story

It was July of 2007.

He came into town on the 20th..I had to work that day, so he was here at my place all day. THAT sucked, but the cool part was that he went out walking around town looking for a place to buy me flowers!! (aw)

I came home to my love, and a beautiful bouquet!

We had dinner out that night, and he mentioned that he had a plan for Sunday, but that he couldn't elaborate on it just then...only that we had to be sure to get to the Renaissance Faire on SATURDAY.

(we had talked about getting matching Celtic knot rings (he's half Welsh, too!), sort of as a way to stay connected when we are apart--which is, obviously, most of the time--so I just figured he wanted to do some kind of little ritual around having these rings....little did I know....!!!)

So we went to Faire on Saturday, and he LOVED it. I took him to my favorite place for sterling jewelry, and he picked us out a pair of rings.
That night, he asked me if I wanted to do something with them to bless them, since I do that "Witchy stuff." I said sure, and created a spontaneous blessing ritual that we did together.

Next morning, he was up WAY early, clinking dishes in the kitchen. I tried to go back to sleep, but he was making too much noise in this tiny place!
SO I got up. He made me breakfast, and asked if we could take a trip to the Arboretum, specifically to the place where we first kissed.

Sure, says I.

"I have some chores and errands to do, but we can go to the Arboretum. What would you rather do first? The errands, or the Arb?"
He emphatically chose going to the Arb first!

Then he asked if we could take WINE into the Arboretum. "No," says I, "but if we don't TELL anyone, who's going to know?"
(and I'm thinking..what does he want with WINE in the MORNING?)

So he asked where my thermos was, and he opened this bottle of mead he had bought on Friday, and poured a bit of it into the thermos. Then he packed up one of his favorite little stoneware mugs of mine, and I went and took my shower.

Then he showered. He asked me to get the rings, and I went to put them in his shirt pocket, and he stopped me...he dropped the rings into his pocket himself, and we were off to the Arboretum by around 9:30 or 10.

We drove in to the parking area close to "our spot," and got out of the car. He grabbed the tote bag, took my hand, and we walked down the trail.

By the time we got to our spot, his hand was shaking, and I was starting to get this niggling idea that maybe this wasn't just about exchanging friendship rings!!

He laid the rings out on the stone bench, unwrapped the mug, and poured the mead. Then he took a big breath, and said "I really didn't want to have to read this off of a piece of paper, but that's the only way I am going to get through this."

And he pulled a folded paper out of his shirt pocket (the same shirt pocket he had stopped me from touching earlier), and, with a shaking voice, read me the poem he had written his proposal into.

He even used the phrase "I plight thee my troth." (how perfect is that for me???!!!)

I, of course, burst into tears and threw my arms around his neck.

He laughed a bit uneasily and said "That's not really an answer. I need an answer...for all I know, you could tell me to f* off."

I assured him that I was not going to tell him to f* off, and that he should KNOW that!! I said that the tears on my face were pure joy.
I took some of the tears, and anointed his ring with them. I said that I really was at a total loss for words, other than to say "yes," and "what you said," as I placed his ring on his hand.

Then he put my ring on my hand.

He said there was no need for me to say anything else....the only word that mattered was "yes." We toasted with our wine to seal the deal!