The engagement story
The long awaited, detailed, covenient reference, engagement story.
I suppose I should start at the very, very beginning.
Daniel and I met in October 2004 through the Chi Alpha group at Texas A&M University. We started dating about a month later on November 8. Since then I've met his parents several times, he's met mine, and we've gone through a nasty 3 month summer where I was stuck in College Station working and taking classes and he was stuck in Flower Mound working and taking classes. We probably started seriously talking about marriage in February, but since we both agreed that it would be impractical to get married before we were out of school, we didn't do much more than talk. We did come to the conclusion later in the summer that it wouldn't hurt to get engaged anytime between then and summer 2007, so we went and looked at rings after he got back to College Station for the fall semester. This September we went home for my birthday (we went a week late, same time as hurricane Rita), and at that time he went to talk to my parents. I wasn't there for that conversation, but I've been told by both sides that it was very positive thing. After that, I was at his mercy as to when he would ask.
One of the things both of our parents had asked for when we went home was pictures. So on Sunday, October 9, I called Daniel before church to ask him what he was wearing (to try and match) and to tell him to grab his camera. At that point he decided on the spur of the moment that it would be THAT day, so he got everything together, including sparkling white grape juice and dry ice from the grocery store. We hadn't been in church long before he leaned over and asked me if I wanted Olive Garden for dinner, and of course I said yes. Once church finally let out we went out, had a wonderful meal, and came back to campus to take pictures. The location that he originally wanted was being used by the Corps of Cadets for something, so we walked over to Academic Plaza instead. We were going to take the pictures ourselves since his camera has a timer function, but we couldn't find a convenient ledge anywhere to set it on. So we called Megan and Jarrod...and it would be 15 minutes before they showed up. Daniel took advantage of the time to get down on his knees (to get something out of his backpack, so I wasn't suspecting a thing) and ask me if I would wear his ring. Of course I said yes! He had surprised me so much that all of the wonderful phrases that I thought I might say when he asked comepletely left my head, but I don't think that really mattered. We didn't want anyone to know so soon what had happened, so I didn't put the ring on until after Megan and Jarrod had come and gone. We walked over to the Century Tree (since we're Aggies, and tradition is a BIG thing) and sat there for a while with his sparkling white grape juice. We eventually made it back to his dorm to get our stuff together and I called my mom. He called his parents later that evening, and then I called my best friend back home.
I considered telling Hannah (my housemate) on Sunday, but she just wasn't noticing, no matter how obvious I made it. So I decided to have some fun with the whole thing. Whenever I talked to her I cupped my chin in my hands with the ring RIGHT THERE...and nothing. When her mom called and I answered, I deliberately switched the phone to my left hand before giving it to her...still nothing. She finally noticed Tuesday night when Daniel and I had been in her room talking to her for 5 minutes and I kept messing with the ring. (If only I didn't have such a habit of fiddling with jewelry, she might still not know). So after that I figured we might as well let the cat out of the bag and posted on LJ. There are still a few people that don't know, but thankfully I haven't been completely bombarded with questions like I was afraid I would be.
The wedding date that we're hoping for is July 7, 2007. Yes, it's 777, but it will also make our anniversary dates the 7th, 8th, and 9th. That'll be great for easy math later in life when people want to know how long we've been together, engaged, or married. (I know, I know - we're cheaters).
So that's it. End of story. Hope that satisfies everyone's questions, because I don't feel like being much more detailed.
I suppose I should start at the very, very beginning.
Daniel and I met in October 2004 through the Chi Alpha group at Texas A&M University. We started dating about a month later on November 8. Since then I've met his parents several times, he's met mine, and we've gone through a nasty 3 month summer where I was stuck in College Station working and taking classes and he was stuck in Flower Mound working and taking classes. We probably started seriously talking about marriage in February, but since we both agreed that it would be impractical to get married before we were out of school, we didn't do much more than talk. We did come to the conclusion later in the summer that it wouldn't hurt to get engaged anytime between then and summer 2007, so we went and looked at rings after he got back to College Station for the fall semester. This September we went home for my birthday (we went a week late, same time as hurricane Rita), and at that time he went to talk to my parents. I wasn't there for that conversation, but I've been told by both sides that it was very positive thing. After that, I was at his mercy as to when he would ask.
One of the things both of our parents had asked for when we went home was pictures. So on Sunday, October 9, I called Daniel before church to ask him what he was wearing (to try and match) and to tell him to grab his camera. At that point he decided on the spur of the moment that it would be THAT day, so he got everything together, including sparkling white grape juice and dry ice from the grocery store. We hadn't been in church long before he leaned over and asked me if I wanted Olive Garden for dinner, and of course I said yes. Once church finally let out we went out, had a wonderful meal, and came back to campus to take pictures. The location that he originally wanted was being used by the Corps of Cadets for something, so we walked over to Academic Plaza instead. We were going to take the pictures ourselves since his camera has a timer function, but we couldn't find a convenient ledge anywhere to set it on. So we called Megan and Jarrod...and it would be 15 minutes before they showed up. Daniel took advantage of the time to get down on his knees (to get something out of his backpack, so I wasn't suspecting a thing) and ask me if I would wear his ring. Of course I said yes! He had surprised me so much that all of the wonderful phrases that I thought I might say when he asked comepletely left my head, but I don't think that really mattered. We didn't want anyone to know so soon what had happened, so I didn't put the ring on until after Megan and Jarrod had come and gone. We walked over to the Century Tree (since we're Aggies, and tradition is a BIG thing) and sat there for a while with his sparkling white grape juice. We eventually made it back to his dorm to get our stuff together and I called my mom. He called his parents later that evening, and then I called my best friend back home.
I considered telling Hannah (my housemate) on Sunday, but she just wasn't noticing, no matter how obvious I made it. So I decided to have some fun with the whole thing. Whenever I talked to her I cupped my chin in my hands with the ring RIGHT THERE...and nothing. When her mom called and I answered, I deliberately switched the phone to my left hand before giving it to her...still nothing. She finally noticed Tuesday night when Daniel and I had been in her room talking to her for 5 minutes and I kept messing with the ring. (If only I didn't have such a habit of fiddling with jewelry, she might still not know). So after that I figured we might as well let the cat out of the bag and posted on LJ. There are still a few people that don't know, but thankfully I haven't been completely bombarded with questions like I was afraid I would be.
The wedding date that we're hoping for is July 7, 2007. Yes, it's 777, but it will also make our anniversary dates the 7th, 8th, and 9th. That'll be great for easy math later in life when people want to know how long we've been together, engaged, or married. (I know, I know - we're cheaters).
So that's it. End of story. Hope that satisfies everyone's questions, because I don't feel like being much more detailed.