Recent events
Well, I know it's been over a year. I'm sorry that I've alienated all 3 of my friends. But I figured that.. something significant needed to happen to really kick my butt back into gear.
Quite frankly, one of the most significant things that a person goes through in life ... yeah, it happened to me yesterday.
I got engaged.
I'm sure that if you're reading this, you're coming from my wife's journal. You've heard her side... maybe you'd care to read mine:
Here's my story:
Last saturday we ordered the diamond and the setting, and they were going to put it together that week. I put a deposit on the ring, but had to pay it off. She knew it was coming -- she just had no idea when.
That Thursday, I went down with the rest of the cash, and paid it off. I didn't tell her, and told her that I was "WAYYYY" too busy to pick it up, and because our principal had died, we had a memorial ceremony, so I had just stayed at the school (the ceremony was true, but the "busy" was not 100%).
Essentially, I played off the fact that I had picked up the ring, and I wanted to allude to the idea that I didn't. That worked 100% -- I had thought.
Fast forward to saturday. one of my co-workers was going to throw a party, and I had placed the ring in the glove compartment of my car. Why? Well, here's the plan:
I'm a very annoying person. I play lots of video games, and I'm always late to every function. It was my goal to annoy her as to help take her mind off the ring, and just worry about how annoyed I was. Granted, I was no more annoying than usual, but that was the point: To make her think that everything was normal.
I was going to fake a headache, and ask my girlfriend to get my advil out of the car, where the ring was going to be. I was going to propose in the car because she'd never expect it, and it seems totally spontaneous, and I thought it was totally appropriate, and totally me. While it sounds cheesy, if you knew me in person, you'd understand totally.
Anyhow, we went out (in Cathy's car) to a friend's house for brunch. I had memorized their phone # earlier in the week and called them (a married couple) when I got the ring. Thank GOD I did this... it becomes instrumental later on.
We get back from brunch, and are at our friends house. we were going to leave, go back to Cathy's, change, then take my car to the party (as per above). However, I forgot the directions to the party, so I call ANOTHER co-worker to get the directions. Everything was going well....
.... until I was told that the party was cancelled because the host came down with the flu. At this point I came down with a REAL nasty headache from stress, and took some advil (for real). The entire plan I came up for, which hinged on the party, is completely shattered.
Then, for some UNKNOWN reason, Cathy asks Tracy (of the married couple) to come check out this music vid she made that was on the net (Thank God she did that!). This leaves Steve and I in the living room. He begins to give me the best shoulder massage ever, and I say "Steve, what the hell am I going to do... I need you to take me back to Cathy's so I can get the ring, but I don't know how I'm going to get us out, and what I'm gonna do after that"...
Then, for SOME REASON, Tracy comes downstairs as Cathy is working on downloading the video. Steve, Tracy, and I come up with a plan: Cathy and Tracy will take the new puppy, Kit, for a LOONG walk in the nearby state park, and Steve and I will drive the 20 mins (each way) back to Cathy's to get the ring out of my car, and drive back -- I'd work the rest out from there.
So, the plan commences -- they leave, then we leave and pick up the ring... on the way back, we decide to stop at the state park to meet them, because, well, a forest is as good a place as ever. After the most stressful 15 minutes of my life, we see the three of them walking up the path.. I give her a hug, the 5 of us (the dog, can't forget the dog), walked back to the car(s).
Right before she gets into the car, I say "hey", and give her a big big kiss. As I'm kissing her, I take the ring box out of my jacket, and press the box into her hand. She doesn't quite catch on, then calls me a jerk when she realizes what it is. She begins to laugh, and it quickly turns into tears. And suddenly, we see the sun set beyond the trees, and that's when I take the knee.
The rest, as they say, is history.
I couldn't have done it without our friends, but wow -- I wanted to be spontaneous -- and damn, it couldn't get more spontaneous than that!
I'll try to be a bit more... faithful in my posting now.
Quite frankly, one of the most significant things that a person goes through in life ... yeah, it happened to me yesterday.
I got engaged.
I'm sure that if you're reading this, you're coming from my wife's journal. You've heard her side... maybe you'd care to read mine:
Here's my story:
Last saturday we ordered the diamond and the setting, and they were going to put it together that week. I put a deposit on the ring, but had to pay it off. She knew it was coming -- she just had no idea when.
That Thursday, I went down with the rest of the cash, and paid it off. I didn't tell her, and told her that I was "WAYYYY" too busy to pick it up, and because our principal had died, we had a memorial ceremony, so I had just stayed at the school (the ceremony was true, but the "busy" was not 100%).
Essentially, I played off the fact that I had picked up the ring, and I wanted to allude to the idea that I didn't. That worked 100% -- I had thought.
Fast forward to saturday. one of my co-workers was going to throw a party, and I had placed the ring in the glove compartment of my car. Why? Well, here's the plan:
I'm a very annoying person. I play lots of video games, and I'm always late to every function. It was my goal to annoy her as to help take her mind off the ring, and just worry about how annoyed I was. Granted, I was no more annoying than usual, but that was the point: To make her think that everything was normal.
I was going to fake a headache, and ask my girlfriend to get my advil out of the car, where the ring was going to be. I was going to propose in the car because she'd never expect it, and it seems totally spontaneous, and I thought it was totally appropriate, and totally me. While it sounds cheesy, if you knew me in person, you'd understand totally.
Anyhow, we went out (in Cathy's car) to a friend's house for brunch. I had memorized their phone # earlier in the week and called them (a married couple) when I got the ring. Thank GOD I did this... it becomes instrumental later on.
We get back from brunch, and are at our friends house. we were going to leave, go back to Cathy's, change, then take my car to the party (as per above). However, I forgot the directions to the party, so I call ANOTHER co-worker to get the directions. Everything was going well....
.... until I was told that the party was cancelled because the host came down with the flu. At this point I came down with a REAL nasty headache from stress, and took some advil (for real). The entire plan I came up for, which hinged on the party, is completely shattered.
Then, for some UNKNOWN reason, Cathy asks Tracy (of the married couple) to come check out this music vid she made that was on the net (Thank God she did that!). This leaves Steve and I in the living room. He begins to give me the best shoulder massage ever, and I say "Steve, what the hell am I going to do... I need you to take me back to Cathy's so I can get the ring, but I don't know how I'm going to get us out, and what I'm gonna do after that"...
Then, for SOME REASON, Tracy comes downstairs as Cathy is working on downloading the video. Steve, Tracy, and I come up with a plan: Cathy and Tracy will take the new puppy, Kit, for a LOONG walk in the nearby state park, and Steve and I will drive the 20 mins (each way) back to Cathy's to get the ring out of my car, and drive back -- I'd work the rest out from there.
So, the plan commences -- they leave, then we leave and pick up the ring... on the way back, we decide to stop at the state park to meet them, because, well, a forest is as good a place as ever. After the most stressful 15 minutes of my life, we see the three of them walking up the path.. I give her a hug, the 5 of us (the dog, can't forget the dog), walked back to the car(s).
Right before she gets into the car, I say "hey", and give her a big big kiss. As I'm kissing her, I take the ring box out of my jacket, and press the box into her hand. She doesn't quite catch on, then calls me a jerk when she realizes what it is. She begins to laugh, and it quickly turns into tears. And suddenly, we see the sun set beyond the trees, and that's when I take the knee.
The rest, as they say, is history.
I couldn't have done it without our friends, but wow -- I wanted to be spontaneous -- and damn, it couldn't get more spontaneous than that!
I'll try to be a bit more... faithful in my posting now.