he asked!
We were in Costa Rica. I didn't have much idea why we were in Costa Rica, beyond that he said his credit card had gifted him with a bunch of bonus points that could be cheaply converted into a few nights at a luxury beachside resort, so. We hopped on a plane and flew down there, and promptly got with the mellowing out poolside and just generally enjoying life.
Then one night he suggested, "hey, tomorrow morning let's get up early and watch the sunrise from the beach." Now, this is a boy that had cardboard stapled over his windows before I moved in, and regularly has to be crowbarred out of bed on a weekend morning, so right away I knew something was up. I didn't know of course, but there was suspicion. So I casually agreed, and the next morning we trekked down to the soft-sanded beach, all of it to ourselves, and waited. Every now and then his hand would dive into his pocket and I would sorta suck my breath in, high on anticipation, but then he'd just pull out his phone and take another picture of the changing sky. Then I'd let it all out, deflated, and convince myself my imagination was in overdrive.
Then he snuggled me from behind and out it came, the rock, still in a case with no ring attached. "I never buy jewelry for you," he said. "But here this is, and it's yours." And that was that - I never said 'yes' because technically he never asked, we both just knew. (It's been 7 years. It's time.)
We lazed on some beachside chairs for a while, then decided the sun was high enough we should go get breakfast. We passed the newly arrived towel boy on our way, who apologized for having missed us. "No te preocupes," I assured him. "No worries. We were here before you got here, to watch the sun rise. In fact, this boy just asked me to marry him."
His eyes popped out of his head and he asked "En serio?". He fell over himself giving congratulations, then invited us to sit back down so he could rush back to the main kitchen and fetch some champagne. LOL. He brought back a co-worker, who popped the bottle for us, and they poured a couple of glasses for us and took photos.
That was all Thursday morning; we spent the day on Friday coming back to the USA and now I'm back in the house with access to electronics again and just now spreading the news. I'm aiming for next spring, depending on whether my hoped-for venue is available. Finally, it's all happening!