Our Story, Part IX

(Go here for Part VIII.)

Dan came to visit me one weekend in June of 1995. It was June 24th, to be exact. I figured this would be THE weekend. You know, his proposal? Because it was the last time we’d see each other before our trip to Dad’s wedding the following weekend.

For some reason I can’t remember, his parents were in Columbia that night too. That was odd, and I was convinced it was because he was going to propose at dinner. I was on pins and needles all through dinner. And then we paid the bill. And then we left. And still no ring. My mind continued spinning ideas of the proposal. I thought that maybe he’d drive me to campus to propose at the Columns. But we were heading away from campus in his car. Ugh! The suspense was killing me. I kind of just gave up and stopped trying to second guess for a little while. I remember being in the car and asking him if he had written to me in our notebook (the one that we would write back and forth to each other in). He said that he had, and I asked him where it was. I wanted to read it right there in the car. He said to wait and he’d get it when we got to my apartment.

My next memory of that night is going into my apartment and into my room to talk. I remember Dan sitting on my bed, and asking me to get him something to drink. Ah ha! That’s when my suspicions went on red alert because he would never have asked me to do that if something wasn’t up. (I would have just told him, “Go get it yourself!” Ah, true love.) So I agreed to get him some water, and went to the fridge. I made sure to take my time and be noisy, so he could prepare just in case he was getting something ready. Ha, ha.

I brought the water back to my room, and he was still sitting on the bed. The only difference was he had our notebook on the bed. Uh, okay. I gave him his water and sat down to open the notebook. And here is what I found:
Of course, I immediately squealed and probably said something like, “Really?!” He pulled out a ring box and opened it and said, “Will you do me the honor of being my wife?” I hugged him and squealed again and said yes. Oh, my heart was overflowing by this point. Pure happiness! I was especially thrilled with the ring. We had looked at rings together previously, but this one was different than other settings I had seen. It was way better than I ever imagined, and I was so happy to wear a ring that he picked out on his own for me. After a moment, I ran to my roommate’s door and knocked. In her usual can’t-be-bothered style, she opened her door and said pretty dully, “He proposed, didn’t he?” I said yes, and she smiled and hugged me and ooohed and aaahed over the ring then went back to her room. Then Dan and I made the obligatory phone calls and told my family and his family.

I will be forever grateful that Dan proposed to me in this way. I am still so happy to have his proposal on paper, in a place that I’ll never forget. He knew me so well, and knew how very much I like the written word. He used the best way he knew how to commit his life to me. I couldn’t ask for more!

So here’s the question: does Our Story need to continue? There’s still so much more I could tell you about planning our wedding while we were separated, moving in together, our first big fight (as a married couple), losing my engagement ring, moving to a new town, having babies, and all the ensuing details. I’ll have to ponder whether the story should stop here, or continue on. I think the true question is this: are there more details my kids might want to know one day? Because this story is truly for them.