Engaged

The common question is “Did you know it was coming?” In general, maybe a bit. We had talked about getting engaged. I knew a ring was in the works. But I honestly had stopped trying to guess when it would happen.  So when J asked me if he could plan something for my birthday, I figured it was just that.

I was not completely thrilled with turning 29, but I said ok, if it was small and low key. He set up a dinner with our close friends at the restaurant we had our first date at. When we got there J did a very quick (too quick?) “look around” and said “No one is here yet, let’s walk down to the tide pools.” Hand in hand we started walking down the beach.

A few minutes into our walk I noticed we weren’t really walking toward the shore’s edge where the tide pools were. J was even leading me away from the shoreline, more inland. That’s when I started to get suspicious. I said something to him, about what, I don’t remember. But his response came after a 5 second pause and went something like “what? oh. yeah.” Ok, he was clearly distracted. Something is going on. Is something going on right now? Is this it? No, this isn’t it. Chill Jules.

The only part I really remember was J turning to me and saying “Bub, this is it.” (Wait, did he say ‘bub’? Or ‘babe’? Or ‘Jules’?) He said a lot of sweet things (yes, I cried, I’m a crier) and I could tell that he prepared what he was going to say ahead of time. But I really don’t remember what he said. I don’t even remember if I physically said ‘yes’. Maybe I just nodded my head? (The good news is this sneaky dude not only had it filmed but he also had his phone recording sound in his jacket pocket!)

After I said yes (duh) J told me we had about an hour until our friends met us. None of them knew the plan. I couldn’t wait till they got there so we could share the news! J had some catered champagne and appetizers set up at a nearby picnic table for us to indulge in while I sat in surprised shock.

Being able to share the news with our friends as they arrived was so special. Everyone was so genuinely happy (“finally!!”), we felt so loved. We had a nice dinner (I could barely eat, I was still in shock) and then headed back to our house for some more drinks and desert. (And then a random drunk guy walked right into our house, mumbling incoherently…there’s a story to tell the kid(s) on mom and dad’s engagement, am I right?)