A funny thing happens to a girl in her early twenties when she’s been dating the same guy since high school. She starts to wonder when he’s going to propose. It was late September 2003. My long time friend and roommate Krissy, had been dating her boyfriend Bill for about a year and they were already talking about marriage. Ryan and I had been together much, MUCH longer and I was starting to get . . . impatient. After many years together, I knew he was the one, and that we’d end up married eventually, but I was starting to feel restless. We ended up having a big fight about it during one of our nightly phone calls. I told him I just wanted a timeline. It didn’t have to be really soon, I just needed to know it was coming. He told me that it would be quite a while. To buy a ring, you need money and he didn’t have any. After shedding a few disappointed tears, I hung up the phone and tried to put it out of my mind. Little did I know, as we argued that night Ryan was staring at a delicate blue ring box with a gold latch on it. Inside it was an engagement ring …
October 3, 2003 – Ten Years Ago Today
A few weeks after our phone call, Ryan suggested that we get dressed up and go out on a “fancy date night.” He had the perfect cover story all worked out. He told me his boss at work had given him a gift card for The Melting Pot. Since his boss was a single, he figured we’d have more fun at a romantic date place than he would. When Ryan arrived that night to pick me up it seemed like a pretty ordinary date night.
We headed to dinner and enjoyed every bite of cheese, steak and chocolate, snapping a few photos along the way. It doesn’t get much better than four yummy courses of fondue. We laughed and talked like any other night. Ryan seemed to be acting a little sillier than normal, but not all that out of character.
Dinner ended and we headed back to my apartment to watch a movie. As we were getting out of the car, Ryan asked me to walk around to the trunk because he had a surprise for me. He told me to close my eyes and hold out my hands. I had no idea what to expect as he placed a large plastic object in my hands. I opened my eyes to find . . . a hubcap. Not the most romantic moment of the evening, but it was pretty thoughtful considering my 85 Honda had been missing one for several months. I laughed and made a joke. “Ah yes. A hubcap. Just what every girl wants.” (Little did I know, this gift was just a diversion. How sneaky is that?)
We walked hand in hand to the front door of my apartment as I continued to joke about the romantic merits of his gift. I put the key in the door and opened it to find a dark room. As I slowly walked in and my eyes began to adjust, I realized that the room wasn’t dark after all. It was filled with tea lights and candles covering every surface. The scent of flowers filled my nose as I noticed the roses and lilies dotting the room like an indoor garden. I quickly turned to Ryan and said, “Oh no! We have to get out of here! Bill must be proposing to Krissy!” Ryan laughed and replied, “Or . . . it could be for you.” Oddly enough, that thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.
He took my hand and led me over to the big recliner in the living room. Then he handed me a box and told me to unwrap it. Inside was a soft, yellow pillow. Before I had a chance to ask what it was for, he took it from me and placed it on the ground. Then he kneeled down, resting his knee on the delicate pillow. He reached under the end table next to him and pulled out a blue ring box with a golden latch. He opened the box to reveal the beautiful round cut, diamond ring inside. “Will you marry me?”
As you can probably guess, I said YES! We recreated the event so my roommate could snap a few photos later that night :-) Ten years have past since that night and I still look at the ring on my finger and smile.
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Our Love Story | Part IV
A Perfect Proposal
October 3, 2013
Oct 3
Love this story! Happy Anniversary!
I love this. You guys are awesome :)