# Holy crap, I'm engaged! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524 "2007-02-16T18:49:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mlerose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@mlerose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlerose)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/1 "2007-02-16T18:49:20Z")
I realize I’m a long-time lurker and nobody here likely even recognizes my username, but last night my boyfriend of 5.5 years proposed to me, and I was completely surprised! EEEE!!! So today, I am completely useless at work, and I feel like I have to tell the whole world! _happy dance_ Here’s the story, in case anyone is interested: We’ve been talking for a long time about wedding stuff, particularly since Christmas, because of some family-related stuff (my sister got engaged last fall, so we have to work around her wedding; we’re in a wedding this fall for some of our best friends; his brother is going to be in the states for 10 months doing language training for his next foreign service assignment (Latvia). So we’d pretty much already settled on a time (Fall of 08) but I had no idea he was planning to propose soon (he told me “within the next year”). We’ve also been looking at (and talking about) rings and stones for over a year. On Monday, I came home from work to find a box with a suspicious return address on the back porch. I didn’t investigate too closely, not wanting to ruin any surprise that I knew he wanted to do. So when he got home from school that night I told him “there’s a box on your dresser” and he said “o rly?” and then he disappeared into the bedroom for a while and came back out with a big smile on his face. So I was a little suspicious. We had decided a few weeks ago to go out to dinner on February 15 (Valentine’s day is for amateurs; he’s been a server for a long time and knows how tough VDay can be for a restaurant, and it’s a lot easier to get a reservation and good service the day after). So I decided to surprise him on Wednesday, and I made him a really nice dinner and dessert that we ate when he got home from class that night. After dessert he said “Do you want your present now?” and I said “I thought you were giving it to me tomorrow.” He said “You might want it for tomorrow,” and went into the bedroom and came out with a pretty box. Inside were peridot earrings and a pendant and I squeed a little. So pretty! And obviously, that’s what must have been in the mysterious box. So I totally was not expecting anything but a nice dinner last night, and he surprised me by taking me to a REALLY nice restaurant (Denver Chop House, for Denver-area dopers). We had wine and dinner and he insisted on ordering dessert. In between dinner and dessert, he took my silver claddagh I’ve been wearing for 5 years (on my right hand of course) and did a magic trick with it (he’s been doing slight-of-hand type tricks since he was a kid, but usually with cards and coins). Anyhow, this was a trick with a napkin, and he took my silver ring and turned it into one made of white gold with a sapphire and asked me to marry him! WHEEEEE!!! I was totally shocked and didn’t even realize what was happening until he opened the napkin with the pretty new ring. It was totally HIM to propose that way, and I was thrilled, and surprised, and I’m having a hard time doing anything at work today but looking at my hand. Completely mundane and pointless (to everyone but me!) but I just had to share. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/2 "2007-02-16T18:54:34Z")
Let me be the first here to say CONGRATULATIONS!!! ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/3 "2007-02-16T18:57:25Z")
Wow, that’s a great way to propose. And nice misdirection with the presents - clearly your fiancé is a smart feller. Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/4 "2007-02-16T19:01:03Z")
Congratulations! Very romantic man you’ve got there. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/5 "2007-02-16T19:01:13Z")
Yay! What a great story! Having been very happily married for 18+ years, I can attest to the fact that _nothing_ makes the bad stuff less bad, or the good stuff better, than having the right person to share it with! Many congratulations to both of you. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/6 "2007-02-16T19:06:31Z")
run ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/7 "2007-02-16T19:10:23Z")
Awww. 🙂 Congratulations! About that foreign service post… make sure it’s actually Latvia and not [Lat **ver** ia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latveria). But even the Latvians can be tough. The [President of Latvia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaira_V%C4%AB%C4%B7e-Freiberga) cut me off on the 427 one day a few months ago when I was going to work. Truth! The bus I was on was blocked by her motorcade. (She’s well-known here for being a former Canadian.) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/8 "2007-02-16T19:19:23Z")
Congratulations! He must have had an exciting time trying to hold all that in! I do recognize your username, BTW. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/9 "2007-02-16T19:36:52Z")
What a cool way to propose! And I approve the sapphire choice (my engagement ring’s sapphire and platinum). Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/10 "2007-02-16T19:38:54Z")
I know you! So congratulations!!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/11 "2007-02-16T19:49:05Z")
Congratulations! I love the ring story. And I did recognize your name, because I was so happy when I figured out how to read it correctly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/12 "2007-02-16T19:53:33Z")
What a great story! He totally fooled you! Also have to give a shout out to the white gold w/sapphire arrangement-- both my e-ring and my wedding band (which are now soldered together) are sapphire in white gold setting–and his wedding band has two little sapphires to match. It’s awesome having something different and unique so I applaud his good taste! Also I always get happy when people who have been together for a long time become engaged. I was with Dom 4 years before we married and I don’t regret waiting. It’s important to give it time–the best gift ever is marrying someone and knowing who they are instead of having to wonder. Congrats and Olives, Christy ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/13 "2007-02-16T20:49:12Z")
Okay, awesome for you and really awesome proposal technique by him. I love the magic trick part!!! But I have a question. And I’m dead serious about this: Does the engagement start when you talk about marriage or when there’s jewelry involved? I always assumed that when the intention to marry has been made clear, that’s “engaged.” ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/14 "2007-02-16T20:58:17Z")
> [@kalhoun](#): > > Does the engagement start when you talk about marriage or when there’s jewelry involved? I always assumed that when the intention to marry has been made clear, that’s “engaged.” ISTM that it’s not “official” until the question has been asked and answered (in the affirmative!) Hopefully, you don’t have to wait until there’s jewelry involved, or my “engagement” didn’t start until our wedding day, which is when I got a gold-electroplate wedding band from Ames. I didn’t get real gold and gemstones until we’d been married a couple of years! But counting the fact that intentions have been made clear as an “engagement” becomes awkward. Conversations like the following ensue: “Well, I’m engaged!” “Congratulations! When’s the happy day?” “I’m not sure” " 😕 " “Well, he hasn’t proposed yet, and I haven’t said yes yet, but we fully intend to get married, someday” See? awkward. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/15 "2007-02-16T21:16:44Z")
[QUOTE=SpoilerVirgin] And I did recognize your name, because I was so happy when I figured out how to read it correctly. 🙂 [/QUOTE] This got me to take a second look…“Emily Rose”? Purty. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mlerose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@mlerose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlerose)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/16 "2007-02-16T21:25:57Z")
Thanks, everybody! I’m still completely on Cloud 9. **Kalhoun** , my mom has been ribbing me about that very thing for a few months now. I guess I just didn’t feel right saying “engaged” until he proposed (and I would have been fine with a proposal sans ring, but I knew he wanted to pick out a ring - I tried on lots, he knew my taste and size, and I was completely at peace with him picking the ring himself). I think it’s because I knew that he wanted to propose, and he wanted to give me a ring, and he wanted it to be a surprise, so I didn’t consider us “engaged” until he did all that. Last night. I am so thrilled about the ring, because we both love the symbology of the claddagh, but I’d never seen one without a heart-shaped center stone, which I really didn’t want. But he managed to find one - it’s the hands that make the heart shape around the stone, and the sapphire is an oval. From afar, it just looks like a somewhat unusual setting. And yep, it’s Emily Rose, and I am so glad that bad horror movie came out because I got a little tired of hearing my name called any time I walked through the kid’s area of a mall. I hope it drives down the popularity of my name! ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/17 "2007-02-16T21:26:53Z")
Love the way he did it and the ring sounds gorgeous (I prefer most other stones to diamonds). Congrats! ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/18 "2007-02-16T21:56:13Z")
[QUOTE=mlerose] I realize I’m a long-time lurker and nobody here likely even recognizes my username, [/quote] Don’t be silly – I even remember the saga of Petra and the swallowed needle and thread! 🙂 > [@mlerose](#): > > but last night my boyfriend of 5.5 years proposed to me, and I was completely surprised! EEEE!!! _ **Mazel Tov!** _ And what an adorable and romantic story. You go, Girl! Here’s hoping for a lifetime of happiness for the two of you. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/19 "2007-02-16T22:03:25Z")
Well, awesome! Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524/20 "2007-02-16T22:10:25Z")
Congratulations, **mlerose**! And yes, your username is vaguely familiar! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-im-engaged/392524.md?page=2)