I was all set to write this wonderfully flowery, long, drawn-out post about three things that are happening this month (none of them Thanksgiving). And then I realized, given the circumstances of the main, one, that to follow suit here really meant getting right down to the issue. That’s angelfire/lycos, so you will probably have to C&P it into your browser window for it to work.
The short version, then, is this:
I first contacted fizzestothetop around the beginning of August thanks to this thread. What can I say? You see someone like that and you have to serve notice even if she’s been married thirty thousand years (in which case you’d really have to serve notice:D).
So we talked … and talked … and talked. Within a week we’d had a 17-hour conversation (11 AM one day to, allowing for a very short break so she could get food once in a while, 4 AM next day). And circumstances were not as bad as they could have been; I’ve had crushes as far away as Sweden before (Anniz, among others), so it wasn’t as if I was facing a $600 plane ticket.
And the idea of her coming up to see me, and me showing her around GMU (since she’s wanted to get away from this area for a good while now) sounded nice, and we settled on the first weekend of October, which happened to be near (hehehe) my birthday and also close enough to (on) a dopefest that I could bring her up. As a friend, since she didn’t want a relationship (had just gotten out of one with a guy who, while not altogether abusive, was not anyone I’d wish to see dating anyone I kno/ew).
Her parents refused to be sold on this idea when she brought it up with them in September; that and the fact that her car was (and is) experiencing some problems with guzzling oil. So I made the 400+ mile trek on September 27 to a Hardeez on US 23 N to meet up with her.
Hot.
Damn.
Y’all are an awfully attractive bunch, but … dude.
I stayed the weekend and left, having met (and survived) her father, who approved of me basically because I wasn’t her ex(;)), and after a very tearful goodbye, drove back to school and proceeded to be more depressed than I think I’ve been all this year.
After a few days and a collective hour or so of talking about this, B (as I have been calling her, as it’s the first letter of her actual name and my name for her) and I decided that it would be best (read: not heart-wrenchingly painful) for me to drive back down that Thursday.
Thursday came, and I was planning to leave after my 720-835 PM class was over. There I was, talking via AIM to her, and behold she was feeling like shit. So I hopped into my car, drove home to get the brownies my grandmother had made for me, and drove to her place.
Or as far as I could get before my car broke down on I-81, near exit 60. 130-ish miles from her house.
Hmm, said I (well, not initially, but winners write history and I won;)). I hope B will be willing to pick me up from this podunk-like place. And indeed she was.
Waitaminnit. I said this was going to be short, and I’m practically outlining our dating history. Okay, let’s cut this short. Stayed with her for two and a half weeks while my car got fixx0red, mostly did the drive down thursday/up tuesday bit except once when I got sick and stayed until Friday. Haven’t been away from her for more than a week since.
Last Tuesday morning (3:30), I went up to her bed to go sleep with her (the snoring kind, not the happy fun wet kind) and as I was holding her I had the same urge I’d felt earlier in the day when we were watching a movie (Behind Enemy Lines, which makes no sense given the context…).
And I thought to myself “Self, where can I rent a few testicles to summon up the courage to ask her this?”
And I played with her right ring finger, stupidly thinking that’s where engagement rings and wedding bands went. And she started to wonder why the hell I was … fingering her finger:) And we embarked on the road called “Patrick gets rather nervous in situations akin to these, and it would really kill the mood if this didn’t go as he hopes it will” (which is a really long sign, by the way. Hard to miss, though).
Ultimately, I said to her “I want to marry you.” Not a question, I know. I was on both knees, but I was laying down on the bed. Far away from anything remotely resembling your stereotypical marriage proposal. And next out of my mouth was “Does that sound like a good idea to you?”
She turned to face me, and we smiled and sorta giggled for a bit and she squeezed me and suchlike and whispered her answer, which for those of you who have just joined us was yes.
I actually did ask her a few minutes later, for romance’s sake and all that. For those who were wondering what was up with my LJ entry “En-what?”, that’s what it is. En-gaged.
So why the delay (between asking and posting)? Well, for one, because we both (I more than she) wanted some time to just soak in it before we told anyone else outright. That’s actually the main reason, really. There were other little things (didn’t feel the burning desire to post about it on the boards, etc. Sometimes I actually do wait for the right [to me] moment;)) like not having a ring.
The ring we got today (yesterday, technically) at Zales. She saw it, asked to see it, picked it up and put it on and fell in love with it. We saw some of the most inexpensive (and not-bad looking) rings they had and some of the most expensive (biggest $ was an $8K that was basically a thick platinum band and a nice chunk of diamond. Not all that pretty, IMO. Says “I have no fashion sense, so I make up for it with my Wad O’Cash” to me).
And she clung to that ring and just kept looking at it and playing with it and putting it on and admiring her hand/finger/new toy.
And it became ever-apparent that as much as I had found her, she had found The One Ring. Bilbo Baggins, eat your heart out.
The only problem with this (which is another small reason we’ve waited to post about it) is her parents. They are, shall we say, living vicariously though her. They do not want her engaged right now or even five years from now. Her father said he isn’t ready for her to be engaged (we think he was trying to be amusing and mock the idea of her being engaged right now). So while her parents and siblings (so far, except for the one who lives in Oregon) are around, she keeps it, alternately, in her pocket or on a tiny gold chain around her neck. And when they aren’t around she, as she says, “I don’t feel naked when I have my ring on:)”
And the smile she gets on her face … she could compete with newborns, I swear.
We’re going to tell her parents eventually. Whether we can come up with a plan or whether she accidentally leaves it on and we have to explain then is another matter. And there’s no date set yet (we’ve not really got anything we want to do beforehand, but it would be rather impractical to get married, say, this summer), though we’ve entertained the idea of my parents’ 25th wedding anniversary, which is in June of 2004.
Oh. This month is also her one-year-anniversary of joining the board, and has I posted as her instead of logging her out even once more, it’d be a PCP (most posters never get to 150…) of sorts;) And today, being the 28th of November, is also the two month anniversary of the day we met in person, as well as our nine-day anniversary (was gonna post this Tuesday, but didn’t have the ring yet).
There. Done. :: pant pant pant ::
Now, if you’ll excuse me, my fiancée is upstairs sleeping, and I do believe I will go join her:)
