I'd love to read your story too so spill it then link up at Kimberly's Korner for all the world to see. Here's mine-
As you may recall, ahem, my birthday is in September. Hubs and I had been dating about four years off and on but the last couple of years we were just on, no off. We had talked about marriage so you can imagine my excitement when he handed me my birthday gift and it appeared to be a ring box. You can also imagine my surprise when I opened it only to discover it was not an engagement ring. At least I was pretty sure it wasn't (it wasn't). It was in fact a beautiful ring that I did not appreciate in that moment because hello, I was expecting a diamond. What I got instead was his grandmothers topaz that he'd had a jeweler set into a pretty band for me. Nice birthday present but oh the disappointment. Yes I was disappointed to get a beautiful topaz instead of a diamond engagement ring. And I'm pretty sure only a 23 year old girl would say that.
We were living two hours apart at this point because he had taken a job in Knoxville so we only saw each other on weekends for the last few months we dated. Christmas was approaching and I was going home to NJ for the holidays. Our plan was to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants before I left. We walked into the restaurant and were seated and then he immediately excused himself to go to the men's room which I thought was kind of annoying since the drive from his apt. had taken literally five minutes. Whatever. He returned to our table and we proceeded to look at the menu. I noticed a waitress working her way down the aisle carrying a tray with two glasses of champagne and a beautifully wrapped box with a balloon tied to the ribbon. I commented on this and said, 'Oh look, someone must be having a birthday.' My skills of observation are impressive, yes? Even when she stopped at our table it did not compute. There stood the waitress with her tray and champagne and the pretty box and a big beaming smile. There sat the future hubs kinda smiling, kinda sweating, and I think kinda not believing he was going to need to spell this out for me. And all around us sat our fellow diners who had quickly put it all together and had quieted down and were waiting for me to have the appropriate reaction. And I finally look at the waitress and say, "Oh this is for me?"
Ding Ding Ding...bells rang in my head, lights flashed, suddenly it all made sense. I snatched up that box and tore it open. He popped the question, I said yes and the rest, as they say, is history.
Oh, wait, the ring. I didn't pick it out and I don't even remember having a lot of conversation about what style I preferred. Hubs has always had excellent taste in jewelry which is one of the reasons I married him. Kidding! But I'm serious about his good taste. The ring was perfect and I loved it. Still do. Several years ago the diamond came out of the setting and hubs had it reset into a nicer band that I loved even more than the original.
Flash forward to today and if you read here, well, you know where that ring sits now. Right beside my wedding band which is also not on my finger but rather is resting in pieces in a hospital issued envelope. Rest assured we're still married but I had a bit of a mishap recently and my rings had to be cut off and are still awaiting repair.
Sometimes I'm a lot of trouble.
Hubs would not disagree.
Of course he wouldn't have proposed on your birthday when you were expecting it!
ReplyDeleteThat is such a sweet story!
oh was a nice story! I am posting my story now. You must tell the story of having your rings cut off!
ReplyDeletewhat a sweet story! (though, i would have done the same thing and not realize the surprise was for me!)
ReplyDeleteYou are so cute! i always love hearing this story! Love you!
ReplyDeleteJoyce, I'm glad, too! ha! I love your story! How sweet!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDH mentioned that he had intended to pop the question at the restaurant; I doubt if he would have had the foresight to do something as special as your hubs did ... but if he had, I would have probably been totally clueless. ;-) And yes, I'm GLAD that he went with his heart instead of waiting for the Cardinals to win the World Series! ha!
Great story! And of course your husband would not be predictable!
ReplyDeleteGreat story!!
ReplyDeleteAwww... What a great story! And continues to be a great story! Special memories.
ReplyDeleteuntil next time... nel
Good story. Weren't we silly in our 20's? Hope your ring is fixed soon
ReplyDeleteI once had a boyfriend who gave me his grandmother's ring instead of a diamond. We broke up later on and I honestly forgot to return the ring which had languished in the bottom of my jewelry box. I ran across it twenty years later and returned it to his mother. I just didn't feel right keeping it.
ReplyDeleteOh my, you sound just like me in my 20's! I am pretty sure I haven't changed all that much. I made sure I picked out my ring and I even knew the day along with the restaurant we were going to. Now I wish I had just let him do things his way. What a sweet story and a very loving husband you have.
ReplyDelete