The Engagement!

It's been a few months now, but I'm finally getting around to writing about the big night! It happened on November 5th. The actual asking wasn't really a surprise, but I didn't know what Mitch had planned. We've been talking about getting married for months- since even before our summer road trip. After the road trip talk got more serious- we spent 6 weeks together in a car and didn't kill each other- in fact we still really loved each other and wanted to keep spending time together! 

I may have been a bit persistent... we even discussed potential dates/time of year and settled on October. It's gorgeous in Tucson, we have a week off for Fall Break, both of our parents, and all of Mitch's siblings were married in the fall, and it gave enough time to plan. But after more than a few weeks and no "official" engagement, I was getting antsy! I mentioned, again, that I would like to get things going because I wanted to start planning and would need time. And pointed out that if we were shooting for October, we were a year out. Mitch responded with "Well, I've been trying to go bowling!" to which i answered "I didn't know bowling was so important- lets go bowling. I thought you were just casually wanting to bowl!" So we sent a date for "bowling"- November 5th, a Saturday evening.

November 6th is my dad's birthday, so my mom had invited us over for dinner on the 5th to celebrate. We agreed to bowling afterward. As i thought more about it though, I was a little worried Mitch was going to propose in the bowling alley. Not exactly the most romantic setting... yes we went bowling on our first date, but lets be real- bowling alleys are filthy and always smell like oil and grease and stale beer. Not what I had envisioned... But i went with it and figured, no matter what, I'm going to marry the man I love who is truly a perfect match. Then I had to worry about what to wear- I wanted to look cute, but also bowling appropriate. Oh the life of a woman... 

I have to admit- I underestimated him. We went bowling, just one quick game, then he said we were going downtown. We drove down to 4th avenue, just like we had on our 1st date, walked past Brooklyn Pizza (but skipped the slice since we had just eaten) and wandered into the Flycatcher. We ran into a friend who we had bumped into that first night (he really did his homework and planned for serendipity) and then he decided we needed a shot. Of tequila. Well tequila. I obliged and he told me later he needed a bit of liquid courage, but well tequila was perhaps not a great decision. 

We continued to walk, reminisced about that first date, laughed about how bad well tequila is, and I corrected his directions when he tried to turn the wrong way. He asked if I knew where we were going, and I told him I had a hunch and if I was correct, we needed to turn left and go under the underpass. He knew better than to question my directions, and we ended up where I expected- right in front of Borderlands Brewery. There was a private event (a wedding to be exact) going on, so we couldn't go in, but listened to one of the speeches while Mitch commented that he needed the bathroom. We checked a nearby port-a-potty, but found it locked. So we walked down the block to the Bates Mansion, formerly the Maker House. We had stopped there on our first date as well and played some old video games- maybe mortal combat? I know it involved fighting and I lost miserably because my tactic of "just hit a lot of buttons and move the joystick in circles" proved ineffective.

He insisted we go in so he could use the bathroom. I insisted we not since there was clearly a wedding taking place- we could hear the music from outside the walls. He walked in anyway, so I nervously followed, all the while glaring at him (and feeling particularly under dressed in my casual attire). I loitered in the entrance, hoping no one would see me and wondering what in the world was taking him so long. He FINALLY came back and told me to follow him. I refused, and said we needed to leave. He wouldn't take no for answer and insisted I follow. I nervously laughed, shook my head, probably called him nuts, and followed anyway. We snuck around the corner to a small room that was empty. It held a couch and a few chairs, a pool table, and empty hangers I assumed belonged to the groom and groomsmen. Laughing all the while, I told him I could not believe we were there and that we were crashing a wedding! He reminded me we crashed a party our first date (it appeared to be a company Christmas party at then AquaDec) so he figured it was only fitting. Then he slid off the couch and on to one knee and asked if I would marry him.

I laughed and said of course and kissed him. He snuck out again and went to the bar and got two glasses of champagne so we could toast. All night he had been checking his phone and he said he had to make a call. I was perplexed, but a few minutes later a woman came in and shook his hand and he explained he had called ahead to make sure we could sneak in. She also told him the dates he asked about were open, and she'd be happy to talk more another time. 

Like I said, I underestimated him! He did an excellent job of not only planning a great evening, revisiting our first date spots, but had been doing some calling to find out about Bates Mansion as a venue (spoiler: We booked it!). After the official proposal, we stole the bride and grooms Polaroids, snapped a quick pic for ourselves and one for their guest book, and walked back to Congress street for some Hub ice cream. I couldn't stop smiling. We stopped in to The SHanty to wish a friend a happy birthday and officially told him the news. We then stopped at my best friend, Steph's house, because we had parked in front of it, she knew what was going down, and I figured it would be a good time to get a photo.

We decided to be really classy and used the TV screen saver with a lovely image of London as a backdrop and did the classic ring-hand on chest pose. While kneeling in front of the TV and laughing. The ring was my grandma's ring from the 1940's. I've had it for years, my mom had it before I did and passed it down years ago. I've long dreamed of wearing it, but its clearly a diamond engagement ring so it has been sitting in my jewelry box instead. Mitch polished it and it fits perfectly and I love the classic look and sparkle as well as the sentimental value of wearing a ring that belonged to a woman that I loved and who inspired me so much.

There you have it- the details of The Engagement. But regardless of how it went down (perfectly, I might add), I'm truly so happy and excited to marry Mitch. I love him with my entire heart, I enjoy his company, he makes me laugh the way no one else ever has, knows just what to say when I'm down, and is the most supportive partner a girl could ever ask for. I am very lucky.