Put a Ring on It

Lookee what I got over the holidays!

It wasn't a complete surprise, but it was somewhat of a surprise.  R and I have been together for...well...depends upon when you count from.  Could be 7 or 8 years, could be 2ish.  I generally say about 5, because we moved in together and bought this house about then.

Anyway, over that time, of course the subject of marriage has come up.  I wasn't too anxious to get it done though.  We have both been through divorces, and it just kind of left me not ever wanting to go through that again.  I felt like I wanted us to make the choice to stay together every day, not just stay because it was too complicated to leave.

But, we've been through a lot over the past couple of years.  I lost my job, we lost a pregnancy, he lost his mind a time or two, and we both lost our tempers more than once.  And through all those hard times, I knew with all my heart that there was no one on earth I'd rather be with than R.

He's known that about me for...7 or 8 years.  But I've been a bit more hard headed about it.

Anyway, so we've looked at rings.  And I picked out my dream ring.  And it was expensive.  And it wasn't gonna happen within the next 10 years.  So, finally I subtly suggested to him that I might marry him, even without THE ring.  He found this one totally on his own, and I am blown away by how fabulous it is.

So I know you want to know how it happened.  I had suspected it was coming, because he kept dropping not so subtle hints, including being quite jumpy that he was receiving "a package" on a certain day, and he didn't want this package to sit outside, and someone had to be home when it came, etc...  And then he was singing, "Yes" by Chad Brock in the shower Christmas Eve morning!

We had friends over Christmas Eve afternoon, and as we were preparing, R kept asking if I wanted to open a present that night.  I actually kind of like surprises and anticipation, so I wasn't too into the idea.  But he kept bringing it up!  And finally I said, whatever, that's fine, we can each open one.

So I gave him pants.  Which seems rather lame in retrospect.

He handed me this big box that weighed a ton.  I accused him of wrapping up weights for me.  Turned out, it was a rusty old trailer hitch.  And a tiny little velvet box.  He says he only put the hitch in there to throw me off, but we later decided it was kind of perfect, since he was asking me to "get hitched!"

I opened the ring box, and there was this gorgeous diamond and platinum ring.  I can't get over how sparkly it is!  And I didn't choose platinum, but I love it so much now that I have it.

Oh, and what did he say?  I honestly don't remember exactly, but it was something to the effect of, "So can we get married now?"  Which seems really unromantic when I write it out, but it wasn't that way.

I was shocked at how emotional I was.  I mean, we've been together forever.  We've talked about this.  I pretty much knew the ring was coming.  But seeing it, and putting it on, and him asking me, it was different.  I cried, and I hugged him for a long time.

He wanted to put it on Facebook right away, but I made him wait until we'd at least told our immediate families.  So, we told our moms Christmas Day, and I told my dad the day after.  (For the record, his and Step-monster's reactions were kind of like, eh, whatever, it's pretty.  WTF?!)

My grandma was completely over the moon with joy though.  And so is R's daughter, S.  I'm not sure if she really loves me that much, or if she's just excited at the prospect of being in a wedding.  Either way.

So, that was my big present.  I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and a happy New Year!