Engagement Story

Jeremy and I got engaged 3 years ago today. I can't believe it. It was so unexpected! Here's the LONG story. 

Friday, February 10, 2006

I remember the day so clearly. I didn't have class/school that Friday, so I was ready to go home pretty early in the day. Jeremy and I had planned a date night that evening because we had been so busy in January and February. This was the only night open, so we put it on the calendar. I drove to the education building to turn in my journal with my observation notes that morning. Jeremy said we had to drive separately because I had to get my emissions checked. I was going to follow him home though. I waited in the car because it was already thawed but Jeremy woke up late so I waited in the car a while. I ended up turning off the car, but I sat there because I didn't want to go in the house and wake Emily up. I saw the blinds go up and waved at her. I ended up going inside since she was up. We hadn't talked much that week because it had been so busy. My mom had asked early in the week if I wanted to get a massage on Friday. My fingers and toes go numb when it's cold, so she thought that might help. On my way home Momma called and said they'd made an appointment for me to go to the chiropractor. I had to rush home. Right when I got home, Daddy and I left for the Dr. Alexander's. We were on the way and I asked him where Momma was going because she was leaving when we left. He told me to go get a massage. I was really confused because I was supposed to go with her. He told me I was going later with Miriam. I was surprised that he knew what I was doing, but I trusted him! At the chiropractor I found out I had scoliosis. Then Daddy and I went to Winder to Zaxby's. Miriam met us there and we went to the spa. They ended up saying it would be better if Miriam didn't get a massage because she was a little less than 14 weeks pregnant. She ended up getting a facial though while I got a massage. Afterwards, she took me home and it was about 3:15. I had a paper due by 4, so I rushed to get it done and finished about 4 pm. Then I asked Momma, if I should take a shower. She said, "Um... Sure, I guess so." I hadn't taken a shower since the night after my b-ball game. Jeremy would be there at 4:45, so I'd be cutting it close on the time, but I thought me might be a little late. 

He was late... but he was late on purpose. He told me we were going to PF Changs, our favorite, but I still asked why we weren't trying something new. We went to PF Changs and there was a 30 minute wait. That's crazy, it was so early! We ended up going to Barnes and Noble for dessert before our meal. It kind of reversed our typical date. We ate our dessert in our normal spot. Jeremy had to leave the table to take a call because his phone was messed up. While there I spotted some people we knew out the window and we went to say hello. After we talked a minute we went to sit at our table. We weren't too hungry, so we got our typical crab rangoons and shared a crispy honey chicken. Our waiter wasn't very nice/good to us. We had our meal and he hadn't even given us plates. After we finished we went to Best Buy. Jeremy loves to walk around in there. 

Then we went back to his house because he told me we were going to watch Hotel Rwanda. It smelled like food and he told me his mom went to a party. When we got there he told me that he had lied to me about not getting me a valentine's day gift. You see we don't do really big things for this RANDOM day of the year that you are supposed to express your love. We do things during the year! Well he asked me to sit on the couch and close my eyes. I did. When he said I could open them, beside me was a guitar case. It was a Taylor, my dream guitar. I was so shocked! He kept telling me to open it, but I sat there and cried. I opened it, he told me the story about getting it, and I played a song. While I had the guitar in my hand, he said I have another practical gift for you. He had been telling me he was going to get me a bluetooth headset because he didn't like me holding the phone to talk to him on my way home from school. When I opened my eyes, he was down on one knee. I was like, "No! You are kidding me?!" He said, "Laura, let me talk." He said some really sweet things and wrote them in a letter so we wouldn't forget and after being shocked for a minute, I said yes. He said let's go tell your parents. I asked, "Aren't they at a movie?" He told me they knew and were just making up stuff. Of all things, then I asked, "So we're not watching the movie are we?" HA! 

Little did I know when we drove up the driveway a ton of cars would be there. He said, "Welcome to our engagement party!" I was still so shocked. I was so surprised that he got all those people there and they hadn't made me question him asking me that night. I had no clue. Everything went so smoothly. It seemed like Jeremy was just going with what came, but he had a schedule in his mind and he had to stick to it. There were between 50 and 60 people at the party. We had a wonderful cake, where we tried to sword fight with the knives and Jeremy's knife broke. (We used the same cake cutters for our wedding, we just glued the knife back together. It definitely broke again on Jeremy! Woops!) It was a perfect engagement story. I find things out very easily so I'm not surprised often, however, I had NO clue about this one! He had been hiding things from me since October! He had to plan for 6 months to get everything ready. He made me think we weren't going to get married until after I finished my master's. After being sad a while, I accepted the fact. 

That weekend was packed with things. We ended up meeting Jeremy's dad and grandparents for lunch and told them on Saturday. Then we told all of Jeremy's dad's extended family. We didn't have many people to call because they were all at the party the night before. It made life a little less stressful! 

Here are some pictures of my guitar. The pictures of our engagement night are on my other computer (it's turned off and in the other room), so I guess I can't share those with you right now.