My Side of the Story

The story. The whole story is rather long and starts just over 3 years ago when I first met Jim in Institute Choir. I will save that long novel for another day.

I was kind of expecting it because Jan. 25th was 6-months since we were "officially" a couple. But Jim kept telling me the ring wouldn't be ready until February 1st, so I decided to just not ask questions and go with whatever happened. He picked me up just after 6pm and drove me to a look-out spot on the mountains, a place we had been before a few times. He was recreating a night back in August when he asked me if he could do anything in the world for me and I jokingly had responded, "Pearls, Jim. I want real pearls." From which point he proceeded to get a small silk bag from his car holding a real pearl necklace. Of course I was shocked, I had been kidding!

This night was just after it had snowed, so there was a gentle cloud cover over the city. It seemed the sky was upside down, the gray being the earth and the city lights were floating in the sky. We sat on the hood of his car and he asked me the same question. "Erin, what do you want?" I said to him, "I have my pearls, I am happy." ... "What else Erin?" "Not to slip on the snow." "What else?" "Um.....Clean house, good kids and a million dollars.....and a good husband." "I think I can help with that one." He walks back to his car and brings me a long stem, gorgeous red rose, a heart shape box of chocolates (the tasty kind) and a small box. I grinned as he handed them each to me. I had trouble taking the ribbon off the box and he said "hurry!" Finally it came off and I opened it. Inside was the ring box which he took from me, opened and got down on one knee. It was really slushy on the ground, but he was down there anyway. I thought "Wow, this must be love if he's on his knees in the snow." He said that he couldn't imagine his life without me, that he loved me and "will you be my eternal companion?" I stared at him, then nodded and said "Uh-huh!" He stared at me for a minute before standing up and putting the ring on my finger.

Even though I knew it was coming, and even though he knew I would say yes, I still felt like a deer in the headlights and he was still super nervous (aka super cute!).

After we called all our families, we went to Epic Casual Dining. FANTASTIC FOOD by the way. Highly recommended. It was a bit of a shock every time I looked at my finger, and yet as Jim said, "It feels like business as usual." It seemed as if nothing else in the world could have happened but this.