One Night 4 Years Ago...

My wonderful man proposed to me. The proposal was perfect, everything I wanted (which essentially boiled down to him, with a ring hopefully, and I wanted to be surprised). I didn't care if he did it in the parking lot of Wendy's (where I first knew I loved him) or anywhere that suited us. He chose the World War II Memorial in DC where we frequently went to talk or "re-set" whenever we needed a change of scene. Anyway, I thought of posting the letter I gave him that night (I had written in eight months before) after we were engaged, but after reading it today it felt too personal for the internet. ;-) So instead here's the email I sent to my aunt with the details of our perfect proposal. I love remembering and seeing how much our love, that felt so big then, has grown and increased in its depth and maturity over the few years since and knowing that by God's grace it will only continue to grow.

"So anyways...The story...
Andree told me sometime early last week that he was going to take me out to dinner on Saturday for our "ninth-a-versary." (We first got together on February 9, 2004 and for the last few months have been taking turns "celebrating" it by little dates or big dates or whatever our budgets, time, and creativity allow for.) Wednesday was the ninth but we had Alpha (an outreach program at the church that he is a leader in) so that's why he told me we'd go out Saturday. I didn't think anything of it (and for good reason since Dad didn't give him "permission to ask me" until Wednesday!) because he likes to take me out on dates and try and make me guess where we're going, etc. (I hate guessing so I rarely oblige him.)
Mom was acting a little fun early in the week (ie. on Thursday she plops down on the couch next to me and starts going on and on about how yesterday had been the ninth and wanting to know what we had done or our plans to celebrate, etc. when usually she never remembers the ninth, etc.) but was out of the house on Saturday all day. I was a little suspicious during the week and on Saturday morning that maybe Dre was gonna propose that night but by the time we went out to dinner or at least left dinner I had no concerns or suspicions that this would be the "big night."
Dre picked me up a little bit after six and we drove down to Georgetown. He had made reservations at this very nice and romantic restaurant called Sequoia (apparently there's one in Manhattan too). Our reservations were for 8 but we got there early and our table was ready so we ate at around 7. It was a nice dinner. Good food. Good company ;) and just nice to be together on a date after a busy week. At one point during the dinner I think I told him how grateful I was that I knew him so well for some reason or another -- in my head I was saying it because I had made a point of looking him the eye and trying to "read" him and I was certain that there was nothing he was hiding from me or nervous about so he couldn't be proposing tonight. Sometime on the way out I patted his pocket too to try and see if there was a ring in there but didn't feel anything. I didn't really check but somehow I was convinced.
After dinner Andree drove over to the World War II memorial where we tend to wind up on most of our dates. We have a "spot" there that we like to sit and talk and just enjoy being quite and alone in such a beautiful place. When we got out of the car I had to pee soooooo bad. Like seriously. It was an emergency. The memorial has a nice, unusually clean bathroom next to it so we stopped there before walking to the memorial. When I came out of the bathroom he was crouched down tieing his shoe. I thought he looked so cute like that I asked him if he was planning on getting on one knee when he proposed to me someday in the future. He kinda looked at me and was like "Uh... Do you want me to?" I told him I did not knowing that he was going to moments later. Andree led me over to "our spot" and honestly this is where I should have been suspicious. He was walking really fast. I had to tell him to slow down. And there was no looking around or taking in the memorial tonight. He was very focused on getting to this one spot immediately. I didn't really think anything of it though. ... So we get to our spot and he's hugging me and telling me all these things he "likes" about me. I thought the whole "like" thing was a little weird since he had told me he loved me a few months back and while we were careful about using that word we did use it and this was a very intentional use of the word "like". He then said something about Devon stealing his proposal line (one of our friends got engaged last Saturday) but how he had come up with some of his own. This whole time I'm just kinda like "yea ... ok ... sure ...", thinking we're sharing a special moment but nothing huge. Then he kinda looks at me and goes "sooooo..." and gets on one knee!!! That was whoa. That's when I knew -- obviously -- what was happening. And he told me he loved me and that he was so amazed that when God made him he had made someone perfect for him and when God made me he had made someone for me too and asked me if I would marry him... and I nodded.
So that's that. The whole she-bang! And now it's all typed out and I can send it to anyone else who asks me for it. I love my ring. I love my boy. I'm still in shock that this is real. I can't believe we're really attempting to plan a wedding. I'm doing my best to not do much other than get the date and the sites lined up before I finish this semester."

(One of our engagement pics taken by Mark & Jen Schaefer. Way back when before there were two little gorgeous Schaefer girls running around. :-))

Love you Baby! Thank you for asking me to marry you and for being the perfect husband for me. I love you so and can't wait to continue making memories and celebrating special anniversaries with you.

(Post-engagement. Happy.)