"...Don't you have something to ask me??"

So, John and I moved in together in May of 2007. Our first place was a little one-bedroom apartment in Bordentown, NJ, located only three miles down the road from my workplace at the time. Moving in together was an interesting step for me. It suddenly occurred to me that after moving in together, the relationship could only go one of two ways: either we'd end up getting married, or we would have the most horrible, messy break up in the history of break ups!

And although we bickered and argued as any couple would when first learning how to live together (it still drives me nuts that he leaves dishes in the sink instead of rinsing them and putting them in the dishwasher!), after a while we found a comfortable middle ground. Once in a while we would talk about "if we get married" or "when we get married," just sort of dreaming away, but we never seriously talked about a time frame for an engagement. However, John did joke during our 2006 trip to Disney World that if he had it his way, he would propose to me on the Maelstrom ride in the Norway pavilion of EPCOT. (Which would have been awesome.)

After a few months of living together, we decided to plan another trip to Disney World for December of 2008. I thought, for sure, John would follow through with his jokey plans and propose to me sometime during that trip. It made sense, we would have been dating for almost four years by that point. In my head I could see John getting down on one knee at the California Grill with fireworks filling the air. Or, perhaps while waiting on line at Space Mountain, ha ha! At any rate, I was sure, he would ask me to marry him in Disney World.

But it didn't work out that way!

John's 25th birthday landed on Black Friday, November 23, 2007. He had the day off from work anyway, so he asked me to take off from work as well so that we could spend the whole day together celebrating. We started by going to see the film "No Country for Old Men" in Hamilton, where I was annoyed the entire time by a coughing, talking old man who sat next to me in the theater. We then drove around Monmouth and Ocean Counties picking up some Christmas gifts for friends and family. We ran out of things to do after a while, and our dinner reservation at the Melting Pot in Red Bank was still hours away. John suggested that we go to Red Bank early and just stroll around the city. It was a sunny but brisk day, and the holiday decorations were already up, so it sounded like a good idea to me.

We pulled into the White Street parking lot across from the little Red Bank arthouse cinema where John and I had our first unofficial date seeing Sideways. I held John's hand and said "Aww, this is like our first non-date." and he said "Yeah, let's sit over here for a while." There was a grouping of park benches in front of the theater and John led me, of course, to the one bench that was in the shade. After a few seconds I was absolutely freezing and told John so. He said "I think I have something that can warm you up." I leaned toward him assuming he was going to give me a kiss on the cheek, but instead he outstretched his hand with his palm facing down, holding something that I couldn't see. I gasped when I realized it was a ring box!

Inside was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. It was a princess-cut diamond solitaire in a Tiffany setting of platinum, and it just sparkled away. I looked at John in disbelief and I just kept saying "Are you serious? Is this for real? Are you kidding me?" and he smiled at me with tears in his eyes.

...but he didn't say anything!

So after a few seconds I prompted him: "...Don't you have something to ask me??"

He smiled and with a shaking voice he asked "Will you marry me?" and of course I said "YES!!"

John then took the ring and slipped it onto my finger, and realized that the ring was about three sizes too large, ha ha. He made the mistake of comparing the engagement ring to a celtic band I usually wore on my middle finger. I was so sad that I had to keep the ring in the box that night, but we took it back to the shop the next day and had it resized before I showed it off to friends and family and told them of our good news!

That was one decision I am really glad I made: not to tell anyone about our engagement until the next day. We were able to enjoy a peaceful 24 hours of bliss before the inevitable "Did you set a date?!" questions started being fired at us ;-) I tried to hold out on buying wedding magazines but I don't think I had as much willpower in that situation. I remember reading NJ Bride before the week was through.

So it may not have been a "perfect" proposal but it was perfectly "us."