The Engagment Story

Jack and I had been talking about marriage in the language of "If we were to get married....". The development of our relationship has been very gradual and so it was with deciding to get married. One Monday evening, at the end of March, Jack and I were talking about our goals and progress and Jack told me that he had decided that he wants to marry me and that we should look at the end of the summer between school sessions. I had known for a couple of months that I wanted to spend my life with Jack, so it was great to know that he was on the same page and to get to start talking about plans.

Over the next few weeks we decided on August 16th and Jack had started ring shopping. He brought me with him to a few places so that he could get an idea of what looked good and what we liked. He told me that he had special ordered a ring, but there was some hang up at the manufacturer and he didn't know when it would come in. Soon after that, one evening at the end of April on a Tuesday night (when I wasn't expecting anything) he proposed. It was right after getting back to my apartment from doing some errands and was very simple. I had barely set down my things and before I knew it, there he was on his knee, ring in hand, asking me to marry him. He said he was still waiting for the ring he ordered, but he just didn't want to wait any longer, so he had gone to the store and picked out an interim ring. It was beautiful and simple with one round solitaire and a very nice setting.

Yesterday, I went to the wedding of a friend's from work. It was beautiful. Jack met me and took me out to the desert to look at the stars. As we got out of the car we were looking at the sky and, at the same time in different parts of the sky, we both saw a meteor. It was romantic. We got our star charts and a blanket out of the car and laid down to see what we could find. After identifying several constellations, I just lay there in Jack's arms thinking what a perfect date this was since one of our first dates was to go watch the Perseid meteor showers. He was such a gentleman and it was after that date when I knew that I wanted to pursue a relationship with him. As I was lost in thought, Jack turned to me and said something about tonight being a good night to look at the stars and me being starry-eyed and he wanted to give me more stars in my eyes by giving me this, as he handed me a ring. I had to turn on the flashlight to really see it and wow, if I thought the other ring was beautiful, I don't know how to describe this one. He asked me again if I'd marry him and of course, I said "Yes!" It was starting to get cold so we were getting packed up to go and Jack took me in his arms and danced with me while he sang, "Are there stars out tonight? I don't know if it's cloudy or bright. I only have eyes for you..." It was very romantic.