How we got engaged ...

So, I finally fulfilled my promise to write about how Michael and I got together.

I figure I can regale y'all with how we got engaged. It's kinda funny ... in the way that just being ME is kinda funny. Or how wearing your sexiest high heels and then slipping in a pile of flounders is funny.

Wow, that was a really random simile.
Not that I've slipped in a pile of flounders. But I have fallen down half a flight of stairs at church. At least, only one person saw me. So I didn't have to DIE. OF. SHAME.

BUT, HOW MICHAEL AND I GOT ENGAGED ....

Back story, we had been dating for a while (six months). Unbeknownst to me, Michael had saved up money by not eating for about a month (well, he didn't buy food. I'm sure that he did eat. Whenever we were together, I don't remember him passing up food.) and had taken our friend, T (that friend of mine who brought us together, how I adore her!!!), to help him shop for a ring.

Of course, not thinking anything of it, I had mentioned that if I got a ring, I wanted this shape and maybe this size. And that I preferred gold. And he totally remembered all this stuff!

So, there were were, we had had our sixth month dating anniversary. We were down south, visiting my folks. I had to go to my part-time weekend job at the plywood mill and clean the presses (NOT the spreaders. That was a one time occurance. Since I'm a little short and busty for my size, I had spreader glue caked from mid-breast to my knees. Ick!!).
I was not thrilled about going to work. I would have much rather spent time with Michael and my family. BUT, I had to be responsible and off to work I went. While there, I had time to think as I worked. And I asked/prayed if there were any reason that Michael and I shouldn't continue to date? If there would be any reason that I shouldn't marry him? (If I shouldn't/wasn't going to marry him ... would there be any reason to continue this? Should I get out of this relationship and not waste any more of our time? ... Yeah, I may be a hopeless romantic, but I try and be a realist at times.)

And I couldn't find a single reason why I shouldn't marry him. Not a single one.

I had no idea that he was really thinking of marrying me... I just wanted to be prepared. Especially if I was going to get another of those "You're cute, BUT..." lines. *grumbles*

SO, then I drive back home, and Mom (who Michael has told, not asked, ha ha ha, that he's proposing to me) helps me get my nasty, nasty boots off. My stepdad is going off about quizzing me on what's more expensive than gold ... He often confuses me ... and I'm playing along. "Um, platinum?" "No..." "Uranium?" "No ...." "Plutonium?"
And I'm just shaking my head wondering why this stepdad of mine is so weird.

And Michael corners me in the kitchen before I can jump into the shower. I'm in my gnarly work shirt and jeans. I have sawdust all over me ... I smell of bark mulch, hydrolic fluid and the glue used in plywood. I can hardly stand myself. I know that when I get into the shower, I'll have black snot and the water running out of my hair will be a terrible color. I stink.

But Michael stands about a handspan away from me. I tell him not to be so close because I'm gross. And he responds, "I like being close to you." And I tell him, "But you shouldn't be. Because you're going to smell like the mill. And then the car will smell like the mill as we drive back tonight." (Since that was the plan. Return to our college town and get a good night's sleep before church. Or, at least, a decent night's sleep.)

Instead of letting me go take a shower, he pulls out a little blue leather box with a golden clasp.

My inner monologue: Oh. It's a box.
Michael opens the box.
My inner monologue: There's a ring. ... A diamond ring. ... My birthstone's a diamond. Hey, wait. People don't just go around giving out diamond ringssss .... Ohhhh..!
Me: Really??!? (I think my mouth's hanging open at this point.)
Michael: Yes.
I kiss him.
Michael: Is that a yes?
And I respond with something a little nicer than what I first thought to say ... which was, "Duh!"

And then I got to put on my pretty sparkly ... and get that shower I SO, SO, SO desperately wanted. Then Michael and I got to plan when we would get married. We settled for the Friday before Spring Break, so we could have time to settle into married life and have a honeymoon before school started back in session. My mom was hoping we'd wait for summer. She really wasn't ready to give me up. But she was pretty graceful about it.

Like I said, life is good.