The 1st Proposal

I had one of those a-ha moments today that was big enough to stop everything and write it down so I never forget.  It's one of those, changes-history-forever moments.

It is no secret that I have always been disappointed in the way my husband proposed to me.  Really!  When my friends share their romantic proposal stories, I'm always the one who starts off with, "You're not going to believe mine." and is followed by most of my friends taking a deep sigh and collectively saying, "Yea, that sucked."

Literally, our engagement began only after I gave him the "We've been dating for almost 5 years, marry me or I'll find someone who will."  I know, I know...not very nice on my part.  But hey, a girl has to give a gentle nudge sometimes.  Me, I gave more of a shove off a cliff.

After nagging him till he couldn't stand it, a ring was purchased.  After more nagging and more nagging, I got my proposal. 

On the way to Christmas with my family in 1997, I got the ring box tossed at me.  He followed with a very insincere, "Now you can tell everyone you're engaged." 

Eight months later, we were married and still are over 14 years later. 

Now, my husband has stuck by the same story for 15 years.  He had every intention to propose in a romantic way, but I spoiled it by nagging him.  Maybe, maybe not, nobody will ever know!

I've long since gotten over my anger and haven't used it against him.  At least not for a long, long time.

Now, if I can step back a little bit further...

I met my husband in January 1994.  Long, long, long story short.  I dated his good friend, he dated my roommate.  Most of our dates were double dates and oddly enough, because of the guys.  He was always nice to me during those 4-5 months of double dates.  In fact, a little nicer to me than he was to my roommate.

Toward summer, his friend and I split.  My roommate had a one-night-stand, got pregnant, had an abortion and then they split.  I may or may not have been devious enough back then to tell him about the turmoil with his girlfriend.  You might call it devious, you might call it being caring and saving him from a life of misery.  Whatever you call it, I don't regret it. 

My former roommate married my ex/my husband's friend.  They've been married for over 16 years and have two wonderful kids.  It was obviously a move I supposed to make, therefore I can't regret it.

Didn't I tell you it was a long story?  That's not even half of  it, but I digress.

In July 1994, I would start dating my then boyfriend.  He lived in Wichita and would return home on the weekends.  We would go out on Friday night, spend half the day together Saturday and then have dinner with his family on Sunday.

He would return me to my apartment on Sunday before heading back to Wichita.  Such the gentleman, he would walk me up the long flight of stairs and we would say our goodbyes at the door.

I think I had forgotten just how romantic that was.  It wasn't that typical, dropping off at the end of the night.  It was mid day and maybe I took it for granted.

It is funny how I've always remembered this, but got such a different perspective about it today.

It was the second weekend we were dating.  He stood in my doorway.  We were two young kids, driven my a new, budding love.  We were having fun.  We weren't ready for the weekend to be over.

As he stood in my doorway, not wanting to leave, we continued to talk.  You know the small talk that comes when you are avoiding the inevitable "goodbye" and closing door.

That's when completely unexpected, he says "What would you say if I asked you to marry me right now?"

Keep in mind that I'm the girl who tucked tail and ran far, far away from any guy who got the slightest bit giddy with the "L" word was still sitting on his lips.

We had been dating 2 weeks.  2 weeks!

I said, "Yes."

He smiled, kissed me goodbye and left.

Yes friends, my husband asked me if I would marry him after dating for 2 weeks.  Sure, it took him over 4 years to put a ring on my finger. 

In retrospect, that was so romantic.  After knowing each other 6 months and dating for 2 weeks, he was already thinking about marriage.  Awww!

Now, I am probably giving the guy way too much credit here.  He's never said he didn't need to propose when he gave my the ring because he'd already done it 4 years earlier. 

However, I don't give him enough credit for being a romantic!