Written by Mr. Jones:
The reaction you tend to get as a guy when you tell your friends that you are going to ask your Girlfriend to marry you, tends to vary biased on the friend. Meaning that my female friends gave what I like to call the "shriek reaction" as women often do when it comes to matters of the heart, "Oh my Gosh, how exciting, I'm so happy for you (keep in mind all of this is typically said in a high pitch voice, usually followed by a hug)," and then most of my male friends typically grunted what we'll call the Caveman Response, " Huh??? Marriage...?" (Said while scratching their head as if it were some sort of puzzling Greek word they had never heard) typically followed by mimicking some sort of dooms day or funeral music IE... Taps.
Initially I told a good Buddy of mine, Nate, my plans, now keep in mind Nate's happily married with kids, so... Naturally he was one of the few guys I got the "shriek" reaction out of, which OF COURSE I pointed out... To which I received the response, "Dude, Shut up, I didn't shriek." None the less, he went with me to pick out the ring. Now any guy who's been through this process knows that picking out a ring is not as simple as just walking into a store and saying I want to see engagement rings. Oh no no... Little did I realize you have to worry about the weight, the clarity, the cut, the color, and the yadda yadda yadda... I walked out of the first place with my head spinning; and that was even after they had me sit through a 45 minute seminar explaining all of these things to me. You see, I tend to operate on the KISS method, and this was not Keeping It Simple Stupid. Finally after a few places I managed to find the ring I liked.
The next step, the phone call to my Mom... Here's how it went... ring ring
ME: "Hey Mom, I just wanted to tell you something"
MOM: "Sure what's up Sweetie?"
ME: "I found a ring and I'm going to ask Jenni to marry me..."
wait for the response... SILENCE... wait for response AND
MOM: "SHRIEK RESPONSE" and something about "My baby boy being all grown up"
Now, the next call was to Trica (Jenni's Mom) to ask for her blessing and I was kindly provided a yes, promptly followed by you guessed it... "SHRIEK RESPONSE." The next two calls were to Jenni's brothers, Scotty and Shane, and both gave me the expected "Caveman Response," followed by their blessing, and finally accompanied by their own older sibling wise crack about Jenni and how I must be a glutton for punishment?
I centered the proposal around Jenni's Birthday which was 2 weeks after I had purchased the ring? All I have to say is big mistake...
That 2 weeks was tough, I was like a kid with $5 fresh allowance at a toy store, that ring was burning a hole in my pocket. I had to do something quick, ultimately, I finally had to give the ring to my next door neighbor and friend Roger, with instructions attached, "hold this, keep it safe, and don't let me do something stupid (like purpose early or drop it down a storm drain by accident).
So I got everything lined up for her Birthday. I got a cake and put it in the outside fridge so she wouldn't find it. I invited 50 of our closest friends and family to our house to celebrate her birthday. EVERYONE knew I was going to propose, except Jenni, of course. That night I was a nervous wreck, constantly running around to avoid her brothers cackles and to keep my mind off of what was soon to come.
The time came, now I find it imperative at this juncture of the story to mention that the ring was not the only thing I had purchased at that jewelry store. I had also bought a small pair of diamond earrings, which I found necessary to wrap inside a box, that in turn was in another box, which was full of packing peanuts and newspaper, and -- that box was in another box which was in another box, and so on and so forth till you got up to a box about the size of what you would ship a washer or dryer in. IE it was a box in a box in box ala the Russian Matryoshka dolls or what many call Babushka Dolls. All the while the ring was tucked neatly in its box, in my pocket.
As I lit the candles on her cake in the garage, I was shaking so much I nearly set my shirt sleeve on fire. In I came singing Happy Birthday and there she was sitting in a chair surrounded by gifts and by our friends and family. So as I knelt down beside her with the cake, I came about an inch and a half from ruining my soon to be proposal, BUT... with cat like reflexes I might add, I managed to save the night, on account that I was still so jittery from nerves that I nearly dropped the cake in her lap. Near Crisis averted. Jenni started to open presents, rather annoyed I might add, because she was unable to figure out why her brother was taping her like a 2 year old at her first birthday party.
Finally the last present to be open was mine. Box one, box 2, and -- box ten... She opened the final box to reveal a pair of diamond earrings, and with that Miss America Smile that makes my heart skip a beat every time, she showed them off to the onlookers, receiving cat calls, oooohhhs and awwwes.
AND CUE ME...
"Hey babe"
Silence fell over everyone.
Now I would like to say that I was macho here, but truth be told, emotions hit and I think my voice cracked like a 12 year boy.
"Hey babe, when I was at the jewelry store, I couldn't help but think that those earrings would go great with this..."
Out comes the ring, and me down on one knee.
The look on her face is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. It was overwhelming surprise, shock, tenderness, and adoration; and in that moment before I asked the words that were to come, if I did not know it before I certainly knew it now, she didn't just love me she was in love with me.
"Would you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me?"
With a Hug and a tearful kiss, and a whisper in my ear of "YES."
THE CROWD WENT WILD.
And now here we are planning our wedding and looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together. Enjoying it one day at a time.
Initially I told a good Buddy of mine, Nate, my plans, now keep in mind Nate's happily married with kids, so... Naturally he was one of the few guys I got the "shriek" reaction out of, which OF COURSE I pointed out... To which I received the response, "Dude, Shut up, I didn't shriek." None the less, he went with me to pick out the ring. Now any guy who's been through this process knows that picking out a ring is not as simple as just walking into a store and saying I want to see engagement rings. Oh no no... Little did I realize you have to worry about the weight, the clarity, the cut, the color, and the yadda yadda yadda... I walked out of the first place with my head spinning; and that was even after they had me sit through a 45 minute seminar explaining all of these things to me. You see, I tend to operate on the KISS method, and this was not Keeping It Simple Stupid. Finally after a few places I managed to find the ring I liked.
The next step, the phone call to my Mom... Here's how it went... ring ring
ME: "Hey Mom, I just wanted to tell you something"
MOM: "Sure what's up Sweetie?"
ME: "I found a ring and I'm going to ask Jenni to marry me..."
wait for the response... SILENCE... wait for response AND
MOM: "SHRIEK RESPONSE" and something about "My baby boy being all grown up"
Now, the next call was to Trica (Jenni's Mom) to ask for her blessing and I was kindly provided a yes, promptly followed by you guessed it... "SHRIEK RESPONSE." The next two calls were to Jenni's brothers, Scotty and Shane, and both gave me the expected "Caveman Response," followed by their blessing, and finally accompanied by their own older sibling wise crack about Jenni and how I must be a glutton for punishment?
I centered the proposal around Jenni's Birthday which was 2 weeks after I had purchased the ring? All I have to say is big mistake...
That 2 weeks was tough, I was like a kid with $5 fresh allowance at a toy store, that ring was burning a hole in my pocket. I had to do something quick, ultimately, I finally had to give the ring to my next door neighbor and friend Roger, with instructions attached, "hold this, keep it safe, and don't let me do something stupid (like purpose early or drop it down a storm drain by accident).
So I got everything lined up for her Birthday. I got a cake and put it in the outside fridge so she wouldn't find it. I invited 50 of our closest friends and family to our house to celebrate her birthday. EVERYONE knew I was going to propose, except Jenni, of course. That night I was a nervous wreck, constantly running around to avoid her brothers cackles and to keep my mind off of what was soon to come.
The time came, now I find it imperative at this juncture of the story to mention that the ring was not the only thing I had purchased at that jewelry store. I had also bought a small pair of diamond earrings, which I found necessary to wrap inside a box, that in turn was in another box, which was full of packing peanuts and newspaper, and -- that box was in another box which was in another box, and so on and so forth till you got up to a box about the size of what you would ship a washer or dryer in. IE it was a box in a box in box ala the Russian Matryoshka dolls or what many call Babushka Dolls. All the while the ring was tucked neatly in its box, in my pocket.
As I lit the candles on her cake in the garage, I was shaking so much I nearly set my shirt sleeve on fire. In I came singing Happy Birthday and there she was sitting in a chair surrounded by gifts and by our friends and family. So as I knelt down beside her with the cake, I came about an inch and a half from ruining my soon to be proposal, BUT... with cat like reflexes I might add, I managed to save the night, on account that I was still so jittery from nerves that I nearly dropped the cake in her lap. Near Crisis averted. Jenni started to open presents, rather annoyed I might add, because she was unable to figure out why her brother was taping her like a 2 year old at her first birthday party.
Finally the last present to be open was mine. Box one, box 2, and -- box ten... She opened the final box to reveal a pair of diamond earrings, and with that Miss America Smile that makes my heart skip a beat every time, she showed them off to the onlookers, receiving cat calls, oooohhhs and awwwes.
AND CUE ME...
"Hey babe"
Silence fell over everyone.
Now I would like to say that I was macho here, but truth be told, emotions hit and I think my voice cracked like a 12 year boy.
"Hey babe, when I was at the jewelry store, I couldn't help but think that those earrings would go great with this..."
Out comes the ring, and me down on one knee.
The look on her face is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. It was overwhelming surprise, shock, tenderness, and adoration; and in that moment before I asked the words that were to come, if I did not know it before I certainly knew it now, she didn't just love me she was in love with me.
"Would you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me?"
With a Hug and a tearful kiss, and a whisper in my ear of "YES."
THE CROWD WENT WILD.
And now here we are planning our wedding and looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together. Enjoying it one day at a time.
Such a beautfiul story. I just wrote about our proposal a few days ago too. It's been almost four years since he proposed to me but I still love reliving it.
ReplyDeleteSo sweet!
ReplyDeleteabsolute perfection
ReplyDeleteawww! that is so thoughtful and beautiful. it gave me goosebumps!
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed that story. Youre fiance did a great job writing it. I'm so happy for you. And it's so true...I totally give the shriek response to stuff like that too, weddings, babies.. yah...Congratulations you two. Very happy for you.
ReplyDeleteGreat story! So cute!
ReplyDeleteWow, sweet, handsome, romantic, wonderful AND a good writer! Did my baby girl hit the lottery, or WHAT???
ReplyDeleteThe excitement of the moment was electrifying and so fun to watch unfold. He was a mess of nerves and you were your usual "It's My Birthday" ball of energy! Add all those people to the mix and ...WOW! It was so special to be there to share your special moment. He just forgot to mention how, once you saw the ring and he proposed, you dropped the diamond earrings to the floor and lost them (temporarily) in the pile of wrapping paper...momentarily forgetting they even existed!