I'm joining up with Mama Kat a day early with a prompt that is way too perfectly timed. The prompt is "Married? Tell us the story of how the question was popped."
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I posted a version of this last year...but I thought some of my new friends might like to see.
I love Thanksgiving. For so many reasons, and there are even a few that have absolutely nothing to do with mashed potatoes.
Two years ago my gorgeous niece E was born on Thanksgiving weekend. That same weekend we found out about Pie and sat down to talk to her bio parents for the first time.
I also got engaged on Thanksgiving, many, many moons ago. Husband and I had been together for 3 years and had been talking about marriage pretty much that whole time. We had finally started making actual plans earlier that year (2000). In August we booked our wedding/reception venue, a place called Ivy Hall. It's part of an old cotton mill that has been turned into an events location.
This is the ceremony spot...and then the reception was an inside/on the deck combo.
Anysidetrack, we had booked the location, but Husband said that it would probably be January before the engagement happened because he was still saving for the ring. Little did I know that he was plotting behind my back with the help of Middle Sister and Mom.Thanksgiving day rolls around and husband is acting like a weirdo. He's distracted and a little snippy. We head to my parent's house and once there, he refuses any drinks or pre-dinner snacks. I was starting to get really annoyed. Eventually we head for the table to start dinner.
We all sat down and start our family tradition of going around the table and saying what we're thankful for, one by one. When it was my turn, I was a smartass (what? me?) and said I was thankful to be getting married that year. Then I turned my attention to my niece G, who was 3 at the time, and sitting next to me. We were playing and I saw out of the corner of my eye, Husband standing up. And I thought that was rude, we were getting ready to eat.
Then I vaguely notice him on the floor, and thought, oh maybe he dropped his napkin or something. And I went back to playing with G. I don't know exactly who, but someone got my attention and I turned to look at Husband who was down on one knee. I instantly started crying, as did most of the family, it was such a surprise. And it's no easy task to surprise me.
He said what we're sure were some really sweet and lovely things, but neither of us have any recollection of what exactly. And then asked if I would marry him. I grabbed him and squeezed him and kissed him and cried. It was a completely perfect moment. Once he managed to pry himself free, he asked if I wanted to see the ring. It had been in his hand during the proposal, but I hadn't even looked at it. It too, was perfect.
Apparently at some point during their plotting, Husband had asked my mom how long he had to stay on his knee. Her answer was until I said yes. So the poor guy was on his knee this whole time. My mom finally said, "Say yes already so he can get up!" I said yes, he got up and then there was lots more crying and congrats and everyone laughing and hugging and looking at the ring.
We had dinner, well everyone else did, Husband and I were too excited to eat. Then we all went into the family room to watch Chicken Run. It had just come out and we had saved it to watch on Thanksgiving. As soon as the credits started, Husband passed out. He was exhausted from all the excitement. So he slept through the movie and I stared at my ring. Neither of us saw a minute of it. Now that movie is like Pavlov's Dogs with Husband. As soon as it comes on, he gets very, very sleepy.
I found out later that just before dinner Husband had pulled my dad aside and asked for his blessing. I loved that. And the fact that Husband, who is beyond shy, proposed in front of my whole family because he knew how much it would mean to me to have them there, just pushed the perfection level over the top.
