Wow. Its been quite some time since I last blogged…over three months to be exact! So much has changed since I last wrote about the pruning process. I’ve most certainly been pruned and am beginning to see the fruits of that entire process. It’s so funny how quickly the days go by and how much changes. There’s so much to talk about when it comes to my first year teaching and Loman’s first year as a middle school teacher, but we will get to that soon! There are more pressing matters at hand because on Saturday [9/17], Loman and I got engaged! It’s safe to say that we are incredibly elated and where I still can’t believe it and am constantly staring at the “sparkly thing” on my finger, Loman is incredibly relieved and happy that I said yes! Below is a picture of the ring and the story of our engagement from my perspective. Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to get Loman’s perspective as well…

I think the story really begins on Friday night when Loman and I got into one of those angry spats couples get in and when all is said and done, no one really knows why. Needless to say, engagement definitely wasn’t on my list of things to expect in the near future after that night…

Saturday morning, we had the opportunity to go to a Teacher Supply Depot where we engaged in a free, one-hour, teacher version of Supermarket Sweep! It was INCREDIBLE! We got lots of free stuff, and if you know anything about me, you know that when great things like that happen, I often say that it is the “BEST DAY EVER.”  On the way home from the depot, Loman was in an unusually anxious mood about getting home to watch the football game with Nick. It wasn’t really all that strange since he’s usually in a rush to watch football every Saturday.

My mom and aunt were coming up for the day to see me and they were supposed to be at my apartment by 11:30. They didn’t show up until 2:00 and I was NOT a happy camper! Loman and I had dinner plans downtown at a nice restaurant called Hennen’s and we had reservations for weeks! When my mom and aunt finally arrived, they happily announced that they were spending the night and apparently the expression on my face was less than excited. I texted Loman to tell him that we might have to reschedule and I could feel the anger telepathically through text message. At lunch, I told them I had dinner plans and they were really accepting of me going to dinner [which should have been yet another clue]. I found out later that the reason they were late and the reason Loman was so anxious that morning was because they’d met at a restaurant so my mom and aunt could see the ring.

When Loman came to pick me up for dinner, my mom and aunt had a blast poking fun at me about what I was wearing [although they’ll admit now that I looked nice, apparently this was another distraction technique]. On the way to the restaurant, I noticed that Loman was wearing a jacket, which if you know anything about Loman, a jacket in September is completely out of character. He just played it off by saying it might be cool while we were walking on the bridge and that he’d have a jacket for me in case I got cold as well. At dinner, the waiter asked if we were celebrating anything, and I quickly and quite abruptly answered, “NO!” while Loman nonchalantly said, “We might be celebrating something a little later.” (Yet another clue I didn’t put together until later).

As is our custom, after dinner we got some ice cream [which Loman couldn’t finish due to a combination of being full, nervous, and uncomfortably hot [because of the jacket]]. I, on the other hand, was not going to sacrifice any of my ice/custard mixture of “happiness” from Rita’s. I made a comment about him being unusually fidgety and he simply apologized. As we walked on the bridge trying to find somewhere to sit, we found a bench facing one end of the river and watched a trash barge sail away. After watching the barge, we decided the view wasn’t all that scenic and moved to the other side of the bridge.

As we sat and talked more Loman apologized what seemed like a million times for being angry the night before. I accepted a million times and continued enjoying my ice cream. 🙂 Later, we saw the Southern Belle [the boat Loman wants to have the rehearsal dinner on] in the river. I made mention of the rehearsal dinner and the way the lights were reflecting in the water reminded me of diamonds. Just as I said, this Loman asked if it was still the “best day ever” and as I looked down I saw the ring! I squealed, of course and received many funny looks from people walking by, but I didn’t care. I THREW AWAY MY ICE CREAM [if you know anything about my love for sweets, you will understand the significance of this action] and asked if my mom knew!

No, I didn’t give an answer first, I simply wanted to know if my mom knew. When he told me that she did, I still didn’t answer and wanted to know what she’d said. After I knew that mom was okay with it all AND after I found out that he’d been keeping all of this a secret for quite some time, he asked if I was saying yes, and OF COURSE I did! After a lot of screaming and a few phone calls with more screaming, he took me back to my apartment where I talked with my mom and aunt about what had happened and Loman finished the Florida State Game. Typical! 🙂

It’s so crazy to me only a little before our three year anniversary how much has changed! These next months of planning are going to be a blast as I have a chance to plan my wedding to my best friend with my best friends and closest family members. God’s timing is perfect and while I still can’t believe this is happening to me, so is life at the moment!

Thanks for reading!