the engagement [part 3]

Subtitle: The Proposal

[If you haven't read Part 1 and Part 2, you might wanna catch up first.]

As we were checking out at Shane Co., the [very helpful] lady told us that the ring would be ready by Wednesday.

Since Tim had been waiting for such a long time, I didn't think he would waste any time proposing.  But he insisted on being secretive about it anyways.

Example 1: He would try to hint that even though he would have the ring by Wednesday, the proposal probably wouldn't be until much later.

Example 2: He told me that Shane Co. had called him to tell him that the ring wouldn't be ready until Thursday.

Riiiiight.

I knew better.

When Wednesday rolled around, he picked up food from Dilly's Deli [if you haven't been there, you probably should go there, like, right now] and came over to my house.  When he got to my house, he [nervously] suggested that we should eat at the park across the street from my house so that we could have a little "picnic."

Halfway through the meal, Tim looked at his phone and said abruptly, "Uhh...do you wanna go for a walk?"

"Ohh-kay," I said, drinking my Dr. Pepper as fast as I could manage.  [A girl's gotta have her priorities.]

I prepared to start walking, but we just sat there.  And sat there.  I repeated his words tentatively.  "So...do you wanna go for a walk?"

He said, "Sure, yeah," checked his phone, and changed the subject.

I sipped some more Dr. Pepper.

[I have to make a confession here, kids.  I didn't mean to, but I caught a glimpse of Tim's phone that gave me a clue as to why he was so uncharacteristically interested in it.  I saw the name Katelynn Harris, which made me instantly suspicious.  You see, I knew that Katelynn does {fantastic} photography and videography, so I deduced that she might be waiting for us wherever we ended up going on our "walk."]

Finally, he was ready, and we started on our walk.  Tim walked with purpose towards some buttes located in the park.  He said, "So...I know you're wearing sandals, but I thought we'd just hike up these buttes a little to see the view."

"Whaaa?," I thought.  "Ok," I said.

When we got to the top of a little butte, Tim laid out a blanket and began to point out various spots in the area that were vital to the beginning of our relationship.  [E.g., where we'd had our first date and where he'd first held my hand.]  Then we sat down on the blanket.

[I didn't know it at the time, but apparently Tim was thinking, "Why did I have her sit down?  I need her to be standing up!"]

He reached inside my purse, grabbed his camera, and asked me to take pictures of the "surrounding areas."  I stood and did exactly as he asked, turning around with my back to him.

[Katelynn told me later that Tim had been on one knee the entire time behind me turning whichever way I turned.  Which makes me smile inside.  And outside, too.]

Finally, he said, "Katie, turn around."

He said some other [very precious] things [that I will keep to myself at this time, but might have had to do with things like "eternity" and "wife"], and then said something that made my heart smile even bigger.

"I had a lot of other things I had planned to say, but I'm nervous, and I can't remember any of them right now."

And then, ladies and gentlemen, he said the very words I'd been waiting to hear.

"Will you marry me?"

I don't actually remember the exact sequence of the following events.  I don't even actually remember saying "yes" but I suppose he understood regardless.  I do, however, remember looking at my ring over his shoulder as he was giving me a big hug.

And I remember him telling me that Katelynn had been hiding behind a rock filming the entire time, and thinking, "I knew it!"  When she eventually came out of hiding, she took a few pictures of us for which I will forever be indebted:

 [Isn't Katelynn awesome?  Yep.  Yep, she is.]

[Isn't Tim awesome?  Yep.  Yep, he is.]

Then we called our families and nobody answered.  True story.  Nobody.  But my message to my parents went something like this: "Hey mom and dad, you might want to give me a call back like right now because I have some very important news that you're probably going to want to hear.  Kloveyoubye."

Needless to say, it only took them a few minutes to call back.

And then we sat on the mountain and just looked at the stars and basked in our own glow for awhile.

And naturally, such a monumental and significant event made us thirsty.  So [after our trek down the mountain] we went to 7-11 for some much-deserved slurpees.

We're classy like that.

Did everything go as planned?  No.  Was it a surprise?  No.  [Did I hike up a mountain in my sandals?  Yes.]  Do I think everything about it was absolutely perfect?  Definitely.

Of course it was perfect.

It's our love story.

[The best part?  It won't ever end.]