Just yesterday, my husband reminded me that when we were dating (for about a year and a half), I told him I never wanted to be one of those couples that got engaged in the middle of a restaurant.  I wanted something private, low key.  I had no idea the stress that I had caused him!!!!  (I also mentioned that if we ever got engaged, I definitely wanted to pick out the ring myself. If I'm wearing this thing for the rest of my life, I should like it, right?)

 
I feel bad for men when it comes to the whole engagement thing – there's a lot of pressure from women to make it the "most memorable event of their life"….I think men try to do their best, but there are still a lot of engagement rings that end up in chocolate soufflés or at the bottom of champagne glasses.   

So, I give my husband big props for our engagement: 

It was a Friday morning in June (I can't remember the date) and I was in my apartment (I lived alone), blow drying my hair, getting ready for work.  I thought I heard someone knock on my door, so I switched off the hairdryer, but heard nothing.  I turned it back on and heard it again, so I turned it off and listened: knocking on my front door…..

I was so ticked off – it was 7:30 AM in the FREAKING morning and I thought it was the maintenance guys that were painting the stairs outside my door (they weren't supposed to start until 9).  So, with my half wet hair clipped on top of my head, now slightly sweaty from the heat of the hair dryer, I trudged to the door and opened it.

Standing in the door frame was Nick, my boyfriend.  He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts (which was very odd because he should have been going to work) and he was standing there holding a slightly odd shaped jewelry box.  I was SO confused!  Why was my boyfriend at my front door holding a box for cufflinks* at 7:30 in the morning?  Why was he wearing shorts?  Why was I sweating so much?

Nick opened the box and inside was a green, gummy lifesaver (HUH?).  The next words out of his mouth were "Will You Marry Me"?  I was SO freaking confused.  I said "Are you being serious??  What are you talking about???" 

I totally thought he was joking around – why else would he have a lifesaver in his hand?  But he was serious and he wanted to surprise me (why he showed up at 7:30 in the morning).  The green lifesaver was a holding place for a ring I got to pick out, and he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt because it was field day at the school where he teaches.

So, after the confusion passed, I think I must have finally said yes.  We hugged and cried a little and sat on the couch and stared at each other.  Then I looked at the clock and said "crap, I have to go to work!"….

 
*I had seen this cufflinks box about a month before; it was just slightly larger than a ring box, but could easily be mistaken for one. He left it sitting out in plain sight one day.  I warned him that he should be careful about letting things like that just "sit" around in his girlfriend.