Back to Work: My Surprise Engagement

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Of course I had Emailed my mom the day I got engaged.  I wanted her to see the photos of the ring.  But to everyone at work this was a surprise engagement.  And I reveled in the attention that my engagement announcements made.  All the teachers ask each other that first day back, “How was your summer,” or in my case, “How was England?”  So to be able to flash my bling and announce, “Great, I got engaged!” was awesome.  All the happy screams and hugs and congratulations.  It’s a once in a lifetime thing, announcing a surprise engagement.  I had really been looking forward to making my engagement announcements to everyone and seeing their reactions, and they did not disappoint.  And I did not get tired of it at all.  Even when someone said to me 2 months later in November, “Hey, I hear you got engaged?”  (Someone at work who I’m not all that close to, obviously) I did not get tired of saying, “I sure did.”

What was REALLY interesting to me, and ladies, pay attention to this one when your time comes to make your own engagement announcements, is when I revealed my surprise engagement to each person, which people hugged and congratulated me, and which people looked at/grabbed my hand for a good look at the ring (and if they did both, in which order).  As you can guess, the people you’re closest to hug first and gawk later.  So this ring really is a symbol of love in more ways than one.  It’s even a good friendship litmus test.

The people at work chipped in for an engagement present for Adam and I.  They got me a little plaque that says “And they lived happily ever after…” and a plate.  The plaque is just my style, cream with gold script, and it looks PERFECT above one of our engagement photos.  The plate, someone explained to me, is a cake plate.  It says “Celebrate” and has primary colored stars around the lip.  So on the thank you note I wrote I let them know where I hung the plaque that I love, and I told them that Adam is thrilled about the cake plate because now I’ll be obliged to make him cakes.  I got cards too, which was very nice.  It made me wonder though, if I want to do a scrapbook of engagement stuff or what.  I save everything, but I’m just not sure what to do with it. 

And the other thing that really made me smile was my former students did not forget about me on the first day of school.  Four of them (including my 2 favorites) came up to me and asked what my news was, so I got to make engagement announcements to them too.  One boy said “I KNEW it.”  Which surprised me.  And another boy said, “All right Miss Dawn!”  And gave me a fist bump.  Yeah.  And even my NEW crop of students noticed, which surprised me.  It took a couple weeks before they would get so personal, but a few said they thought my ring is pretty.  And one even noticed a card I had on the wall behind my desk that was partially hidden, that said “Congratulations on your engagement,” and she said, “You’re engaged!?”

Again, it never gets old.  I’m not thrilled about having to continue the long distance thing for 2 more years, but having a long engagement has its perks.  Once you’re married very few people say, “Awww, you’re married?!”  I’m sure that will have its own rewards, which I look forward to.  But for now, I’ll just enjoy the journey that is my engagement. 
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Getting Engaged in England: Our Romantic Engagement

.In the summer of 2008, Adam brought me on our first date together to East Carlton Park in England.

In the summer of 2009, Adam brought me on a picnic at East Carlton Park and asked me to marry him.

It really was the best marriage proposal I could have asked for.  We’d planned for months to have a picnic at East Carlton Park.  Last year before we even met one of the first things he wanted to show me on my visit was the park where he used to go with his family.  We had such a nice time there that we wanted to return for a picnic but we just ran out of time.  But this year, we planned our menu months in advance, went food shopping, checked the weather, and secured a ride.

The weather was perfect, and it all looked just as beautiful as last year.  Adam asked me if I wanted to eat first or walk around.  I said we could wander around until we found a nice place for our spread, but he already knew right where he wanted our picnic.  Instead of going over to the busy picnic tables, he guided me to an area with open flat fields, spotted with trees, and a few distant houses.  It was much quieter there.  He let me choose a big pretty tree to sit beside, we spread out the blanket, and dug in.

We packed way too much food.  I mostly focused on the prawn salad, which Adam didn’t even want to try.  Actually, I noticed he wasn’t eating much at all.  I kept encouraging him, after all, we’d planned on the scotch eggs, pork pies and everything for months, but he said he was fine.  We finished off with little chocolate cakes and strawberries:  I fed him one and he fed one to me.  Then he read the journal I was keeping for the trip while I took a few photos.

Once we finished Adam offered to clean up, and had me stay with the blanket since he wanted to sit for a little while before we walked around.  I thought it was odd; we could easily clean up in a little while once we were ready to go.  But it was sweet of him to offer, so I let him go ahead.

As I watched him go, I leaned back, thinking what a perfect day it was with the gentle breeze and the warm sun.  It felt so nice that I just wanted to stay there and drink it all in forever.  So when he got back and sat back down with me, I gave him a hug and kiss and told him that I love him.

“I love you too,” he said, “and that is why…”

Oh my God.

This is it, I’m about to get engaged!

This could not be more a perfect proposal!

Adam pulled a little gold box from his coat from his coat for me to open.  Then he opened the little green box inside to show me the ring and asked, “Will you marry me?”  Of course I said yes and asked him, “Will you put it on me?”  So he did, and finally romantic engagement was official, and it felt amazing.  The start of a new chapter for our relationship.

If I thought it was a beautiful day prior to his perfect proposal (and it really was, I’d practically forgotten about getting engaged because we were just having such a nice time that I was living in the moment) as we walked around the park after that, I felt like a million dollars.  I wanted to tell everyone we walked past, “LOOK, ADAM PROPOSED AND I SAID YES!”  Instead I just grinned like an idiot and looked down at my ring every 30 seconds.  All glittery and sparkly in the sunshine.  I couldn’t believe that beautiful and important thing was mine, and the man I loved wanted me to have it, and him, forever.  I’m not anyone’s girlfriend anymore and I’m never going to be again.  I’m a FIANCEE.  And now everyone can see that Adam and I are promised to each other forever.

We got the same ice creams as last year before it was time to go.  I asked if he had let his mom know he was proposing today and he said he did.  So I showed her the ring after we got in the car before she started it, to let her know it was official.  Though I know in her mind the day we picked out the ring was the real start of our engagement, she was still happy for us.  When we got back his mom’s partner shook Adam’s hand and told him, “Well done.”  They let us know they had champagne for us before we head back to Adam’s house. 

We told his brother when we got back, and then went to Adam’s room to relax.  But before he even turned on the TV he was snoring.  All worn out, haha.

We ended the day with a quiet Indian take out for the two of us, to celebrate.  It was the perfect end to a perfect day.  Or maybe I should say, the perfect start to our romantic engagement.
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Getting Engaged to Be Engaged

This was not a surprise engagement.  We’d talked half kiddingly about “when we’re married and I move to America” for ages.  That became less kidding as time went on.  Until finally on Memorial Day of 2009, Adam asked me if I was interested in getting engaged this summer.  I started screaming for joy, and he said, “That’s not the official question…!”  But I was used to having to make due with voice chat (at least I got to hear him; he typed his first “I love you” to me). So I didn’t consider this to be the actual romantic engagement.  

However, his proposal felt just as exciting as actually getting engaged.  Because now I could start wondering about what sort of romantic wedding proposals he might be thinking of.  Would he get his inspiration from a video game?  Would he be getting down on one knee toward the end of a nice dinner?  Would his proposal be in the gardens outside Rockingham Castle where we went last year?  Will he be proposing at a picnic at East Carlton where he brought me on my first date?  Could his idea of the perfect proposal be sitting on his bed watching Top Gear?  And if he chose that last one, would I say yes?  Hah.

I let mom know we were getting engaged this summer, but no one else.  She was not surprised in the least; when she saw the photos from our first summer together she said “so are you going to marry this guy?”  And I told her yes.  He came for Christmas and though she was happy for me before because she could tell that he makes me happy, once she met him she approved whole heartedly. 

A few people at work started wondering if this would be the summer that I’d be getting engaged.  Some of them asked out loud, but the ones I’m closest to didn’t have to.  They aren’t the kind to make a person feel awkward like that.  But they are the ones who still ask how the wedding planning is going months later, even as the news has worn off.
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Photo courtesy of:  X-Pert