Yes to Forever (Our Engagement Story)

The national day of love may have been two days ago but, for me, today is an even better day to celebrate.

That’s because four years ago today, Scott asked me to be his wife.

I guess it goes without saying that I said yes!

And while I’ve shared the story of how we met and some stories from our wedding, I realized I’ve never shared this story.

Which is honestly criminal because it deserves to be shared. Even now, years later, I’m still amazed by how much thought and planning Scott put into proposing.

If you’ve read our dating story, then you already know Scott didn’t have the smoothest intro into my life.

Well, he more than made up for that with this…

The Set-Up

2015 was a rough year for us.

In November of 2014, we experienced the very unexpected and devastating loss of Scott’s father.

We were struggling to cope with that grief when we also got hit with an unemployment stint. At that point, we had been dating for a little over a year and had to learn how to be there for each other when things got tough.

Which brought us to Christmas of 2015. A couple of weeks before the holiday I came home from work to a surprise.

Scott told me that he had wanted to get me a small gift to show me how much he appreciated me. He handed me a small, wrapped present and I unwrapped it to find a copy of The Princess Bride on DVD, one of my all-time favorite movies.

I thought it was really sweet. But then he “noticed” a rip in the protective plastic and started to panic. I assumed I had accidentally torn it taking off the wrapping paper but he insisted we open it to make sure it wasn’t damaged.

To this day, he still won’t tell me how he managed this but, despite the security tape still intact, he had slid a piece of paper into the DVD case.

The DVD had been a sweet present, but I was stunned at the surprise inside…tickets to watch the University of North Carolina Tar Heels play the Duke Blue Devils at the Dean E. Smith Center the following February.

I have been an avid UNC fan since birth thanks to my Dad and watching this game was always a bucket list item. For anyone that doesn’t obsessively follow college basketball, the UNC/Duke rivalry is the greatest rivalry in sports and one of the biggest tickets in college sports.

Without a doubt, this is still the most amazing Christmas gift I have ever received.

The Last Minute Obstacle

When we originally started making plans for the game, we decided to drive to my mom’s the day before so that we could get to campus early on game day to explore and see a few friends. (At the time we lived about 3 hours away whereas my hometown was only about 45 minutes from campus.)

But then we almost had to change plans entirely.

I had been working for a restaurant group that was opening a new concept and we were scheduled to train staff during the week the game was scheduled.

I convinced my boss to excuse me for the day of the game and told Scott that we needed to adjust the plans and drive up the day of the game instead of the day before. Of course, I didn’t realize that I was screwing up plans Scott and been making for nearly a year.

Unbeknownst to me, Scott actually called my boss and begged him to fix the schedule. Thankfully, the restaurant was facing a few construction delays, so my boss decided to just push training back a few days.

Phew. Scott’s plan was saved!

The day before the game we woke up, threw some things in a suitcase, and got ready for our little road trip.

I managed to get in a shower but, because I thought we were just driving to my mom’s, I threw my hair in a bun, put on some sweats, and called it good.

I did not have on a cute outfit, I did not put on a single swipe of makeup, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t even brush my hair first.

Clearly, I had no idea what was in store.

The Proposal

Let me go ahead and make this clear…I can be a little clueless sometimes.

Which explains why when Scott made a detour to the campus on the way to my mom’s, claiming he wanted to check out the museum that day since it would be really busy on game day, I still suspected nothing. (Side note: If you are a college basketball fan or just appreciate college sports, the on-campus basketball museum at UNC is worth a trip. There’s even a section containing items Michael Jordan donated.)

We enjoyed a leisurely and uncrowded stroll through the museum and then left to drive the final stretch to my mom’s house. At least, that’s what I thought.

As we were walking out of the museum, Scott started walking towards the arena entrance claiming he wanted to see if we could look inside.

I argued with him that it was pointless because they would be setting up for the game but he insisted.

Right in front of The Dean Dome, he stopped, turned to me, and pulled several small slips of paper out of his pocket.

From each slip of paper, he read off a specific date and place…all important moments in our relationship.

May 18, 2013…the day we met.

June 2013…our first date.

August 10, 2013…the day we officially started dating.

October 19, 2013…the first time we said, “I love you.”

August 2014…we bought our first home.

And then that day’s date, February 16, 2016. And that was when he got down on one knee, pulled the ring out of his pocket, and asked me to marry him.

I’d love to say that I reacted just like every girl does in the movies with tears and exclamations of joy…but I’d be lying.

Once he started reading off those dates, I (finally) figured out what was coming.

And I started giggling.

I can’t really explain why except to say that it’s a pretty good representation of our goofy, fun-loving relationship.

I said yes, he slid the ring on my finger, hugged me, and then the tears came.

Scott had spent almost a year planning this surprise. He had asked my mom for permission. He had designed the perfect ring. He had even let my boss in on the plan just to make sure there were no hiccups.

And the whole time, I had no clue.

It was absolutely perfect.