Well, hello, there!
I usually start the annual holiday letter in October. I go and look at my Instagram and see what I posted there. I check my photo roll to remind me of moments that have passed in the last year. I will even check text messages to see what I’ve been chatting about.
I didn’t do any of that to prepare for this year’s letter. Instead, I wore tie dye.
It was an average Sunday in June. Jeff and I had a very exciting day planned: we were going to go to Costco! As we got ready that morning, I asked Jeff if he wanted to go to get donuts on our way to Costco. Jeff said, “Brunch instead?” I asked where and he told me Luci’s at the Orchard. Seeing as that’s an awesome place in general and it’s a place we had been to several times before – including our first date and first anniversary – I said, “Hell yes!”
Since it was regular Sunday – or so I thought – I took no pains or effort in getting dress. I just put on some comfy pants, sandals, and a tie dye shirt. What did I care? After some yummy Luci’s, we were off to run errands.
Sighhhhhh…
We got to Luci’s and as we walked in, I said, “You know. If we had a significant life event, this would be a nice place to hold it.” Jeff agreed and we went to find a place to sit and order our food.
It was June and I had already been sweating for three months, so I suggested we sit inside. There was a 6-top table with a couple at the end. I asked them if we could sit at the other end and they said sure. So there we sat.
I ordered pulled pork chilaquiles (breakfast nachos!), and I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that it was the best pulled pork I’ve eaten. I could not stop talking about it. How it tasted. Wondering how it was made. Looking up pulled pork recipes. Showing Jeff how complex pulled pork recipes were to me (as a reminder I am a horrible cook and anything beyond drive-thru is complex to me). Making Jeff try my pulled pork. Really, I could not say enough about this excellent food.
Jeff, God bless that man, nodded along and made noises as if he were as invested in the pull pork as I was, but he was distracted. He was quiet and, now that I think about it, nervous.
Jeff went to get our drinks refilled, and I started to clear our plates and the table. As I was about to get up, Jeff told me to sit down and said we had to talk about something.
Being the absolutely brat that I am, I threw my hands up in the air and said, “Oh, Great!!! What now?!?!” Totally joking and being silly. Jeff said, “No, it’s OK. Give me your hands.” I skeptically reached across the table and waited for what were about to talk about.
The second our hands touched, Jeff started to cry. I immediately assumed he was sick, and he was trying to tell me. I panicked, stood up, and told him that we should go, we would figure it out, and it was going to be OK. Jeff pulled me back down and said “No, it’s a good thing. I swear.”
He then proceeds to say the nicest things about me I had ever heard. He talked about our life together. But mostly he talked about love. His love for me, and my love for him. Because anxiety, I kept waiting for him to tell me the bad news as I listened to him talk about how much our relationship means to him.
There was this tiny little voice in the back of my head that whispered, “I think he’s proposing.”
I immediately pushed that though aside because that couldn’t be happening. I would know if he was proposing. I would be able to detect when he was going to do it because I would be able to pick up on nerves. …I wouldn’t be wearing tie dye.
As Jeff concluded making me fall deeper in love with him with his words, he asked me to stand up. It was then that the little voice became a full-fledged roar in my head, as I yelled in a very crowded restaurant, “ARE YOU DOING THIS?!?!?”
Jeff got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.
He, on one knee, responded, “Yes. I am sure. Yes. I am serious.” And then looked at me.
There was a slightly awkward pause because someone forgot her lines, and then I yelled, “YESYESYESYESYESYES!”
It was an extraordinary moment. Despite being in a busy place full of strangers, it truly felt like we were the only people on earth. The happiest tears I’d ever cried fell down my face as I felt every happy and positive emotion a human can feel at the same time.
When we came back to reality, the staff from Luci’s rushed to our table to congratulate us and looked at my ring and told us how happy they were for us. As we walked out of the restaurant, a couple flagged us down by waving and yelled out, “Congratulations!” We walked over and said thank you. One of them said, “We watched your proposal. We wanted to take video for you, but we don’t know you and we thought that would be weird. Want us to take your picture instead?”
And that is who took this picture.
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| It's hard to tell just how happy I was. |
It’s safe to say, I was slightly deliriously happy. And I was wearing tie dye.
We went back to the house, and we started making calls, and by calls, I mean FaceTime.
You already know who the first call was, and, no, my mom didn’t know it was happening – but she still knew it was happening.
For months, that woman kept telling me that Jeff was going to propose. Before we went on a weekend trip, she told me to get my nails done. I told her she was crazy.
When I told her that Jeff had tempted me with a mysterious road trip, she responded I should get my nails done and buy a new outfit. I told her to calm down.
Turns out, she was right each time. Every time that my mom thought Jeff was going to propose, he had plans to do exactly that and I literally ruined each effort with my big fat mouth.
The first time was Good Friday, and I happened to mention what it means to Catholics (well, at least to this former Catholic), and I mentioned how it’s a day when there is no mass and no celebrations are held in the church. Jeff has so much respect for my former religion that he decided he wanted to be respectful and not propose on that specific Friday.
The second time was when he wanted to go on a mysterious road trip weekend after weekend and I had reason after reason why we couldn’t get away.
Eventually, Jeff knew it didn’t matter the setting, it mattered that the question be asked. So instead of doing anything over the top, Jeff took a regular day and made it the most magical day of my life (so far).
When I was reflecting on the day after I learned the efforts this man went to get me to say yes to marrying him, I realized that the actual proposal was better than anything he imagined because it was so unexpected, and it was so us: me being obliviously happy and Jeff making plans to make me even happier.
After we FaceTimed “The Moms” (that’s what we call Jeff’s mom and my mom), we FaceTimed family and friends for several hours after that.
Getting to share the news with our circle, and getting to see their reactions, was not just fun but touching. Seeing how much happiness and love our friends and family had over our love brought tears to my eyes multiple times that day and since that day. We were celebrated by each person we called, and all of their happiness was genuine and heart-felt.
When we finished with the calls, we topped the day off with a trip to Costco. It could not have been a better day that day.
So, now I’m a wedding planner.
Remember when I told you my mom had figured out that Jeff was going to propose? She also figured out that my first idea was to elope and not invite anyone, so she got to acting.
I was proposed to on a Sunday. By the following Tuesday, my mother had used enough of her special brand of motherly encouragement to ensure I made an appointment with the only dress shop I would consider getting a dress at for the following Saturday. She knew if I found a dress, I would want a wedding.
The sky is blue. Grass is green. And my mom was right.
That Saturday, my mom, my future mother-in-law, future sister-in-law, future niece-in-law, and my lifelong best friend and matron of honor, Nanna, who randomly was in town that Saturday, made it to this dress shop that is 1.5 miles away from where I grew up. I had spoken to the staff prior to coming and told them what I was looking for. I stalk their social media, and I had been saving posts of theirs that I liked, so I sent those along for inspiration.
I tried on four dresses, and I said yes to one of them. But not before sobbing in the dressing room as I looked at myself in my future wedding dress knowing I will wear
it when I marry Jeff. Not crying. Full on sobbing. Sobbing to the point that the assistant who was helping me get in and out of the dresses had to pop her head out and whisper, “We need mom.” So there my mom and I stayed hugging while we both sobbed with happiness together.
Immediately after getting the dress, we needed a venue.
We got a venue.
And caterer.
And DJ.
And photographer.
And videographer.
And florist.
And hair/makeup.
And the list goes on.
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| NOT OUR ACTUAL CAKE! |
We had our engagement photoshoot last month and we got so many great photos. We’re saving the bulk of them for a future project, but I will include a few at the end of this letter to show you how sexy my husband is. Oh, and I’m in them too.
Obviously, more happened this past year than our engagement, but I love our engagement story so much, I forced you to read about it. You're welcome.
Other highlights – and low lights – of the year include:
- I got a new job, and my passion for my career has been reignited once again. I feel like #professional me again!
- Jeff sold his house at the perfect time. He is so smart!
- We went to Colorado. We got to see Nanna and her family. Had a wonderful time!
- We went to Bearizona. I got the same answer as last time: No, I am not able to hug a real bear or take one home. Still had a great time!
- I got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It sucks. Do not recommend!
- We went to Lake Tahoe. It was very cold, and we loved it and are trying to figure out a way to live there permanently because we had a fantastic time!
- In the course of one week, Jeff and I tested positive for covid (our first bout), my mom ended up in ICU for what would be a 12 day stay all told, and my cousin passed away. It was quite honestly the worst week of my life.
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