by Melody Bowen
"Sweetheart, I hope you won't think this is terribly unromantic. The thing is, we can leave here, and we could go back to Arkansas and Nashville, and I could try to order that same ring later. We both know it's the one we like. But the thing is, if I do that, it's not going to be those same stones. And they're perfect. We might be able to come close, but I'm afraid it won't be the same. Would you think it was terribly unromantic to go ahead and buy it?"
Then, the tears threatened to breach the corners of my eyes. I giggled and stammered, "No, no, no, not unromantic... omigod-are-you-serious... omigod, omigod, omigod! Umm... omigod, are you serious? Omigod, Ned, are you kidding???"
His eyes smiled first, then his lips, and then he said, "Come on, let's go get it." And we walked back to the counter. Rebecca turned from helping another customer, and Ned said with a satisfied smile, "We'll take it." Then he turned to me and said something like, "This isn't how I imagined it -- I wanted to get down on one knee and give you a ring -- but this feels right. So... Melody... will you marry me?"
The tears finally slipped down my cheeks, and... well, I have no earthly idea what I said. It was something meaning "yes", but I can't for the life of me tell you what it was. Honestly, I think I managed to whisper a "yeah" as I fought to keep from breaking down and crying like a little girl. We kissed and hugged, and Rebecca fought a few tears of her own, then began wrapping up our new purchase only four or five minutes before the store closed.
As Ned paid for the most beautiful piece of jewelry I've ever seen -- E-V-E-R -- I sneaked outside to smoke a cigarette and calm my nerves a bit. When I came back inside, Rebecca had polished my beautiful engagement ring. She handed Ned the receipt with the box and the bag, and the ring went immediately on my finger. I said, "Ned, it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen..." and we wrapped our arms around each other, and I kissed him, still fighting tears.
Afterward, we stood in the parking lot, both of us doing a little happy dance (especially me), and alternating between kissing and hugging and being giddy to the point of silliness. A man and woman in a car stopped and rolled down a window as they passed us and said, "Hey, you two calm down. You're way too excited!" We grinned and laughed and continued celebrating our engagement.
******
I love Ned for thinking that buying me this ring and proposing that way -- right there at the jewelry counter -- was unromantic. I love him for thinking that way, but I also love him for understanding that I think it was absolutely perfect. It was very... well... "us". We're both adventurous, spontaneous people, who are delighted when things just come together without a master plan. Our engagement story is exactly that sort of thing -- spontaneous, adventurous, and it happened just the way it should. Just when we thought we knew exactly what sort of ring we wanted, the perfect ring caught Ned's eye, and moments later we were engaged. It was the perfect engagement story for us. Just perfect.
We celebrated by having a romantic dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant in Tulsa. The waitress, before even taking our drink orders, looked at my left hand and said, "Wow, that's a beautiful ring you've got there!" I thanked her, and I told her I'd had it for less than an hour and just thought it was the most beautiful ring in the world, and she happily congratulated us both.
Ned and I drove home that evening both giddy from the excitement and blinded by the sparkle on my left hand. Since then, we've announced our engagement to family and friends, and we've begun planning for our life together. We still haven't set a date or made any firm plans for the logistics of how we merge from a couple living in two states to a couple living under one roof, but we're getting there.
And we couldn't be happier. Woohooooooooo!
Thank you, Ned, for making me the happiest girl in the world and asking me to be your wife. And thank you for making our engagement story so perfectly "us". Thank you for such a wonderful, spontaneous proposal, and for choosing such a beautiful ring for me to wear. Especially thank you for loving me enough to not give up on me, and thank you for believing in me when I sometimes don't believe in myself. Thank you for having faith that you and I were meant to be together. I love you, and I'm so happy that we're making our lives together...
Extra note to self: Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare oneself to go crazy buying bridal magazines and looking at fabric swatches and doing all things girly to prepare for this wedding! Start shopping for the perfect Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals immediately! Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
