I would like to tell you about how I became engaged to my fiancée, Tanya. But first a little background is needed to understand how we have come to where we are now. I first met Tanya in September, 2002, when I started working at Wal-Mart. Ever since I started to take notice of her I had been teasing her, and she in turn started to tease me. I was on my break sitting in the break room when she walked in. I tossed a tease her way, “Sure, don’t sit with me!” To my surprise she did. We started talking, but I was in a trance, here is this beautiful girl and she is talking to me. If I remember right she was telling me that she had broken up with her ex-boyfriend a few months prior and was doing ok. She broke me out of my trance with, “Do you want to know what I look for in a guy?” I was surprised, but thought I would hear her out. So she started to list off things that she prized in a man. Caring, kind, thoughtful, good listener, and I being in a daze answered every question with the one word phrase, “Me!” Then she caught me off guard again, “Me, me, me…are you offering to be my boyfriend?” That very afternoon we were boyfriend and girlfriend.
The more I spent time with her getting to know her more, the more she intrigued me. She was fun to be around, was smart and funny, and she looked beautiful. Tanya was the woman for me! I would go visit her at her place; she would come spend time with me. I was finding it very hard to leave her and go back to my house when our date was over. I had started to feel a stronger connection with Tanya.
Tanya and I have had some tough times. Tanya has been dealing with the passing of her grandfather. And when we had started dating Tanya had not totally dealt with that. Problem was she would hold it in which made her quite cranky and moody. But since I loved her I wouldn’t give up on her. I kept at her till she would tell me what was upsetting her, and then she would cry it out and I would try and comfort her as best as I could. Quite a few times I would get a call where she thought she didn’t deserve to be my girlfriend because she was still dealing with the pain and thought she was a burden to me. We would talk for hours and she would understand that it was okay to still be upset, and she would not lose me because of that. I became her security blanket as she often tells me. Tanya has also been a great help for me being my support. She believes in me and wants me to do well. She is my motivation in many things.
We had been dating for around five months when she almost scared me to death. She was visiting me at my house, I was just finishing helping my Dad with some work and I heard Tanya scream. I was on the other side of the house but I still had a chill go up my spine. I got to the corner of the house and saw her on the ground clutching her ankle, sobbing her eyes out. I think my adrenaline must have spiked because I ran about 100 feet in less than two seconds to get to her. She had taken a step backward and stepped on a piece of wood, lost her balance falling on her rear, twisting her ankle on the way down. I ended up taking her to a hospital with the help of my parents. This was also one of the few times that she let me drive her car. She was in a half-cast from her toes to her knee, having sprained her ankle pretty bad, but healed up rather well. She told me later that she had never seen anyone run as fast as I did when I saw her crying that afternoon.
Tanya and I had been dating for around eight months when I was at the hardest part of a date, kissing her goodbye before I went home for the night, when she said, “I wish we were married, than you wouldn’t have to leave.” Many times after that Tanya and I had been walking around Wal-Mart usually ending up at the jewelry counter, Tanya showing me what rings she liked and rings she thought were too much or not to her liking. And I started thinking of that comment she made seriously, what if we were married? So I had started to save up the money to purchase a ring. When I found out I had enough money in my bank account, I was way too happy. I wanted this to be perfect. I ended up telling Tanya the news, pretty much blowing the surprise.
Tanya and me had decided on a silver engagement bridal set. Not very big and showy but not very small either. The engagement ring has a set of small diamonds running along the center of the ring with one bigger diamond in a setting. The bridal ring looks similar to the engagement ring without the big diamond. Every time she saw this ring she would stare at it, mesmerized. This had been a dream of hers for a long time. I found out later that she had been buying wedding books since her early teen years. Had many pages she tore out of wedding magazines that displayed different wedding dresses. I wish you could see how many magazines she has.
I discussed getting a ring for Tanya with my mom and she thought it was a wonderful idea and told me to give her the money and she would use her discount card, being an employee of Wal-Mart, and save me 10% on the purchase. Me and Tanya were at the Wal-Mart in Cambridge, MN and decided to get the ring that very day. I had originally planned on buying the ring by myself and giving it to her later, but she convinced with those blue eyes of hers. Problem was being this was on the spur of the moment; I only had a small amount of money in my wallet. We found my mom and she said if I gave her what I had, she could put money down on it and it would be in Lay-a-way until I came back with the rest of the money. It would be a 30 minute ride back my hometown in Mora where my bank is, but I figured what’s a little bit of gas when you’re in love, right? So we drove off in my car, totally excited, stopping only to put gas in my car. I felt like a kid who just got his allowance and was going to spend it all on candy. When we got to the bank, I had difficulty writing the slip for the withdrawal, being so excited. But it was good enough for the bank and we headed back to Wal-Mart. A number of times on the road Tanya had to remind me we had time and to slow down. I’m still surprised I didn’t get a speeding ticket. We had the stereo playing in the car, but we were too excited to even listen to the radio.
When Tanya and I got back inside the store we found my mom at her cash register, and told were we had the money, could we get the ring now? Mom wasn’t busy at the moment so she explained the news to her supervisor. The supervisor was a friend of ours, Bobby, who told us “Go take care of the ring; Shannon (my mom) you are not busy right now anyways!” So we went over gave mom the rest of the money and mom paid for the rest of the ring. It was so thrilling to be holding the ring in my hand. Then after thanking my mom, we drove another 30 minutes back to my house. I wanted this to still be somewhat romantic. When I first started saving money for the ring, I wanted to give it to her in a very special way that would be very memorable. So I got her a gift I was going to place the ring inside. It was a cream colored ceramic vase with a design of a rose along the outside. Out of the top of the vase came a felt rose. The top of the rose had a hinge and opened up like a jewelry box and I put the ring in there, and then put the flower vase back in its packaging. When Tanya and me got back to my house, my sister Jennifer was home watching a movie in the living room. So while they were catching up with each other, I slipped into my bedroom and put the ring inside the gift. Not having any wrapping paper I carried the package behind my back in a Wal-Mart plastic bag and presented it to Tanya. She had this amazed look on her face I will never forget. “What did you do?” I just gave it to her saying, “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise!”
She opened the box up and I saw a tear in the corner of her eyes, even though she knew she was getting the ring. At that point I got down on one knee and opened the top of the flower and asked her to be my wife. Even I had a tear in my eye, I was so happy. She didn’t answer right away but I knew the answer when she wrapped both arms around me and gave me a big hug and said, "yes!"