The Whole Big Story (mostly)

So, on the feast of the Annunciation (last Tuesday), this happened:

And within 24 hours, at least one person had asked me, “So, is there gonna be a blog post?”

Why, yes – yes, in fact, there will. To be honest I feel a little shy about it, but my Amazing Alex did such a lovely job of it that I’ve decided I can’t help bragging about how completely adorable he is.

Mister Man had been hyping up the Annunciation for a while:

Him (on various occasions): “Did you know there’s a tradition March 25th was the date of Christ’s death as well as His Incarnation?”
Me: “Oh, really?”
Him (on all the various occasions right after the other question): “Did you know there’s a tradition March 25th was the date the world was created?”
Me: “Oh, wow.”
Him: “Yep. It’s a big day.”

Then, the night before:

Him: “We used to dress up for all the big feast days.”
Me: “That’s a nice idea.”
Him: “In nice clothes.”
Me: “Cool.”
Him: “Really nice clothes.”
Me: “Well, I’ll give that a shot.”
Him: “Our best clothes.”

Oooooooookay.

So, the next day, I got up and chose something slightly more dressy than I usually wear to work. The plan was to meet at Mass after work, then go to our friends’ house for dinner.

I suspected my outfit might not have been dressy enough when he texted me to ask what I was wearing.

He never texts me to ask what I’m wearing.

Weird, I thought. But whatever.

Then he showed up to Mass in a suit.

A suit.

Me, *in my head*: “I need to work on my dressing up skillz.” 
Me, *in my head*: “Also, I should have done my hair.”

During Mass we hold hands. It’s distracting if we don’t. But it’s also distracting if he keeps sticking his free hand in his suit’s coat pocket.

He never keeps sticking his free hand in his suit’s coat pocket.

Weird, I thought. But whatever.

After Mass, we’re typically some of the last people out. My dad trained his kids to stay in the pew and say some prayers, and Alex has joked before that anyone trying to make emergency evacuation plans should study the way Catholics leave Mass for pointers. So, we stay in the pew a while.

We stayed in the pew an extra extra while, until I finally was all, “Look, babe, we gotta go. Suz and Lance and the girls are waiting for us to get to the house so they can eat.”

We left, but when we got to the back of the church, he went out the side door to the courtyard.

He never leaves Mass out the side door. We go over there before Mass sometimes, but not after.

Weird, I thought. But whatever.

He strolls into the courtyard and says, “Why don’t you put the suitcase on the bench?”

(Explanation: he lovingly refers to my somewhat-oversized purse-bag as “the suitcase.”)

At this point I think, oh boy, Suz and Lance are gonna be waiting on dinner for A WHILE. When this man wants to stroll, he is not to be rushed. Awwesome.

Me: “Ok.” *puts down the suitcase* “Actually, no -” *snatches up the suitcase* “Hon, there are homeless people around, I don’t really want to leave it over here.”
Him, gently but with a sort of frantic urgency in his voice: “Please just put down the suitcase.”
Me: “Uhhhhm…ok.”

Weird, I thought. But whatever. 

Now, I am not totally dense. I sort of had a suspicion at this point. But I was trying really, really, really hard not to be suspicious. I didn’t want to think it was about to happen because I didn’t want to be disappointed if it didn’t happen. So, I convinced myself it wasn’t happening.

Then he takes me to the very middle of the courtyard.

And stops.

Me, out loud: “……”
Me in my head: Okay, this is really weird….

He kinda just looked at me for a second.

Then, he picks up both my hands.

Me, out loud: “……”
Me in my head: !!!!!!

Him: “So, today is the feast of the Annunciation.”
Me, out loud: “Yeah……”
Me in my head: !!!!!!
Him: “The day God sent the angel Gabriel to announce His love to the world.”
Me, out loud: “Yeah……”
Me in my head: !!!!!!
Him: “So, I want today to be the day I announce my love for you.”
Me, out loud: “……”
Me in my head: !!!!!!

And then…..

And he asked me.

And I said yes.

I said yes a lot of times.

A lot, y’all.

And then this:

Pretty sure will remember this moment for the rest of my life…so happy there’s a picture. 🙂

As a matter of fact, you may be wondering how it is there’s a picture.

I will tell you.

Suz and Lance and the girls were NOT waiting on us for dinner.

They were creeping on us behind the pillars and got the whole thing on film. Or memory card. Whatever.

Me looking like you would expect any girl to look after getting engaged to a man who looks like THAT.

After I started breathing again, my gorgeously handsome fiancé asked if I recognized the ring.

After a few seconds, I did. 

Right here I have to backtrack and tell you: for their 25th wedding anniversary, my dad got my mom these beautiful rings they had wanted when they were engaged. They wear those rings now, but kept their first ones. My sweet Alex proposed to me with the same ring my Daddy proposed to my Mama with. (It was in that pocket he kept checking during Mass.)

See? Perfection.

———————–
The same amazing friend who photographed the proposal offered to do engagement pictures for us. I now feel entitled to inflict our outrageous cuteness on you. Gag and leave if you want…but this is The Very Cutest Cuteness you could ever hope to find. (Duh, Alex is in the pictures, of course they’re cute.)

SEE?!? The man is a total stud and has Theee Best Smile Ever…can you blame me for swooning? If you think you can you need to just look at his face again real quick because you must have been doing it wrong the first time. He is totally swoon-worthy.

True love is posting a picture even though you think you look like a dweeb in it because the other person is so cute you can’t help making everybody look at it even though they will see your dweebness but whatever because ALEX IS GORGEOUS. 

 This one is finding its way into a frame in the immediate future and is the background 

of all my electronic devices everywhere.

*happy sigh*

So, there you have it.

As an aside: the fact that it was a full 48 hours after being engaged before I hit Hobby Lobby should, I feel, say a great deal about the amount of self-discipline I have.

It should, that is, except it would have only been 24 hours, I just didn’t get there before it closed.

WE’RE ENGAGED!!!!!