Proposal

(I told you I'd post "the story" eventually!)

A little less than a month ago, I went without Andy all weekend—he was at his parents and I at mine. I celebrated my birthday with my family (having already scored birthday tickets to Bon Jovie from Andy the weekend before), enjoying my day off (oh, the glories of being born on what is perpetually a three-day-weekend!) and then drove to Andy’s house. I waited outside the gate to his apartment for him. He put his water and his jacket in the trunk. Roxie was shifted to the back seat and Andy and Raider and Roxie and I drove to our favorite park for a walk.

When we got to the park, we unloaded from the car. (This is always a process. Roxie likes to make spectacular exits if she can help it…leaping from the car in freedom, only to jerked back by the leash…often this results in my losing my footing, and sometimes, her gaining freedom.)

Andy took Roxie’s leash. She leaped. (He was sure footed.) Andy asked me to get Raider’s leash out of his jacket in the trunk.

“He’s wearing a leash,” I said.

“I don’t like that one,” he said.

I rolled my eyes, went to the trunk, took Raider’s leash out, and turned around to find Andy standing immediately behind me, holding Raider. I noted he seemed a bit flustered.

I clipped the leash onto Raider’s collar.

“Shannah,” Andy said, “did you see which leash I got?”

“Yes,” I said, “it’s the usual one--the Harley Davidson one.”

“Shannah, take his leash.”

I motioned that I was holding Roxie.

Andy took my hand and shoved the end of Raider’s leash into it. There, attached to the end of the leash, was a HUGE purple bow. With sequins. And a little bit of shiny white gold and diamonds. (Who knows how I missed this...!)

I started laughing and fell halfway into the car trunk with surprise as Andy got down on one knee and proposed. I pulled him back up, saying yes and laughing so that my stomach almost hurt. (I’m almost positive that I ruined the moment.) My hands were shaking, so I made him untie the bow and put the ring on my finger.

He did it! He surprised me!

The rest of the walk I barely remember. I smiled until my face was almost numb (as evidenced by the many pictures we took), we walked really far really fast, laughing and smiling and glancing at each other (I'm sure I was blushing a bit). I sent text pictures of the ring and messages to all my friends as we walked. We called our parents and sisters and brothers. It was just glorious.

That evening, we went to dinner at our favorite Indian food restaurant. We sat out on the patio together. I couldn’t stop smiling and I was still breathless.

It was truly a breathtaking day.

Cards

Edited to add: I was reading through this again later and realized that I made it sound like this was all my idea. It wasn't. My friend Abby brilliantly thought to put my dog cartoons on the card, and it was a mock-up by her that inspired me to play around in Publisher. I owe her. Big time. (But what else is new?)

Well...at the risk of making this a wedding blog, I'm going to share my only craft since Christmas with you:
(my camera's broken, so sorry for the poor quality of picture--they're from my cell phone)




Wording on postcard:
Outside--"Roxie and Raider are excited to announce that their people are getting married at the park! They want you to remember to..."
Inside (underneath magnet)--"Please use this magnet to help you remember to save the date for our wedding on [], September [], 2010. We hope you can come and share in our joy." (with our names and wedding web site)

How I made them:
1. I drew my cartoon Roxie and Raider by hand, and then scanned it in to the computer.
2. I don't have any fancy-pants program, so I opened up good ol' Microsoft publisher and created a business card document and a postcard document, and then used my excellent secretarial skills to produce what you see there. There was a lot of fiddling here to make everything line up right.
3. I bought card stock and magnet paper (This is what I used. I read that "glossy" magnet sheets are best, and these really did turn out well.).
4. I held my breath and printed.
5. I held my breath and cut.
6. I used a corner punch (kind of like this one) to round all the corners on the big card (you don't see this in the picture--oops--I did do this!).
7. Andy put removable glue dots on all the cards, adhering the magnets to them.
8. We compiled our lists, addressed envelopes, and stamped them with pretty king and queen of hearts stamps.
9. And we're done! :-)

Thinking, Dreaming

I haven't had time to do much except read and watch class-assigned films and think about the wedding in September (including finding a venue, registering for gifts, searching for a theme, trying to remember I have a budget, setting up pre-marital counseling sessions, and creating and mailing out Save the Date cards). I've also been trying to actually squeeze in quality time with my love (because--DUH--he's the point). I've also been incessantly whining to any of the dear dear friends who will listen about how overwhelmed I am. Luckily, all of them are too good a friends to say what I'd be thinking if I were them: get over it--you're the one who decided to work full time AND go to school full time AND get married in September.

So, setting all of that aside, what I really want time to do, what I'm starving to do, is to create. It was so nice to be able to invest time in creating my save-the-date cards (which, perhaps, if you're lucky, I'll be able to photograph and put up for you to look at soon) -- there was drawing involved, and cutting, and assembly that felt a lot like the craft time that I've been missing. But I also want to sit at the sewing machine. I want to hold my bamboo needles in my hand. I need a paintbrush. These things have always been so integral to who I am--I miss them!

So, on the sly, when I daydream, I've been daydreaming about all the projects that I will make when I am married, when I am only working and no longer going to school. And, for now, I'm trying to plan something that I can work on in little bits, that could become a larger project--a wedding gift for my husband-to-be. I have a special gift from his mother that could be used and I really really want to create something with my own hands for him. So I'm thinking about that, too.

And I'm praying for serenity and patience with myself. And I'm grateful that everyone's being so nice and helpful. And I'm also really, really, happy...this is a very exciting and wonderful time in my life! :-)