So Are We Going to Get Married Or What?

I almost didn't blog tonight but then remembered it's Happy Memories Wednesday:

It was mid-March 2000. We were living in Greendale, WI: me, Shawn and our new cat, Zoey (who is still with us today). We had only been in the Milwaukee area for about a month -- having moved there from Lumberton, NC. It was one of the first warm spring days of the year. Shawn and I were out walking after work through the little neighborhood near our apartment.

I stopped to inspect a pussy-willow bush along the path. I hadn't seen one for years and was trying to remember an old poem that had pussy-willows in it. It was fairly warm out, but a gray, cloudy sky. Shawn turned, looked at me and said, "So are we going to get married or what?"

I wish I could remember what my exact words were... But I can't. I just asked Shawn and he can't remember either. Obviously, it was something like, "OK." or "Yes." or "Sure." or "Why not."

We held hands and walked back to our apartment. No public kissing for us. We were excited though and already in agreement that we wanted a late October/Halloween wedding, because it is our favorite holiday. We called our parents, our siblings, our grandparents, etc. When I asked my mom if there was enough time to plan an October wedding, she was quiet for a moment while she calculated the number of months to pull this off and then she said, "Of course there is. Heidi will help me."

Shawn's parents sent us money so we could go out to eat and celebrate. We were quite poor those days. A theme that continues today. :) A few days later, we went out to eat at Red Lobster and then went to the local mall to shop for an engagement ring for me. I only wanted one ring to serve as both engagement and wedding ring. I didn't want a solitaire setting. I wanted something unique and different. We went to three stores and at the third one, Fred Meyer, I found just what I was looking for -- an ornate white gold ring with five diamonds in the band from their "antique collection." It's not really an antique, but it looks like one and I have always loved it. It was perfect. Shawn paid for it with what was left of his inheritance from one of his grandfathers. And that's our engagement story.

It will never win awards for being the most romantic or dramatic or exciting or thrilling or funniest or sweetest proposal, but I never expected it to be. Some things you just know are going to happen. When I started dating Shawn our senior year in college, everything just seemed to click into place. We never talked much about the long term because we both just assumed that we were in it for the long haul.

I think I have another entry for my bucket list: Plant a pussy-willow bush.