When I predicted that my holiday season was going to be a
bit different than usual, I really had no idea just how different it would be.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day passed by pretty uneventfully, as we readied ourselves
for a week of vacation in Wisconsin. The day after Christmas, I started packing
up the dinner that we made to share with family in Oconomowoc after our gift
giving concluded. Mike went missing in the midst of it all, and when I called
him, he said he was running an errand. I thought nothing of it, and loaded the
last of the gifts into the car so that we could get on the road when he
returned.
Later on, as night fell across the snow-covered fields in
Oconomowoc, soon after we started in on the gifts, and as I took the lasagna
out of the oven and readied the tiramisu cake, Mike announced that he had one
last surprise to unveil outside. My family started trading confused looks as we
bundled up to leave the barn and go outside into the snow.
Once we were out under the sky, he got down on one knee
and asked me to marry him. I don’t remember much after that, as I was in such a
state of surprise and shock that I started sobbing (ugly crying, really, and there are unfortunate pictures to prove it) hysterically. Of
course, after nearly nine years together, I don’t think I even needed to say
yes for him to know my answer to his question.
As it turned out, my dad was the only one in the immediate
family who knew it was coming. The only other person to know was a relative who
owns a jewelry store down in Cincinnati. In keeping with family tradition, Mike
got the ring there, after making the 5+ hour drive down and back in one day
while I was at work. As for that mysterious errand that he ran earlier in the
day…
It was to pick up a bottle of champagne, which he hid in the
snow until it was time to celebrate our engagement.
We’re thinking about setting the date for this fall. So, now
you know where I’ve been for the last few weeks!
