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I missed the list!

C.P.

Rough_Rock
Joined
Aug 9, 2010
Messages
23
Hello, ladies – longtime lurker here. I had been meaning to add myself to the LIW list, but then my fiance completely surprised me by proposing far sooner than I thought possible. I'm generally a private person, feel awkward talking about the proposal in front of others, but I want at least one chance to gush about all the details, and this seems like the best place if you'll humor me.

So, I ended a six-year relationship in late 2010, and spent most of the following year working on myself and enjoying being single again. I really felt like I'd wasted my prime dating years with this man, and relentlessly questioned why I had stayed in such an unhappy relationship for so long. I had serious doubts about whether I would find someone before my child-bearing years were past – or ever – but had reasonably made peace with being alone. After all, I was happier single than I was with him, my life had improved.

About a year after the breakup in December 2011 I decided to dip my toe in the dating waters again. I remember feeling completely at a loss as to how to go about it. I'd never really properly done the dating thing before. It seemed like a minefield, but...potentially fun? Plus I'm naturally a homebody and somewhat anti-social, which doesn't make it easy for me meet and connect with new people. I figured if I could just get out of my comfort zone a bit and be open minded, that would be a pretty good start.

So, I went on a few dates in December. Then one day in January, I was walking home on Saturday evening past a neighborhood bar, and I thought, what the heck, I'm going to go and sit at the bar and have a drink. Just relax and try to be friendly. A little while later, B came into the bar celebrating a friend's birthday. He spotted me and made his way up to the bar, cracked a joke that just happened to relate to one of my dearest childhood memories, and the rest is history. We had so much in common, it was amazing. Our personalities were seemingly different, but underneath that our lives had followed such eerily similar paths and we'd faced similar struggles. We'd even ended similarly long relationships around the same time and for similar reasons. We completely got each other. We felt a soul-level connection in that first conversation and we knew right away that this person was “the one” and that we wanted to get married. I always doubted people who married someone a short time after meeting them claiming “they just knew”--I just thought they were impulsive people with really poor judgment. Until it happened to me, and now I understand. We didn't get married immediately, but we could have easily done so! That's right, I met my beloved in a bar.

Now, the proposal! After 5 months together, B's lease was expiring and he wanted us to live together—but it was just too soon and I couldn't do it. So he had to sign a new 12-month lease, which meant we wouldn't be living together until mid-2013 at the earliest. Ouch. I wasn't ready to live together just yet, but I certainly didn't want to put it off for an entire year. Plans on hold. Over the summer we discussed timeframes and decided to get married winter of 2014 (that would be 2 years after we met). He had until then to propose, but needed the better part of a year to save for a ring, besides, he wouldn't be able to move in with me until summer 2014 anyway, no point proposing sooner.

So last month, we went back to his hometown in the Minnesota for two weeks over Christmas so I could meet his family. My birthday is Christmas Eve, so we'd be celebrating that as well. I'm a little bitter about missing out on proper birthday celebrations because mine basically falls on a big family holiday, so I really didn't mind celebrating away from home and didn't expect much.

B, however had other plans. He booked us an amazing suite in posh hotel in downtown Minneapolis for the nights before and of my birthday. Champagne, breakfast in bed, flowers delivered to the room upon arrival. The morning of my birthday, he had booked me a spa package. Manicure, pedicure, massage, facial. I came back to the suite all blissed out while he served me my late breakfast. He said, baby, do you think we could go to the sculpture garden this afternoon, I used to love going there when I was a kid, it's a special place to me (he grew up to be an artist, after all). It was frigid, but how could I refuse?

We walked cheerfully to the sculpture garden all bundled up, frolicked in the snow a bit, looked at a few sculptures. I spotted the famous Cherry Spoon sculpture, and ran off, leaving B behind to take pictures. Snapping, snapping, snapping away, to get my perfect photo of the famous sculpture. Completely ignoring B. B trailed behind, waited, finally said, “Baby, give me a kiss.” I turned around, and he was on one knee in the snow with tears in his eyes holding a box. He said, “Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, will you marry me?” I was completely shocked, didn't see it coming at all. I hugged him, he put the ring on my finger, and we took a photo in front of the statue—which turned out perfect—then walked back to hotel. He said he wanted to give me the best birthday ever and that my three-stone ring would represent birthday, christmas, and engagement all in one.

We shared a celebratory round of drinks in the hotel lounge, before having dinner in the adjoining restaurant. They brought me a birthday cake. Then we went back to the suite and called our families and enjoyed all the facebook congrats while drinking mimosas and lounging in our cushy spa robes. Then B. played a song he wrote for me about how meeting me had changed his life, and he explained to me what all the lyrics meant, and we both cried. Then he showed me a beautiful video recording he'd made of the previous song he'd written for me, and that wrapped up our day.

That was our engagement day, that's our story. Thanks for listening. We will be having a small wedding in January 2014 on the beach on St. John U.S. Virgin Islands on the the 2-year anniversary of the day we met. He found a new renter to take over his lease as soon as we got home, and now as of this week, we're living together, just a block from the bar where we met. Yay.

And here's the thread on my ring if you'd like to check it out: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/so-proud-of-my-elegant-3-stone-e-ring.185109/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/so-proud-of-my-elegant-3-stone-e-ring.185109/[/URL]
 

mary poppins

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 10, 2010
Messages
2,606
Yay to surprise early proposals! :appl: How thoughtful of your FI to make sure you had a separate celebration just for your birthday and then come up with a ring design having such significance regarding the three occasions. So sweet!

Congratulation and best wishes for a wonderful life full of happiness together.

Since you didn't have a chance to be on the LIW list, I hope you'll join the BWW list and share your wedding preparation experience with us.
 

pandabee

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
2,910
What an absolutely beautiful story!! I love his definition of the three stone ring a lot and it's unique to you!! Your wedding sounds lie it'll be a blast, sorry we didn't get to have you on the list but definitely hang around BWW to talk wedding plans! :))
 

Rosebloom

Ideal_Rock
Joined
May 23, 2012
Messages
3,943
What a wonderful story! Congratulations!!
 

Chewbacca

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 9, 2012
Messages
699
What a wonderful story! :appl:

Your ring is very beautiful, it looks perfect on your finger. What a nice thread to read on a Monday morning!
 

antiquesparkler

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 15, 2012
Messages
543
Congratulations! What a perfect proposal and gorgeous ring!! I am from MN and love that park. :)

Wishing you and your man lots of love and happiness.
 

Impudent_Crumpet

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Messages
28
Congratulations! I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to know you better, but so much love and happiness to you and your One.

Also, DAAAAAAAAANG GIRL that is some ring.
 

jennified

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 1, 2013
Messages
39
This story warmed my heart immensely. I almost cried reading it! I especially love the fact that your ring represents those 3 things. LOVE!!!!! Your ring is so gorgeous... I always wanted to do something different and get rose gold for my setting too, now we will have to see if my jeweler agrees with me. Congrats!!!!
 

C.P.

Rough_Rock
Joined
Aug 9, 2010
Messages
23
Thank you so much, ladies, for all the warm wishes. I didn't know what to expect out of engagement, as I'm not really comfortable putting my private life out there for others to comment on, but it's been a surprisingly positive experience so far. People are genuinely excited for you and they wish you well. And the day itself, I was a bit dazed and overwhelmed. I remember at a certain point in the evening around birthday cake time, I was just like "Oh my gosh, it's too much! I just can't!" But once the dust settled, regardless of what I might have thought about the details of the ring, the proposal, or how the day unfolded, I just felt really touched by this sweet sweet thing he'd done for me. So much care and effort and money just to make me feel like a princess for the day. A truly loving and selfless act. And God bless him for not making me wait another 6 months! It's funny because in the months leading up to the trip, I was like why is he making such big dang deal about my birthday?? Can't he just accept that Christmas Eve birthdays are inherently lame...

jennified: I hope the rose gold works out for you, but I'm sure you and your jeweler will choose what's best. I genunitely enjoy having something different. It may be increasingly popular on PS, but in the real world it's still quite unusual in an engagement ring! I am constantly ring-watching and I have yet to lay eyes on another rose gold e-ring. People look at mine and they say tentatively, "Is that rose gold?" like they're not even sure what they're looking at. Of course I'm more than happy to confirm that it is. :D
 

Enerchi

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
10,658
Oh CP!! That is an incredibly loving and heart warming story!! Oh --- what a guy!!! I'm so happy for you both!!! I love the romantic significance of all the little parts of your relationship - and especially getting married 2 years from when you met... oh my!!! So wonderful!!

Happy birthday, fellow Dec 24 baby!! I'll remember to celebrate in spirit with you, this coming year!! What a great birthday and what a fantastic proposal!
 

cygnet

Brilliant_Rock
Trade
Joined
May 24, 2012
Messages
536
Congratulations! What a thoughtful guy. That's a great proposal story. And I love your ring!
 

fabulousfindk

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jun 14, 2011
Messages
165
What a beautiful proposal! And I love the story of how you met. Congratulations! :appl: :love: :razz:
 

gatorblue

Rough_Rock
Joined
May 7, 2012
Messages
67
Oh C.P... what a gorgeous ring! And that was such an amazingly sweet proposal - so much thought went into that. You are a lucky girl, and he is a lucky man! I wish you both nothing but the best. :bigsmile:
 

Tourmaline

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Nov 17, 2013
Messages
2,560
I know this thread is more than a year old, but I just discovered it, and it sure made me smile. :)
 
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