Thursday, March 02, 2006

"I need you to be with me..." (How we got engaged)

That Labor Day weekend, my roommate Becky S. and I drove down to SLC to spend the weekend with my grandparents. Becky had just broken up with her boyfriend, and wanted to get out of town. We were both feeling quite depressed.

Two weeks had passed since I had last seen "S". He was in Arizona starting out a new life, meeting new people, looking for a job and getting ready to attend DeVry. I wanted desparately to call him. I didn't think to give him my phone number so he could call me. I hadn't called him during those two weeks. I really wanted to, but I felt it was important to give him some time to get settled before I called.

Sunday night, after a C.E.S. fireside, I decided I would call him. Arizona was an hour behind Idaho so I waited till my roommates had all taken their turns calling their parents, and had gone to bed. I told Becky I was going to call him, and I snuck out to the living room. The phone rang a few times before anyone answered. My stomach was doing somersaults during those few long drawn out seconds. One of his roommates answered the phone, I asked for "S", and then there was a clunk as the receiver was placed on the table and they searched the house for him.

I heard him say "Hello?" All I said was "This is 'D'." I almost didn't get my whole name out before he interrupted me telling me how glad he was I had called. He went on to say "I was an idiot for leaving you there in Idaho. I need you to be with me. I realize now how much I care about you. You need to move to Phoenix." On his drive down to AZ everything went fine till he was a mile from his apartment. The water pump went out on his truck. It stopped running and he coasted to a stop practically in front of an auto-repair shop, they helped him push the truck into the shop. He was having a really hard time finding a job, and that night he also had gone to the C.E.S. Fireside, and that was when he realized that he had feelings for me.

I was on the other end of the phone silently sobbing. I looked at the phone in confusion. This wasn't the same person that I had known throughout the past school year. What happened to the "S" I knew? It took moving three states away to realize that he cared about me. We spent two hours talking on the phone that night. By the end of the conversation we knew we were going to get married. We didn't know where, we didn't know when. We had discussed the number of children we wanted, and when we would see each other again. I hung up the phone, crawled on to Becky's bed, woke her up and the two of us bawled. I'm glad there was no cameras in there, it wouldn't have been a pretty sight!

General Conference weekend was approaching. (First weekend of October), and we tried to make plans to meet each other in SLC. The weekend came, and "S" had finally gotten a job the week before. He wouldn't be able to get the time off to come up to Salt Lake. Another Music Major friend of ours, Kiersten went to Salt Lake with me instead. We had a great time trying to keep my mind off the fact that "S" wouldn't be able to come to Salt Lake City.

"S" and I emailed constantly, and talked on the phone almost every night. ( I got a roommate and her mom quite angry with me one night.) We figured the next time we'd see each other would be after I finished that semester. After Christmas break, I would move to Phoenix and get a job, and get engaged!

It came as a surprise in the second week of October when I was told that my student loan for tuition hadn't been approved. All the money I had made from my job over the summer was used to pay for my housing. I had a little over $100 left in my savings account. My parents couldn't pay for my tuition, my only other option was to withdraw from school. I took the last little bit of money I had to my name, plus a little a friend loaned me and bought a plane ticket from Salt Lake to Phoenix. I drove down to my grandparents house in Salt Lake, and then flew to Phoenix. It was important that "S" and I see each other in person, just in case what we were feeling was all just in our heads. We could have been imagining the whole thing, but until we saw each other in person we wouldn't ever know. It was the first time I had flown by myself, and on top of all the nervous feelings I had about seeing "S" again, I had butterflies in my stomach the entire flight. Good thing its only 1 hour between SLC and Phx.

Since this was before 9/11/2001, "S" was able to meet me at the gate as soon as I walked off the plane. It was so comforting to immediately see him as I walked out of the gate. I walked over to him, and he gave me a hug. At that moment all my fears and worries had melted away. I knew that we were going to be together and that I know longer had to worry about when I would see him again. (He later told me that as soon as he saw me walk off the plane he knew we would be together.) I hadn't eaten anything in forever, so he took me to Wendy's. He started to tell me about this movie that he had seen. Scariest thing ever he said. In Rexburg you're pretty much in a bubble, no one has a t.v. and if they do they're not at home enough to watch it. I had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently the movie was "The Sixth Sense". He took me to go see it that night. After the movie, we went to a park where we could walk around and talk. We sat on a parkbench and talked for a little while, and then he kissed me. We had known each other for over a year, and that was the first time we had ever kissed.

His roommate had arranged for me to stay at an apartment that belonged to some girls that were in their ward at Church. All parties involved felt it was best that we observe the Ricks College standards while I was there. That weekend we went water-skiing at Lake Pleasant with his roommate and one of the girls from the apartment I was staying at.

That night we went to a family party at "S"'s grandparents house. This involved dinner, dessert, and party games with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was a little scary at first, but it was a lot of fun. At the end of the night when "S" and I went to leave, everyone gave me a hug and told me they were glad to meet me. "S"'s cousin Jamie who was about "S"s age, and she had already been married for a few months gave me a hug. During the hug, she whispered in my ear "You're perfect for my cousin!" It was just a little shocking and surprising, but so funny. The next day we went to Church in the singles ward, and Monday morning "S" took me to the airport, and I flew back to SLC, and then drove back to Idaho.

When I got back to Ricks, I waited till the end of the week to withdraw, pack up all my belongings back into my pinto, and said goodbye to all of my friends in the Snow Building Music Department. My roommates had all gone out of town Friday night, my last night in my apartment at Ricks was spent alone. I wouldn't allow myself to sit at home and feel sorry for myself, I called up Kiersten and we hung out with a bunch of our old friends that had come up for a concert. When I returned to my apartment, I found a card and a box of muffins. Inside the card was a note from "S"'s old roommate and his new bride wishing me luck with my future endevors, and that "S" and I would make cute babies!

Saturday morning, I woke up early and drove home. The plan was I would return home and go back to work at Shari's. I surprised my parents with the announcement that I was pretty much engaged. They said they didn't know I was even dating anyone. Truth was, I hadn't!

I worked at Shari's every possible shift I could pick up until Thanksgiving. I also had a couple of wisdom teeth removed while I was home. "S" started his first semester at DeVry November 14th. Thanksgiving time grew closer. My entire family would be going to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving at my grandparents house. "S" would be flying up to Salt Lake to spend Thanksgiving with us, and meet my family. Before this he had called my dad one night while I was at work to officially ask for my hand in marriage. How romantic. While I was still in Idaho, "S" had asked me what kind of ring I wanted. I looked through a few ring store ads till I found one that I liked and I mailed the picture to him. Leading up to Thanksgiving "S" kept telling me that my ring was being sized, that I wouldn't be getting it anytime soon.

I once again packed up my little pinto with as much of my stuff as I could. My brother drove with me down to Salt Lake. My parents and other brother had left the day before. "S" had only bought a one-way ticket to SLC. After Thanksgiving he would be driving with me back down to Phoenix. Tuesday before Thanksgiving we left to drive to Salt Lake. I had a cold so my brother volunteered to drive for me. You know when you're driving and you're changing elevations your ears get plugged up? That happened to me, I tried to pop them, but because I had a cold it didn't go so well. I don't know what happened but all of a sudden my ear was in searing pain! We finally got to my grandparents house and I was in tears! I called "S" from their house and told him about my cold, and my earache. He would be flying into Salt Lake Wednesday evening. I hung up the phone and cried for awhile. My mom gave me some ear drops and that helped a lot.

Wednesday evening came. I had planned on going to pickup "S" at the airport by myself. But again because I was sick my parents wouldn't allow that. They went to the airport with me. I saw him walk out of the gate with a bouquet of red roses. How sweet! (He later told me that he had planned on proposing to my right there in the airport but because I was sick, and my parents were standing there, and there was a ton of people he decided not to.) We went back to my grandparents house and sat in the basement with my parents, brothers, grandparents and one of my (male) cousins. Just as I had been put through the grinder a month previous by his extended family, my family grilled him for every minute detail of his life that night.

It started to get late and my cousin left, then my grandparents went to bed. "S" and I went upstairs to sit and talk. We were sitting on the couch holding hands and talking when all of a sudden he jumped off the couch and lept for his coat that was lying on the couch opposite of us. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a white box. He then got down on his knee and proposed to me that night! My ring still getting sized was just a ruse to throw me off from suspecting when he'd officially propose. I don't remember what he said when he proposed, but I do remember that he wanted it to be "official" before we met all my extended family the next day at Thanksgiving dinner. He didn't want them to think I was driving away with some guy that wouldn't even give me a ring!

Everyone was surprised to see me with my ring the next morning. But very excited too. Friday morning came and I hugged all my family goodbye and "S" and I drove to Phoenix. The apartment that I had stayed at when I visited in October had a vacancy, I was able to move into their apartment. I spent the first couple of days in Phoenix job hunting, putting in applications, and interviewing. I had gotten a job at Red Lobster and I would start the following Monday. I even had the tacky multi-colored shirts with fish all over. Sunday night came and I would be starting my job at Red Lobster the next morning. I just didn't feel comfortable with it, so when Monday morning came I called and told them I wouldn't be taking the job. Instead I drove downtown to a temp agency that "S" had gotten his job through. I did their little skills test, and that night I got a phone call to report to a receptionist job downtown. I would be working for a Cable Advertising Company. I worked as a temp through the whole month of December, and in January I was hired as a full-time employee of the company.
Posted by ABQ Mom :: 3/02/2006 07:38:00 AM :: 2 Comments:

Post a Comment

---------------------------------------