How a Became an Engaged Woman...

I’m sorry to say that Zach’s big proposal was not quite a full surprise. Zach and I had been discussing marriage, at least in a very general sense, for years. In fact, Zach had even drunkenly confessed to a few of his friends that he thought he would marry me just a few months into our relationship.

When we were in Vegas over Thanksgiving in 2007, Zach had taken me into a Tiffany’s and had me try on rings. During that event, Zach was admiring a ring on the pinky of the gentleman who was helping us. “Did you get that here?” Zach asked. “No no,” said our helpful salesman, “I got this ring custom made, and as you can see inside, there are two sizing balls in there. That way, when I get married, I can just cut my balls off and use this as my wedding band.” And he was completely straight faced. At first, I didn’t even know what to think, did someone just talk about balls in Tiffany’s, the holy grail of jewelry? Suffice to say, Zach thought the whole thing was hilarious, and I think he would have purchased a ring from that guy right then and there if it would have had the cash. Suffice to say we left with no ring and with me slightly frazzled. I had never looked at rings before and the whole think left me pretty dizzy.

Rings didn’t really come up again until we were in Cozumel, Mexico on a cruise this past February. Cozumel is evidently known for their “affordable” diamonds and jewelry and all the great jewelry stores were advertised by the “shopping consultant” on the ship. (Which reminds me, doesn’t that sound like the best job ever?) So when we landed in Cozumel, off to the jewelry shops we went. Well, after an EXTREMELY high pressured sales effort that involved card tricks, numerous “managers” and attempts to make me beg Zach to buy me a ring, we left with nothing. I quickly realized I didn’t want the ring I’d have on my finger for life coming from some pushy, cheap Cozumel jewelry store that I wouldn’t ever be able to hold accountable if the ring went to crap (which I’m pretty sure it would have!). Suffice to say, Cozumel is great for diamonds or other jewelry that aren’t going to be heirlooms. I did end up purchasing a fire opal and diamond ring, and I think that the white gold is already somewhat coming off. I still love it, but it surely wouldn’t be of a quality I’d want for an engagement ring!

Then, later this past Spring, I once again brought up that I thought I wanted to look at rings. See, back when we were in Cozumel, we had looked at an emerald cut stone with a pave band. I thought I loved it, but after a few months of thinking about it and a little online research, I was doubting my original plan. At this point I was pretty sure that Zach hadn’t gone out and purchased anything, so I suggested we look again in the future. The next weekend Zach and I went to visit his “family” jeweler. By “family” I mean that between his Mom and his Aunt they’ve probably provided him with a few retirements already, so we knew we’d get a great deal (and we knew it was top quality stuff too!). There we looked at a number of different styles and I settled on the emerald cut stone with just a simply white gold band. We even picked out two pave wedding bands to go on either side of the engagement ring, once we get there. I left there on cloud nine, and I think Zach left with a lump in his throat knowing how much he’d have to save  After ring shopping we headed to one of our favorite places for burgers, and we both ended up with food poisoning. To this day we joke that the thought of marriage was what really got us sick.

Fast forward to July 25, 2009, Zach and I were just lounging around the house on a lazy Saturday afternoon. I was sitting at our small table, doing some crafting. Our of no where, Zach comes over and starts moving around a bunch of stuff on the floor next to me. When I ask what he is up to, he says not to worry about it. The next think I know, he is down on one knee caressing my left hand ring finger. I laughed and told him to stop messing with me. Then he pulled out a box and went on to say that when he heard this song he always thought about me (by then I realized Billy Joel’s Just the Way You Are was playing) and he asked me to marry him. I think I said something along the lines of, are you serious?!, a few times and then said yes and opened up the little wrapped box. Evidently the jeweler had talked him into having it wrapped to prevent Zach from showing the whole world before he gave it to me. He said, “If someone was giving you something this special, would you want other people to see it first?”

Zach had initially planned to make a big deal out of the proposal by reenacting our first date on our four year anniversary (a boat ride and the little lake restaurant we went to, with his re-recording of Just the Way You Are, playing as he proposed) but realized I would probably see that coming from a mile away. He was right, I would have 100% seen that one coming.