Well, here I am, newly engaged. I am a fiance now, no longer sharing the title of "gender"friend with Kerry. Let me tell you a little story of how a girl and a boy started sharing their lives together. Well, I guess "started" isn't quite right, after three pups and a house. How about accelerated. Yeah, that works.
Bahamas was meant to be a vacation to get away from 60 hour work weeks. Complete luxury. That it was. We stayed at the Atlantis on Paradise island. The day we got engaged we went swimming with the dolphins, had a couples massage, took a nap then started getting ready for dinner. Perfect day of relaxation. As we were getting ready I asked Ker if he could go grab some ice for ice water. He took the bucket and left...for about 30 minutes. I didn't think anything of it as when he came back he said he couldn't find the ice machine. We then got ready and went down to the lobby to go to our steak dinner. Kerry noticed the photographers loitering in the main part of the lobby and suggested a small photo shoot down by the indoor aquarium, stating it would be a "nice spot for some pictures together." He grabbed one of the women and we all went down to the steps and found a nice spot. She started snapping pictures, Ker initially next to me, then he stepped behind me. Next he got down on one knee (!!!) and I turned around thinking he wanted me to sit on his knee for a 'dancing with the stars' type shot. Low and behold, the beautiful ring in his hands! "Will you marry me?" he asked in a bit of a shaky voice. It felt like forever when I finally said "Of course!" Total shock, disbelief and joy. We hugged and stood up together, cried together a bit, and proceeded to talk about our new engagement for the rest of the evening. Its amazing thinking about what this means. We are going to be family. We are both gaining another family. We will be united as one. Needless to say, we are overjoyed and amazed at the newness of this, happy and ecstatic.
So, some side notes.
1. The sneaky boy has had the ring in his bedside lock box for about 6 months. For those of you who know me, anticipation and surprises drives me bonkers. I dust that box once a week!! (ok, once a month) Its been literally 2 feet away from me for...lets see...8 hours a day for 6 months which is roughly 30 days times 6 equals 180 times 8 is like eight hundred and some more hours!!! Ack!
2. At 5 am on the way to the airport to start our Bahamas vacation I see that my cute boyfriend has a new suitcase. It has four wheels instead of the standard two and...wait for it...a lock. Hmm, I think, a lock? What could that be for? All the women who are reading this; you know what I was thinking. Luckily I had no chance to snoop (though I thought about it the entire flight) and also I spilled my suspicions to Ker after a lucky 20 minutes at the Black Jack table (we won $200!) and he convinced me that under no circumstances was the suitcase used to smuggle a diamond. He was merely testing out the four-wheel feature. I believed him, again most like me.
3. The only other person in the world that knew Kerry had shopped for and purchased a ring months in advance, awaiting our luxury vacation in the Bahamas to utilize for the setting of our engagement was Matty P. Kudos to him for keeping it in, that's a tough one. Not to mention nice work Ker, I think it was a surprise to everyone!
