Our story.

Our Story.

I think a couple of sales guys in SAKS summed it up best. “We always see you together. You two belong together. I can’t imagine seeing one of you without the other.” They made this remark because every time we walk through SAKS, we are together. We never go in there by ourselves. It is not intentional. But we go to that mall to window shop and stroll, and it more fun to do that together.

But the take home point from that, is that in my opinion, you have to realize that you are in this thing together as partners, as a pair, to have a successful marriage. So when Clint asked me to marry him, of course I said yes. Do we bicker? Only five times a day. Do we get on each other’s nerves? See the first answer.  Do we say hurtful things sometimes? Of course, we are human. Are we always there for each other? Yes, no matter what. We don’t keep tally of a tit for a tat. Since you didn’t pick up the phone earlier, I am not going to pick it up now. We just simply always do what we can to provide support for the other person.

So after five long years Clint finally stops eluding commitment.  About damn time.   But you know what they say, you can lead a horse to water but sure can’t make them drink. However age finally caught up with Clint and he realized that if he didn’t come to his senses and make a proper woman of me, he might be left all alone. And when you hair line is decreasing and your pants size is increasing, you can’t exactly jump back out of the dating scene. So Clint decided to propose.

So when we decided to buy an engagement ring. I wanted to pick it out. I figured I knew what I wanted, so I would be happy. Of course I would only buy a ring that I could look at for the next fifty years. But then reality set in. Diamond shopping is exhausting. There are so many variables it will make your head spin. This is probably why I never advanced much beyond Algebra II. Give me more than two variables and you have lost me.

So I finally decide to buy this ring. And I get it. And I hate it. The more I look at it, the more I start finding things I don’t like. I try to convince myself that I just have to get used to the ring. It will grow on me. I don’t want to admit defeat. I don’t want to have to tell Clint that I don’t know jack about picking out diamonds. But I get so upset that I tell him I want to send it back. Even though I am not looking at him, I can feel him rolling his eyes.  I know he is thinking most people who make sure that this absolutely the diamond they want before they would commit to buying it. But not me. I got caught up in something only to realize I hate it.

After I tearfully explained to Clint that I absolutely hate this ring and can’t fathom looking at it for the next fifty years.  We knew we had to come up with a new solution. We found a woman who was wonderful at making us a custom ring. She understand exactly how I wanted my ring to look and she stayed within our budget. That was really the big seller. Start talking about dollars and Clint’s eyes light up. He is always saying how he wants me to get whatever will make me happy, but in reality he means whatever will make me happy without  breaking the bank.  He would agree that a five carat rock would look nice on my finger, but he doesn’t want to work for the next 80 years to pay for it.

Clint handled the final details of my ring, and kept everything a secret from me. He wouldn’t tell me when he was going to pick it up, or where he was going to hide it. I “re-arranged” (read this as tore apart) our bedroom several times in a frenzied attempt to find his superb hiding spot, but I was unsuccessful. I still don’t know where he hid it. All I know is that when I do figure it out, I will  be hitting the jackpot, because that is where he hides all my presents.

I honestly expected Clint to propose on a weekend and do it sometime in the evening. I kept waiting, and waiting and waiting. I dropped subtle hints. And not so subtle hints. And I flat out threatened him.  However none of these tactics worked. Clint still moved at his own infuriating slow pace. He has his own time line, and he does things when he wants, how he wants.  So, imagine my surprise when on a Wednesday at the end of June he asks me to marry him.

He called me at work to tell me that he was going o have to work into dinner so he was just going to leave work around 6 and head home instead of working out and then going back to the office. I honestly thought nothing of this. Clint does this all the time. If he has to call a client right at five, he will just come home after he gets done and stay home to spend time with me. So  I head home and make a boring hum drum dinner. Clint comes home and I rattle on about my day at work. During this whole time, I have forgotten that today is our five year anniversary. I am honestly worse than a guy when it comes to the “little” holidays. I plan for Christmas all year round. I start buying and stashing gifts in March. But when it comes to birthdays, anniversaries etc., I just put them on the back burner and end up forgetting about them. Not Clint. He is a meticulous planner. So he of course had a plan for our engagement.

After dinner we were going to walk around U of R. Again, nothing out of the ordinary here. We usually walk after dinner a few times a week, and sometimes we go to places like U of R to spice it up. Now where I should have gotten tipped off, was when he decided not to wear actual work out clothes. When Clint and I walk together he usually sweats like a pig, so workout clothes are a must. But I was so tired, I figured this was just going to be a leisurely stroll and I was grateful for the reprieve.

We get to U of R and we begin our usual stroll through the campus. It is quiet since most of the students are back at home, and I was more focused on the gangly teenage ducks then on the surroundings. I was intent on trying to catch one and hold it, until I realized that the ducks reaction to fear is a violent explosion on poop. Uh yeah. There went my love of ducks. I love animals – but only when they are excrement free.

So we stroll into the Gazebo and this is where you go to steal a kiss or ask a girl to marry you. Now this should have been a major red flag because usually I have to drag Clinton into this Gazebo and this time he went willingly. He gave me a couple of kisses and then I watched the ducks paddle in the water. When I turned back around he was down on one knee, telling me that he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I started crying. But of course I said yes.

The proposal suited me perfectly. It was low key, no crowds and loving. Clint and I have had a wild five years .A lot of good times, a lot of bad times .And times where you laugh and cry at the same time. But through it all, he has walked right beside me and I know he will continue to stand by my side during our marriage.