CAMP WILLOW CREEK

Jason had an early work day today and was home around noon. He told me he planned to take a nap, go pick up the ring around 1:30pm and then head over to where I work to meet me for lunch before his hair appointment at 4pm.

Over lunch, he told me that he actually went directly to the jewelry store. He was planning on buying the unmounted setting he had seen on Sunday and having them reset the stone this afternoon so he could surprise me with it. When he got to the store he looked all over for the setting and eventually learned that it had been sold the day before.

Back at work I showed Laura that I was now official with a ring and all that and she was unable to contain herself. Within an hour, she told most of the office about the engagement.

Back at work today after the unexpected weekend I learned that the announcing part is stranger than I had thought – maybe because I hadn’t ever thought about it.

I told Laura. She was really happy. She said it was because we hung out with her and Kirk on Friday night and witnessed how happy they are married.

When Kathy came back from the field, I told her. She instantly offered to help with anything she could – from ideas to helping me find a dress to whatever. She was really excited.

This is kinda fun.

On the way home I called Nancy. To put this in phone call into perspective, you need to know that Nancy and I talk all the time – over AIM and text messages and email. But we use actual phones for communication maybe once or twice a year, if that. So I called Nancy. It was important for me to hear her reaction and I also thought it would be cheesy to ask her to be my Maid of Honor via something that looked like this:

secretly skurtz (8:37:34 PM): will U B my MOH???!!?!?!?!!?!!!?!?!?!?!!1111

And in following Jason’s lead of not actually “asking,” I just kinda told her I always thought she would be the one standing next to me in that situation, so I hoped she didn’t have other plans. What a sentimentalist.

Last night, after a long day debating speaker wire guage in Home Depot and installing outdoor speakers in the hot sun, Jason proposed. “I guess I should call your dad,” he calculated upon my acceptence. I agreed. “But not until the morning.”

We spent the rest of the evening starting the planning process. Jason wants to have the wedding in Colorado at his friend Eric’s restaurant. Eric has been a good friend to Jason since high school and Jason wanted to include him in the wedding in a significant way. We talked about a tentative date for next August, to give us plenty of time to plan.

Then this morning he made the call. Mom answered. “Is Tom there?” Jason asks. Mom gets Dad on the phone and Jason announces, “I have a question for ya!” I am listening from across the room and at this point I’m sure Dad is thinking we’re looking for more free speaker installation advise. Then Jason announces, “I want to marry your daughter!”

“That’s not a question,” I yell.

They talk for a few seconds and then Dad tells Jason he’s putting Mom back on the phone. Jason reacts as if the phone has suddenly burst into flames and throws it at me yelling, “Oh no. You have to talk to her.”

While I make an attempt to talk to Mom, she is on the other end of the line sobbing what I hope are tears of joy. I tell her that she’s gotta work on her Happy Routine and we decide its best for Dad to get back on the phone.

“You’ve made a good chioce,” he tells me.

This afternoon we took my Godmother’s ring to be sized. It will be ready on Tuesday. Jason also looked at some of the unmounted settings and found one that caught his eye. After the trip to the jeweler, we celebrated at Bahama Breeze with some frozen tropical treats. The waiter even brought us two Bahamaritas “on the house” that he said were made by mistake – Our First Engagment Presents!