The Story...part 10

Finale


In the fall of 2011, roughly 4-5 months after dating, Scott and I began to randomly joke about marriage. Randomly joking turned into frequently joking, turned into casual discussion, turned into serious discussions. I freaked out at first (of course). But gradually, I got comfortable with the thought of talking about it and even picturing it. I tried to picture who else I thought I wanted to be with beyond Scott and I couldn't. By the holidays, we had made a tentative plan for ourselves and had talked about a possible Spring wedding. In January, we came to the conclusion after much fasting and prayer, that marriage was the right thing for us. This was a huge thing for me, seeing that I was being tested right up until I made that decision. I knew the adversary did not want me to be happy.

Once I decided, I couldn't wait to have a ring on my finger. After surviving the "official talk" with my parents, Scott was given the ok to marry me :) We looked at rings, and after giving him a few options, he chose the final one and a few days later took it home. Now that I knew he had the ring in his possession, I planned for a proposal in the next few weeks. My work schedule was hectic at that time and I only had 2 possible days off before we left for a family trip to Disneyland. I only had 2 rules for a proposal-it couldn't be at Disneyland and it couldn't be in front of a boat load of people. He obliged. I began not so subtly hinting at him about when this proposal should occur and he began to craftily steer me into thinking it wouldn't happen until the following week on my next night off. So, on one of my only nights off, we took off on a date with no plans set and in return-me thinking nothing special happening either.

We ate at Shane's Rib Shack (romantic!) for dinner and decided to head out of town for a few hours. We drove north to Camp Verde and after stopping for gas and almost heading East to our usual spot, Scott turned the car in the other direction and suggested we head up by Sedona. His behavior was completely normal, and knowing Scott-I figured it would be obvious when he would have a proposal planned because he would be a nervous wreck. So thinking this was all on a whim, I went along for the ride. We ended up pulling off the highway somewhere before we hit Sedona and headed on a dirt road down a ways. It was someplace we had never been before and certainly not a road that was frequented very often at all. After pulling over, we (Scott) made a fire, set out some chairs and started making some s'mores. Or I should say, I did. Scott came down with a severe case of ADD and began going back and forth between his truck grabbing random things, setting up music,and just being secretive. I didn't think too much of it initially,but after awhile of this behavior I started to wonder if maybe he really had planned something for that night. Being the romantic he thinks he is, Scott asked to me dance and we did the best we could, trying to avoid the falling in the fire. The weird thing was, he wouldn't let me put my hand by his back and kept holding both my hands, which I thought was strange..and unnatural. Little did I know, he was trying to prevent me from feeling a little box in his back pocket. After our favorite song ended, Scott kneeled down and popped the question just like that. No speech, no rambling, no nothing that was typical Scott like. Just simple, sweet and heartfelt. I burst into tears and of course said yes. The rest of the night was surreal. I remember shortly following the proposal, I might have had a mental freakout once I realized that THIS WAS IT. Eventually I calmed down and enjoyed the moment. We relaxed under the stars until responsibility (children) called us back to the city. We headed in the truck and started the trek home, looking forward to our new life together.

Scott and I have spent the last 3 years nurturing a relationship we never thought would happen. We are finally to the point where days from now we will be husband and wife. We have been blessed with each other and with a family that has supported us along the way. I'm thankful we were both patient enough to hold out long enough for the timing to be right. I am one lucky girl. :)