Dave 'n' Jenny

After four years, he finally did it.  Dave proposed!

The day before Christmas Eve, I worked until 4:30.  I'm always a little frazzled when Dave comes to pick me up from work, especially during the holidays, but he was particularly sweet that day.  He asked me if I would grab him one of our gift card boxes—just a free, little cardboard box.  He said he wanted to play a trick on his sister for Christmas.  I didn't think anything of this request (Dave and his sister tease each other often, hehe), so I grabbed the box for him.

When we arrived at home, Dave had to go back out to the car to retrieve my presents (that he had just bought, two days before Christmas!) from the trunk.  He said he would wrap them that night, but I had to hang out in the bedroom while he did.  I was already in there with my book, when he said he had forgotten something, and would I please go hide in the bathroom with my eyes closed.  Pouting, I did as he asked.  And then I waited in the bedroom.  And waited.  And waited some more.  "How long does it take to wrap presents??" I asked.  "It's cold in here!"  At that point, I didn't want to see the presents so much as I just wanted to be in the living room, where the tv and computer are.  So when I was free to come out, I went straight to the computer, and didn't even inspect the presents at first!

Now, when Dave fills out the "to" and "from" on presents, he often writes something that offers a clue as to what's inside (he gets this from his parents, I think).  For instance, what turned out to be a new Webkinz said, "to my snugly sweetie."  The present that immediately grabbed my attention when Dave prodded me to go look at them, was a small rectangular box—the gift card box he had me get for him at work!  The tag said, "to my very deserving, loving, wonderful sweetie" (or something very similar along those lines).  I shook the box, like any good present-inspector does, and it rattled, very obviously, like a ring.  Dave hadn't used any padding inside the box, so I could squish it in the middle, and distinctly make out the round feel of a ring.

This instantly put me in freak-out mode.  Is he really going to propose tonight?  Is he really going to propose like this, with the ring loose in a Barnes & Noble gift card box, without going down on one knee with the ring in a pretty velvet box?  Why would he be so obvious about it if he is going to propose?  If it's all a joke, this is a damn mean joke!!!  I tried to get him to explain, but Dave can be very tight-lipped when he has a mind to.

He managed to calm me down, though, and we went back to our evening together.  Dave made pizza from scratch (tomato and basil—yum!), we watched a movie together (Eagle Eye—I let him pick), and I baked cookies (it was two days before Christmas, after all).  We were in our comfy pjs all evening, of course.  He was extra attentive that night.  Normally, when I'm baking, he's in the living room, watching tv or doing something on the computer.  But it was like the boy couldn't sit still!  He kept coming into the kitchen to hug me while I tried to mix the batter, asking if I needed any help.  I should have really guessed that something was up, but the evening was so pleasant, I didn't bother.

So then he asked me if I wanted to open a present that night.  After playfully arguing about whether or not we should, since it wasn't even Christmas Eve yet, whether he should open one, too, and what is in that small box (!!!), we determined that yes, I would open a present.  But he got to pick which one...and he didn't let me open the little box!  He gave me a different present.  It was rather heavy, and rectangular-box shaped.  I didn't guess what it turned out to be—a book.  But not just any book: an old edition of Gone With The Wind, my all-time favorite everything.  "How sweet!" I said, and kissed him in thanks.  And then I went back to baking.

He let me finish baking cookies until just after midnight.  Between batches, when I would come out into the living room, I would catch him holding GWTW sometimes, flipping through the pages.  A bit strange, in retrospect, but I didn't think anything of it.  A few minutes after twelve, Dave said, "By the way...there's another present in the book..."  Again, I could tell something was different, but I couldn't figure out what.  The look on Dave's face...it was really nerves, I suppose, but I could just tell something was about to happen.  So I took the book back from him and flipped through the pages.  I came across a card, about the size of a license, near the back of the book that had a picture of a diamond on it (he later told me it was page 835, the part where Rhett proposes to Scarlett—I was too much in shock to notice then!).  My mind couldn't grasp what it was—I saw the diamond, and the word "certification," but I didn't put it together.  My mouth dropped open while Dave bent on one knee and pulled the pretty velvet ring box out of his pocket.  I kept saying, "Are you serious?!" and could hardly wait for him to finish asking me before I said yes!

He told me afterwards that the ring in the gift card box was one of my old ones I don't wear anymore, that he figured (correctly!) I wouldn't notice was gone.  It would have been nice if he had asked me earlier in the evening, so that I wouldn't have had to call the VIPs to tell them the good news so late, but I love that it was after midnight, so technically Christmas Eve.  And I was able to tell everyone at work in the morning the great news!  Dave did such a wonderful job.  The ring fits beautifully, both the style and the size, and he truly knows me so well—I couldn't have asked for a better proposal, at home in my pjs, after spending a cozy and lovely evening together.