Almost 7 Years Ago....

This is a little early but due to the holidays coming up, I didn't want to forget to wish my wonderful husband a Happy Anniversary...not of our wedding day but of our engagement day, which was Thanksgiving 2001. I guess most don't typically celebrate it and we usually don't, either but I just love to reminisce about that day. It is definitely one of my happiest days and one I will never forget. A stroll down memory lane...

D1 and I had been dating about a year and a half at this point. We had discussed marriage but no plans had been made, nothing serious in the works...so I thought. In fact, just a week or so before the big proposal, we had a 'fight' about our future and it ended with him walking out of my apartment, telling me that he didn't know if I was the one he wanted to spend his life with and wished I would just leave him alone about the future. Come to find out, it was all staged....I think he thought I was onto him, yet I was totally clueless! So, fast forward to Thanksgiving Day. My little brother and I were going to D1's family's house for dinner. Right before dinner, D1's step-dad asked us to gather in the garage for a quick activity he needed to complete (on video) for him to finish his entrance into the priesthood. His step-dad had parts for each of us to read that was Thanksgiving-themed but also a little romantic, too, and told us to move in a particular sequence after we read our parts. Apparently I was more focused on eating so I didn't pay much attention to the words; I just read my part and moved to my spot. The entire family was involved - D1's parents, brother, sister, their spouses, my brother, and D1's 80-year-old grandfather, Poppy. By the end of the 'poem,' D1 and I were facing each other and he was down on one knee, asking me to marry him. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! The only two that didn't have a clue were me and my bro. I was so surprised, which is exactly what he was hoping for. My ring was exactly what I had described to him throughout the months before when I would talk about the ring I dreamed of having some day. He actually listened and made notes and took those details with him to the jeweler and had my ring designed just for me. When it was over, I immediately said, 'I have to call my grandma!' as my grandma and I were VERY close. As I was dialing (and she wasn't answering), D1 informed me that she already knew because he had gone and asked for their blessing a few weeks before. WHAT???STUNNED AGAIN! Back then, my grandma and I talked everyday and I couldn't believe she had kept such a huge secret. This was, by far, the biggest surprise of my life and I couldn't have asked for a more memorable proposal!!

Isn't it amazing how much life changes over the years? It's only been 7 years but our lives have turned around and around more times that we can count. We got married, became Christians, had babies, lost loved ones, changed jobs, moved 1,000 miles from 'home.' WOW! Writing that really shows me how far we've come and I just cannot imagine my life without D1. He has given me everything I've ever wanted or hoped for...and then some. Dallas, thank you for loving me in the good times and bad, for giving me two (almost three) wonderful boys that want to be just like you, for being my biggest fan! You are a good man and an amazing father. Together, we have created a beautiful family of our own and you are giving me the things I had always dreamed of as a little girl but didn't think I deserved. I could not have asked for a better partner to share my life with! You are my best friend and I LOVE YOU!