otherwise engaged

Yesterday was Sean's & my engagementversary. It's a thing. Sean's gonna be so  mad that I divulged that and I'll tell you why...

We got engaged three years ago, a Sunday and St. Valentine's Day. We met in college when we were but babes and started dating at 19. By the time we seemed of marrying age, we had been dating over four years. Therefore, Sean was sure I would see engagement coming from a mile away and was desperate to surprise me. As he puts it, he wanted to do the "least cliche thing possible." Then he proposed on Valentine's day. But let me explain! It's a good story.

He had asked my dad for my hand, all Jane Austen-like, the Friday before. He told me later he anticipated carrying the ring around in his pocket for a couple weeks, waiting for the right moment. waiting to spring it on me out of nowhere. waiting in the shadows like a liger. (my embellishments.) As a dating couple, we never got all that in to Valentine's Day because, c'mon, it's kinda a Hallmark holiday right? They just wanted people to buy out their Stover's chocolates and crap. (Now, as a married couple and as parents, you're dangstraight we use it as an excuse for a date. A DATE. Like, what are those anyway?)

This particular Valentine's Day was Sunday though, followed by a Monday off of work to honor Presidents' Day. So we decided to be spontaneous, and after Mass took a day trip about two hours up the coast to Pismo Beach. However impromptu our decision to road trip, once we got started, the destination had to be Pismo Beach. And that's because Mo's BBQ. 'Nuff said. Pismo was just crawling with fellow humans though, so after eating the best - really, THE best - BBQ in all of America, we decided to move on and try to find someplace less claustrophobic.

Sean and I have always liked to hike. Some of our earliest hang times (when we were just friends) included hiking together to the off-campus drinking spot in college, dubbed "The Rocks." That sounds indie and kickass right? I'll tell you a secret: it's called The Rocks because it is a pile of rocks. That college kids bring their 12-packs to, sit on, and philosophize. (Perhaps you've gathered we attended a dry campus?) Anyway, we drove as far as Morro Bay and scouted a great looking spot for a hike. By this time Sean was all kinds of fidgety and I asked him if he was ok. He blamed heartburn. Heartburn, and nothing seemed suspicious to me. Dunce.

After hiking just a short bit, we found a simply gorgeous lookout with a view of that humongous rock in the middle of Morro Bay.

Sean sent me this a couple days afterwards and oh my gosh, I just about died. We have noooo idea who this guy is but Sean found this on Google Images and drew that yellow arrow to point out exactly where we got engaged. Then he sent this to my work email, where I opened it at work and could only marvel at what a nerd I was about to marry.

There I was, having found a nice rock shaped like a seat, basking in the gloriously beautiful day we were enjoying, looking at the gloriously blue bay, and Sean would NOT sit still. He was like, pacing. Apparently he had decided: this was it. He would not find a more perfect setting or time. So Valentine's Day or not, it was D-Day. D-Day on V-Day.

At this point I was concerned for his well-being and still still not onto him, because I am dense, people. Pret-ty thick. As we got up to leave and I started descending from our little perch, Sean grabbed my hand, wheeled me around, and dropped to his knee in one fluid motion. Ohhhhhhhh. Now I get it. He gave a cute speech that I'm not sharing and produced a perfect ring from his pocket, and asked me to marry him. 

Here's where I dropped to my knees with him, hugged him like a panda bear, kissed him, laughed a lot, and fumbled to put the ring on. Only when we were nearly to the car did Sean think to cover his bases: "That was a yes, right?" Sometimes I should answer questions, especially important ones. Elizabeth Bennett would never have pulled that crap. Anne Shirley neither.

My incredibly talented friend Christina shot our engagement photos. This girl has skills. She's not even a pro-tographer and I can't believe how much I love how they turned out. Here's one of my faves in honor of engagementversary. She shot them at the place we met: Thomas Aquinas College.

Someday I'll share more, because I really love them, but Blogger doesn't like .tif format and it took fifteen minutes just to upload this puppy. I'll put Sean on it, he's the Hermione Granger of technical difficulties.

So there you have it: the story of us. <----- ...I'll never say that again, promise.