My Engagement Story

I'm engaged! I have a fiancé! I'm going to be married in a year! Good grief, it's about time!

I have tried not to bug Josh about an engagement, but we have talked about a future together. Every once in a while I would get impatient and make a remark about putting a ring on my finger, but I tried really hard to let him move at his own pace.

And boy did he surprise me. I had no idea. None. He did a great job keeping a secret and working undercover for many months.

Here's how the whole thing went down:

(Behind my back, while I was riding in the MS bike ride on Sunday, Josh took my parents to lunch and asked permission to marry me. My parents were thrilled and said yes.

Also behind my back, Josh had been working for months on finding the perfect ring. He had had the ring in his possession, carefully hiding it from me for months).

Josh and I went camping last week with my parents, along with Shannon, Jeff, and kids. My parents took their 4-wheelers, and Josh suggested we take a 4-wheeling loop one morning (July 3). I packed a picnic lunch, we met my parents at their campsite, and we all drove to the 4-wheeling unloading area.

Away we went, just Josh and me. My parents were going to go on a bike ride and let us ride alone for a few hours.

Josh and I rode for about an hour and a half, stopping here and there to explore and look at our surroundings. About halfway through the 17 mile loop is a great picnic spot. Here, the river drops to create a waterfall, and there are giant rocks a person can sit on and watch the river and waterfall. Josh and I stopped for lunch. 

(When we opened up our cooler, we found an exploded banana and peach. They didn't like the rocky ride, I guess. We had to take a few minutes to clean up our lunch, since the banana and peach exploded on our sandwiches and chips. Good thing we were right by the river.)

We ate lunch, walked around on the rocks, and then I suggested we head on our way to finish the final 9 miles of our trip. Josh said, "Let's take a picture. How do you work the timer?" 

The ONLY thought I had that something was off was that Josh does not like taking pictures. He does not offer to take pictures. He only takes pictures when I force him to take pictures. So I did think it was odd that HE wanted to take a picture, but I'm always game to get a good picture for the blog, so I happily agreed.

This is how much he likes taking pictures!

I don't mind taking pictures!

Josh situated me on the rocks and went to work setting up the camera. He set it to take two pictures back-to-back, and I just stood there and waited for him to come running. Since I was partway in the river, I told him to be careful when he ran.

He hit the button, the camera started to flash, warning he had 10 seconds to get in place, and I just stood there and smiled.


The camera flashed faster, indicating it was about to snap. Josh still wasn't in place! His back was to the camera, so I started yelling, "Hurry up, you're going to miss it."

SNAP.


Sure enough, Josh wasn't in place yet. His back was to the camera, and I was trying to help him get situated because I knew the next picture was going to snap in three seconds.

"Hurry, you're going to miss the second picture. Hurry."

I smiled real big for the camera. I was ready for that second picture.

Josh was ready for the second picture, too, just not how I imagined him to be. I was smiling at the camera. He was down on one knee with a ring in his hand.

After the camera snapped, I turned to see what in the world Josh was doing down on the ground. Perhaps he had fallen? When I turned, I saw tears in Josh's eyes, a ring in his hands, and he was saying, "Shiloh, will you marry me?"

I didn't even know how to react. I was so shocked. "Are you being serious right now? Is this for real? Are you kidding me?" Those were the questions that I fired at him. I got tears in my eyes. "Yes!" That was all I could get out before Josh was putting the ring on my finger (a perfect fit) and kissing me.

And then I was full of questions. "How did you know my ring size? Do my parents know? How long have you had the ring? How long have you been planning this? Do your parents know? Where have you been keeping the ring? How did you know this was the ring I wanted?

Answers:
He had tried on one of my rings earlier in the summer and knew how it fit his hand, so he went off that to find the right size.

Yes, my parents knew (he told me how he had taken them out to lunch while I was riding).

He had had the ring for a few months, carefully hiding it from me. He had it hidden under one of my bedside tables, and he said he got nervous one day when I deep-cleaned my apartment. He was afraid I had found it (I had not found it).

He knew he was going to propose, but he didn't specifically plan for this day. He just felt like it was right, but he also had a few other ideas in mind in case he hadn't done it that day.

His parents knew he had a ring and was going to ask, but they didn't know he was going to do it that day.

Apparently, two years ago I sent him a picture of a ring I liked (and wanted). He had saved the email and had spent many months finding the exact duplicate (it was not an easy task).

So, I have the most perfect ring I could ever hope for, it fits perfectly, and I have the most perfect fiancé.

I didn't wear the ring the remainder of our ride in fear of it getting dirty, but I smiled the entire way back to the parking lot.

My parents pulled up to pick us up, and I waved to them with my left hand.

I'm engaged!

(Look back in a day or two for some more wedding details).