The Long Road (Pt. 7)The Moment You've All Been Waiting For

On December 3rd of this year (2008) Matt and I will have been dating for 3 years. It really feels like he has always been here. Always been in my life, always been my friend, always been the one that I depend on and want to be with. Like he's always been the one I love. It really didn't take long for the two of us to know, we wanted to be together. We eventually wanted to get married. We didn't feel silly or like two crazy kids that didn't know anything because of that, because we both prayed about it! Even after we started dating I prayed that if I was in a relationship that I shouldn't be for any reason, that God would reveal that to me so I could remove myself from it before we invested to much of our lives or ourselves. But God only revealed more and more how great of a guy he was and how great being with him was! Around the year and a half mark (maybe sooner. it all blurs now!) is when I really started to wonder when we would get engaged. It was something we talked about openly. Definitely after reaching the 2 year mark last Dec (07) I started to think about it more and more and some days was impatient for the moment I would hear the words "Will you marry me?"
Matt is in school. He was in school when we started dating, working on his General Ed. classes. Then he began work on his associates degree at Ivy Tech. He thought it was going to be helping him reach a goal in architechure...after awhile, he found out it was not what he need for what he wants to do, which is have his own business and actually be the one to build the houses. That's when I had to hear that our getting married would probably happen in....3 or 4 years. I was a little bit...heartbroken at first. We had already been together over 2 years and we would need to wait 3-4 more?! How could that be happening! We had always known that we would wait to get married until after he'd finished school. But we both thought it would be much sooner. The thought of waiting so long seemed so hard. I finally came to a place that I was ok with waiting. I didn't think however, that I could wait until he'd graduated to get engaged. That would mean waiting all that time for engagement, THEN having to plan everything for a wedding which would mean...MORE waiting. I didn't want that. So I finally asked Matt if he felt we should wait til he graduated to get engaged or if we would get engaged before. Imagine my relief when he said before he'd graduate!
May of this year rolled around and we worked things out for me to spend memorial day weekend with Matt and his family. We both had the Friday before Mem. Day off, so he was going to come to my house and pick me up that morning, we'd go to his house and we come back Sunday night and spend Mem. Day at my house.
The Thursday before he was going to pick me up, I got a text from him saying he couldn't really talk because he was busy. So I went on with my night, only to later receive another text asking what I was doing. I replied to and he asked if he could call so I said yes. He called and asked what I was doing. Then he said "Well I was just thinking about you. Kinda wanting a goodnight kiss." I was all bummed that I couldn't give him one, when he said "So could you put your shoes on and come outside?" I couldn't believe it! He had surprised me and come down a night early! I was so excited. How great was he?!:)
Friday afternoon we got to his house and hung out with his family. Saturday, we all went to the Childrens' Zoo in Fort Wayne Indiana. We had a good time and then went to see "Prince Caspian". When it was over, the rest of Matt's family left and he and I went to supper together. He took me to a super nice Italian restaurant that I felt totally underdressed in:) It was great! We were right near an outlet mall so we went shopping afterwards. As we shopped, I started getting a headache so we found a bench outside to sit down.
I notcied that he seemed to be breathing kinda weird but I didn't say anything. Right after I thought this, he said "well, I had reasons for picking out some of the things we did tonight." It was then...I knew! Here's how the conversation went:
Me: "You did?"
Matt: "Yeah. The Italian reminded me of Taormina and us first starting to like each other. And I thought it would be a neat way to take the next step."
My heart was racing now and as he got on his knee I started laughing and crying!
Matt: "Will you be my wife?"
Me: "Yes!"
Matt: "I've been praying about it for 2 years and there's no one I'd rather be with or start a family with. Will you marry me?"
Me: "Yes!"
He opened a ring box that held a beautiful white gold ring with a diamond in the middle and two sapphires on either side of it.
Me: "It even has blue in it!"
He placed it on my finger and I had to ask him "Are you for real?!"
Matt: "Yes! We will have to wait until I'm done with my Bachelors Degree and I hope that's okay with you."
I was fine with it! I was so happy! The happiest I'd ever been! The moment I'd waited for my whole life had finally come! I'm still the happiest I'd ever been and I'm so excited for all that being engaged will hold!