When she said Yes.

Four years ago On December 3rd 2001 Lauren agreed to marry me (see yesterdays post).

After the disappointment of not being able to propose the day before, I went to work on Monday morning knowing that by the evening I would be possibly engaged. I did not get much work done. During lunch I went to the jeweler to pick up the ring. This time they had it ready for me.

I put the ring box in my front pocket and carried it around the rest of the day. I was afraid I would misplace it. Every half hour I would take the box out, open it and make sure that the ring did not disappear. OCD at it’s finest.

Since my plans from the day before were somewhat foiled I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out if I should wait until the weekend to propose or if I could make arrangements for later in the week. I kept thinking to myself, “Who gets engaged on a Monday?”

On the way home I decided I would ask her that night. When I got home from work I was surprised to see that Lauren had pulled out the folding card table and had it set for dinner (we did not have a dining room table at the time and we usually ate in front of the TV). She had candles lit and everything. “Shit. She knew what I was doing? How did she figure it out?” I thought. I think I tried to talk her out of eating at home and that we should go the mall but she went to all the trouble of making a nice romantic dinner.

I sat down and tried to eat but I could not. I was nervous. I played with the food, constantly checking my pocket to make sure that the ring was still in there as well as making sure that she could not see the box. I barely touched the food. She kept asking me if everything was okay.
During the dinner I asked her if she would go to the mall with me so I could get some shopping done. She did not really want to go. She pointed out the fact that we just went shopping yesterday and that the mall would be crowded. But she eventually said she would go with me.

When I met Lauren she was working at a UNO Chicago Bar and Grille attached to the mall. Since then it changed over to a Ruby Tuesday’s. As we approached the entrance I told Lauren I could really use a drink, which was true because I knew it would calm me as well as I needed an excuse to go into the bar. She agreed.

The layout of the Bar/restaurant changed since the time that we met and it took me several minutes to figure out the exact spot that we met. After we finished out drinks I asked her “Where do you think the spot that we met is in this place?” She looked around and pointed out over to a spot which was quite crowded with tables and patrons. I grabbed her hand and I said something like, “Let’s go look.”

Lauren resisted slightly, but followed. We were standing between too big tables filled with diners when I said, “Do you think this is the spot?”
She said, “ What are you doing? I don’t know. It’s too hard to tell.”

I then pulled out the ring, got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. My hands were shaking and my voice quivering. The look on her face was one of disbelief and shock. The people that were enjoying their meals surrounding us did not notice a thing. She said, “Yes”.

We kissed and then left the Ruby Tuesdays. On our way out we passed a carousel, which we decided to ride on to kind of remember the moment.

Later that night, after telling both sets of parents, we went for a walk in the park. We were trying to extend the special night. While walking hand in hand, our breath visible from the cold, Lauren looked up into the dark sky and saw a shooting star. So it turned out okay that my original plans fell through.