I got engaged
So, I had a girlfriend. There was this friend of mine, and she had a boyfriend. We knew each other for years, we had a lot of chemistry. So much that one of our friends said “Just get it over with already.”
I didn’t know why I stopped seeing her around, when she was usually there in our regular spots. Later she told me she needed to not see me. She had a boyfriend after all. I had a girlfriend. Feelings between us were there, everyone saw it, but you just don’t cross that boundary.
It wasn’t planned between us at all, but one day her boyfriend broke up with her. I hadn’t seen her in months. And then one day, I broke up with my girlfriend.
It took another few months but eventually she heard about it. She called me. At first I think it was to check in and see if I was doing okay. We talked for an hour.
A few weeks later she called again. We talked for another hour.
A few weeks after that, she called again. We talked for 7 hours and 45 minutes.
She said maybe she’d come visit me at my house, but only for an hour.
That turned into hours.
Then it turned into days, weeks, months.
We haven’t been apart since.
You get the picture.
When she first heard I started dating someone, years ago, she asked me “You don’t have to answer this, but are you in love with her?”
My gut reaction (which I always follow) was to say “You’re right. I don’t want to answer.”
I think that gut reaction told me more than it told her.
So, somewhere in those first days and weeks and months, the word love was uttered, at first specifically in lowercase (I actually said that. “I lowercase love you.”) and then it turned into uppercase, and then into “I am not just in love with you. I am so in love with you.” Things that were, or should have been obvious to both of us, and our friends, for years, became real.
The other night we were sitting on my balcony, sharing a beer. I wasn’t planning it, it just felt like a natural, organic, gut feeling. I just popped the question. I had no ring. She didn’t care, she just kept saying yes. Like 6 times.
I bought a ring for her, it isn’t ready yet but I think it will be perfect.
We don’t exactly do things the traditional way. But I do want people to know she’s loved. And married.
I don’t know if I’ll have a ring for myself, I probably should. I don’t really care. But we’re shooting from the hip here (Old-timey western cowboy style. We’re both from Utah, she from one of the smallest towns I’ve ever heard of, me from the biggest city in the state. It’s kind of our style, she and I.)
Anyway we are in love with each other. And we’re going to get married. When? Probably soon, but see the above paragraph. Where? How? We’ll figure it out.
I’m in love with you, Jen.