THE proposal story

May 28, 2012

Story time.

Soooo we started dating in 2006.
(Get the full story of our tweenager beach love story here)
Since then neither of us have never necessarily felt rushed to get married. 
Now, we have always been super in love and blah blah blah, we just aren't the passionate, lovey, mushy over the top PDA type of people.
I had two years of stressful grad school after college, so we had always just discussed putting marriage off until a time period when we had real jobs making real money.
We always made jokes about living together one day, but we had never really seriously discussed marriage, rings, or an engagement until last summer.
I wasn't planning on bringing it up because I didn't want him to feel pressured, and I wanted it to be his decision to approach the topic.
Driving home from New Orleans one weekend after Josh's cousins wedding, he randomly got a burst of excitement and asked what I wanted our future to be like and if I wanted to start looking at rings and who I wanted my bridesmaids to be and who I thought his groomsmen should be.
Seriously, all of the above.
He even went as far as pulling out paper and actually writing a potential groomsmen list.
I was stunned.
Happy stunned.
I felt like it was the twilight zone.
Happy twilight zone.
Well anyways, three engagement ring appointments later, fast forward to May 2012.
At this point I was losing my marbles.
Now don't get me wrong, I would have died had we not ever had the ring convo and if he tried to pick out a ring on his own and do a 100% shock factor proposal, but that just wasn't in the cards for us.
Not that Josh has bad taste, but I am suuuuuuper picky, and I guess he realized that.
So in a way, him bringing up wanting to look at rings was somewhat of a proposal in itself because I had been waiting for that day for a while.
Anyways, months and months and months went by and I'm steadily growing more concerned, but I made a point not to whine or nag (to him at least) and I only had one break down over the course of those 9 long months of waiting.
He wanted to wait to ask my dad's permission until he had a steady job, which took a little bit longer than we envisioned.
Nevertheless, he finally got the job he wanted in March.
April rolled around and I began stressing a teeny bit more.
All my classmates were applying and interviewing for jobs, and I didn't even know if I should be applying for a Louisiana or Texas Physician Assistant license, much less searching for jobs.
Now I can understand Josh not feeling pressured to rush into marriage or anything, because of his 14 college roommates (he moved in a different house every year, a roommate slut if you will) only one of the 14 was engaged. 
Zero married.
We are 24 and have no close friends who are engaged or married, so he didn't necessarily have anyone to discuss the matters with.
On one particular week in April I had decided it was time to finally discuss the lack of ring on my fing with Josh.
I wasn't just wanting the glamour of the ring, I wanted security.
Security knowing I would 100% be marrying my favorite person in the world.
Security knowing what we would be doing with our future, so I could go ahead and start planning my life after graduation.
So as I was on the phone with Josh literally seconds away from beginning a very awkward uncomfortable conversation his grandmother beeped in on my line.
I got off the phone with Josh and his grandmother and I made small talk.
She eventually got around the bringing up the purpose of her call and said that she just wanted to tell me that I have been extremely patient with Josh through all of this and that I deserved to know that he was making arrangements to get the ring. 
I immediately lost it. 
Tears galore.
It was the weirdest feeling I have ever had in my life.
God's timing is insane.
That was truly such a blessing that she would call at the exact moment necessary to tell me something regarding the exact thing I was about to discuss with Josh.
My mind is still blown.

Anyways, there's the backstory.
Here'e how it went down:
I came into Dallas for the weekend to hang with the dudes.
(Pre proposal family photo)

Josh wanted to go out to eat.
I asked where.
He said he didn't care.
I got smad (sad/mad) because he didn't care and he didn't have plans.
Bummer.
I picked Fireside Pies because we are addicted.
We went to eat and then came home.
Completely uneventful.
Thank the Lord.
I couldn't have handled a public proposal, much less one at a restaurant where everyone would look at you and clap.
Freaky.
Anyways, we came home and took Charlie outside to go to the bathroom.
Josh let him off his leash, which is weird because Charlie is bad.
Next thing I know the guy is reaching in his pocket and down on one knee.
Immediately I tell him to stand up because that's weird and he laughed and said no I want to be traditional and then we don't really know what words came next but there was a gorgeous ring involved and lots of laughing and a kiss or two here and there.
Magical.
. . . and yet so weird.
He also gave me an incredible letter that I get to keep forever (since I truly can't remember what words were said in the moment)


After the fact we were reliving the moment and trying to remember what words were said and what actually went down (still all a blur) and he told me that he didn't have anyone to talk to for advice (remember 1/14 roomies?) 
I was completely expecting something off the wall and weird, after all, Josh is the one who showed me this video:

 . . . but Josh, the king of pranksters, pulled the biggest prank of all by not pulling a prank.
His only proposal idea inspiration was Jim Halpert's proposal to Pam on The Office.
He said he randomly did it in a gas station parking lot, the absolute last place she ever could have imagined it happening.
I couldn't have been more caught off guard, which is exactly what Josh wanted.


We met up with the guys afterwards to celebrate.
 . . . and Bart provided champagne.

Best man chats.


. . . .have I mentioned that it feels SO WEIRD?

More pics from the engagement weekend:

Celebratory strawberry shortcake! 



Whiskey Cake Sunday brunch, of course.

Charlie didn't want me to leave!


Side note:
Today is the day I finally get to see Newsies on Broadway!
Dreams will be coming true y'all!
Follow me on instagram (@emilyratcliff) or Facebook to keep up with all our NYC action!

12 comments:

María said...

Oh god congratulations! What a beautiful story, you will certainly be very happy when you're married!
My boyfriend's sister is getting married in July, and my boyfriend hasn't really accepted the fact that his sister will be walking down the aisle in a white dress... It makes him feel old haha :)

RadiantKristen said...

That's really sweet. It's so wonderful that his Grandma called you, at just the right moment! It sounds like he really knows you well, and knew exactly what to do to make your proposal special =)

Alyx said...

I love this.
And if I had been that girlfriend on the building, I probably would have had a heart attack!!
Congrats again!!

Anonymous said...

Charlie didn't "want" you to leave. Simple grammar is hard for all of us sometimes.

Emily said...

Noted. I'm aware of the difference between the two words and I'm very capable of using simple grammar. I'm not sure how I ended up typing that but I do apologize for any trouble it caused you. Next time you have a rude comment don't post it anonymously.

Anonymous said...

Awww, thanks for sharing this story! It was so adorable. We watched some proposal videos with my sister this weekend, where some guy had made a movie trailer etc. for that! And then some crazy musical thing from some candid camera show, which was weird and over the top completely, and they got married there too !

Oh and your ring looks absolutely lovely, love it :)

Satu
Indie by heart

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry I wasn't trying to be rude! We have to be anonymous for legal reasons. The blog is great, and we are big fans. Glad to see you changed it though! Haha! Vote Obama 2012

Sutton said...

oops. I took your deodorant

Amanda said...

Congratulations on your engagement! Wedding planning is soo soo soo much fun :)

Stephanie said...

Congratulations! Beautiful story! I love engagement stories but can I bring attention to the strawberry shortcake?? Is that a BISCUIT on the bottom?? Because I thought I had experienced all things delicious but if that is a biscuit on the bottom of that strawberry shortcake I may be seriously mistaken.

Mary Michelle said...

Congratulations! I am excited to read all about your wedding planning. That will be so much fun! Beautiful ring :)

Unknown said...

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