The Plans I Have For You.

"What do you want to go do?"

It was 9:30 PM and that's become late for us.

"Get into sweats and maybe watch an episode of Merlin."

"Are you sure you don't want to go do something?"

"Do you have something in mind?"

He opened the car door for me, something his car doesn't usually let him do by default. It was sweet. 

"Let's go dancing!"

I grinned.

"Where?"

"Where do we usually go dancing?"

"...my kitchen?"

We laughed.

"You really don't remember?"

The first time we ever danced was after the wedding of a friend. Because of my marching band schedule and his work schedule, I could only make it to the reception and he had to leave right when the reception started. After he got off work, he took me up to the church where the reception was held, turned on the twinkle lights that I had said were absolutely gorgeous, and put on some of our songs. We danced, just the two of us. 

We pull into the church parking lot and as we walk up towards the door, I notice that the twinkle lights are already on and that there is a rose on a white pedestal on the stage. At this point, there is an internal war of the ages going on inside of my head. He's either proposing or he's just being extraordinarily sweet for no particular reason, which he does with regularity. That means that he's not proposing and this is going to hurt a ton. I try not to get my hopes up. 

We walk hand in hand to the stage. I wait for him to start talking, but it takes him a good ten seconds to get started. I don't think I've ever seen this man nervous before. 

He starts talking about the rose.

During the church internship of summer 2009, which he and I both did, I made a comment that every girl is a delicate flower of femininity. Then... I burped. He immediately said, "And that's a thorn." It became this running joke among the interns and with the two of us. It grew to the point that I would get whole brier patches and locust trees (death trees, as I called them). But, in some of our more tender moments, he would take the metaphor and make it incredibly sweet. He would say that I was the delicate flower that he wanted and that he was going to fight through every thorn and patch (no longer meaning burps and the like during these moments, but bigger obstacles in a relationship) to get to me, and that if he ever got that flower, he was going to keep fighting so that it always stayed his. 

He retells the story, pointing out that it is something that we've laughed and talked about since our friendship started. He said that roses always have and always will symbolize his pursuit of me and my heart. He said that he's found his flower, he's found me, and he wants to keep it forever. 

Then he gets on one knee. 

Oh my gosh, he's proposing.

"Will you marry me?"

I didn't even look at the ring. I couldn't believe that this was finally happening, that this was it, that he's proposing to me and if I say yes, we're going to get married and have kids and grow old together. Of course I said yes! I went to give him a hug, but he was kneeling so I had to bend down and I lost my balance and kind of tackled him. We knelt there and hugged, and then he put the ring - the most beautiful ring that sparkles more than I've ever seen a diamond ring sparkle - on my finger. 

For the rest of the night, I'm smiles and giggles and kisses and hugs and am so full of happiness that I don't know what to do. He's finally breathing again. 

"Katherine, I forgot something. There was more I was going to say, but I was so nervous and I completely messed it up."

"No, that makes it even more wonderful! What were you going to say?"

Along with some other sweetness, he said that the reason he wanted to propose at the church is because that was where we met, that's where the internship was at, that's where our friendship started and grew. It's been a hub of our relationship and he wanted to keep it that way. 

The fact that he took things from our friendship and turned it into a proposal makes it the most perfect moment in my life.

He went to turn on music, and we danced. We were hugging and kissing each other like the world was ending, so it wasn't the most graceful dancing in the world, but it was wonderful. And it was then that I started crying. I think I heard him sniffle a little too. 

I'm engaged to my best friend!