A Little Engagement Story

This is a story that has been a long time coming. And I'm so completely beyond thrilled to have finally reached this point.

Our story began just over 4 years ago when I received a facebook message from a guy. Skip and I had several mutual friends, and I guess things I would comment on and say intrigued him enough to send me a message asking if I'd be interested in going out. Being the commitment phobe (1st dates would give me panic attacks, the thought of a second date was more than I could handle) I was, I kept putting him off and finally told him I wasn't interested in dating. He said that was fine, he just wanted to at least be friends, which I could totally handle.

So one night I took the kids to see Rio and thought I'd invite Skip to come along. He brought his son Asher. As Skip tells the story, he was so nervous he spilled popcorn everywhere. He definitely had a hard time speaking to me. I know, I know. I'm definitely the intimidating type. :P It was so cute though, and as we left he gave me a copy of Audrey Hepburn's Funny Face.

Another time he texted me and said he was going on a business trip and asked if he could bring us a souvenir. A few nights later, a bag of seashells that he'd picked up along the beach showed up on our doorstep overnight.

He even brought me a cake at work, to make sure my birthday was being celebrated.

The night we went to see a screening of one of Richard Dutcher's films.

We hung out here and there over the next couple of years. Taking the kids to things like the Color Festival in Spanish Fork, or just hanging out at the apartment, after I'd moved to Bountiful. He was always there, ready to save me when my car battery died, or take care of me when I got sick and he brought us dinner.

In the fall of 2012, Skip and I took a trip to Las Vegas to see Cirque du Soleil's Love. He showed up in a new Mustang convertible that he rented and off we went! Rode with the top down until it got dark and cold. One night there, he surprised me with dinner at the top of the Stratosphere. SO YUMMY! It was hard watching all the people jump off the building, though. Made me cringe every time! On our last night there we stayed up super late. I just couldn't sleep and we talked and talked. And then he kissed me and I realized he still wanted to try to be more than friends, which I just wasn't feeling.

So after we got home, I thought the kindest thing would be to stop seeing him. I didn't feel I could give him more than friendship, and it felt mean to lead him on, even inadvertently.

That lasted until April of 2014 when I sent him a facebook message, apologizing. He kindly forgave me and we set up a time for him to come over and hang out. Which we started right back, like we'd never stopped.

For my 30th birthday, he got me tickets to see Elton John! I was SO excited! When we went to the concert in September, he put his arm around me and I lay my head on his shoulder, and it just felt so comfortable and good. The little idea started in my head that maybe . . . just maaaaybe I could drop my walls and begin to see him as more than a friend. But I quickly put that idea out of my head, because, seriously, I don't date. (Ok, ok, at the time I was getting to know a truly amazing man who lives in Scotland. Which, luckily, we are still friends.)

In October of 2014, Skip invited me to go to a thing called An October Evening. It was a short film festival and fashion show, which was a lot of fun. Again, he put his arm around me and that was the only place I ever wanted to be again.

But, like the emotional idiot I am, I shut it down.

He kept telling me he wanted to watch Downton Abbey with me, thinking it would be a show I would enjoy. So I invited him over for dinner, which ended up being my older brother's family birthday dinner. After we ate, Skip, Alayna and I ended up in the kitchen and we had a little group hug. And it just felt so natural . . . it just felt like being home. And I realized I couldn't ignore or shut out how I was feeling anymore. So I told him that night I loved him. Which, I've never said that to someone before in that way. That way of saying I need you like I need to air breathe. 

I think I took him by surprise. Just a little bit.

A week later I left on a cruise to the Western Caribbean. The whole trip I kept thinking, "Skip would love this!" and "I can't wait to bring Skip back here to experience this!" I was with my best friend in the whole world, Megan, and I was truly having an amazing time. But I just couldn't get Skip out of my head, and was SO excited to see him again! I told all the girls from the Teresa Collins group about him, before we were even officially together. I just knew it had to work out! How could it not, right?

This guy tried to beat Skip to being my husband. He kept telling me he was coming home with me. (Jeweler in Costa Maya)

Skip picked us up from the airport and I was SOOO excited to see him! I was deliriously tired from being up most of the night before and traveling across the country, but it didn't stop me from running to him as soon as I saw him! He had flowers for me, which was just so sweet.

We made it "facebook official" on December 2nd, but by the end of December we were talking about how we were ready to just live our lives together and by January we were planning the wedding. But he wanted to officially propose with a ring before we announced anything to people outside close friends and family, which was fine with me.

When he asked me what I wanted in a ring, I sent him styles I liked, which he shared with a jeweler friend of his and they decided on a style. He asked me what I wanted for a center stone, and I told him about the yellow emeralds I had seen while on the cruise. I loved the yellow color, the vintage feel it gave, and that it was a stone I found while on the cruise where I couldn't stop thinking about him and feeling excited for being with him. So he ordered one, but they ended up sending 4 stones for us to chose from. That was so much fun!

Once the ring was made, and Skip had it, he let me see it. But then he told me I didn't get to keep it yet. I was totally fine and hadn't really thought about there being a ring up until that point. But once I saw it I didn't want to give it back! It was so pretty! My finger already felt naked without it, and I hadn't even worn it yet.

A few weeks went by. I was being patient, but it didn't help that almost everyday my best friend would ask me if he'd proposed yet. LOL! haha! She was almost more excited than me! (Freaking LOVE you, Megan!)

So, Skip let me know that he had secretly asked my mom to babysit one Saturday morning so he could take me to a screening of a movie about the Beach Boys that his friend invited him to. (He let me know this because I had asked him if he wanted to go to the Living Traditions festival, and he had the weekends confused, so he made up the Beach Boys story to let me know he'd made plans that day, without telling me what they actually were. But it turns out it was a different weekend, anyway.)

I woke up that Saturday at 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I wondered if he was planning something, but then figured coming up with a Beach Boys movie was a pretty specific thing and why would he make that up? I still woke up with some crazy nervous energy that kept me awake. I chalked it up to being startled awake from a crazy dream. (Which, is actually a fairly common thing for me. I have weird dreams!) So I started getting ready early. Took time to straighten my hair. Got a load of laundry going. I kept thinking about my dad, and decided to take the little honey bee keychain (he'd picked it out to give me as a Valentine's present right before he died) with me and kept it in my pocket. I just felt like having it with me for some reason.

I got to his house early and he was out. He told me he was taking a flash drive to a friend. Hung out at his house until he got there, and then we took off. We went to the Broadway Theater, and some guy was sitting outside, also waiting for the "screening." Skip called his friend and found out we were supposed to be at the Tower Theater across town. So we hightailed it over there, but he kept texting! I thought he was going to kill us. I had to tell him when the light turned green. He told me he was texting his brother about a charger he took to him that only worked half the time. Something about the prongs weren't doing something. I don't know. Techie talk. I was like, "Couldn't this wait until we're NOT driving?" (Turns out, he actually had about 8 conversations going on at once, about the theater change. LOL) So as we're driving down 9th south, he was rambling about the buildings and just not making a lot of sense, so I told him he was being weird. He laughed and said that was funny.

We walked in to the theater, and the guy asked if we were there for the free screening and he checked us in on his computer. (I'm still not sure what he was actually doing. LOL) We went in to the theater and sat down. We were the only ones in there. Skip said how romantic that was, being alone in the theater.

The previews started, and there was one for a Beach Boys movie, which was odd, since we were there to see a Beach Boys movie. I chalked it up to it seemed more like a film and I thought Skip had said what we were watching was a documentary so I figured it was two different things. Some more previews played, and then they cut off. I whispered to Skip that he broke it.

Then a film started playing, and it was Skip's voice, with "our song" playing in the background. HOLY CRAP!!! Then it cut off! AGH! I told him he really DID break it! haha! It started back up again and played through. I honestly can't remember everything it said, I've realized a lot of the details after first hearing his voice have already become jumbled, I was so surprised! The film ended with Skip sitting in a movie theater, talking about when we first met at a theater and he spilled that popcorn, then movie Skip said he thought the guy sitting next to me had a question for me. Skip stood up, pulled the ring from his pocket, and asked me to marry him.

Of COURSE I said yes!

As soon as I did I heard clapping! What the heck? I had thought we were alone! I turned around and there was my family, my kids all dressed up and clapping and cheering. His family and friends were there, and best friend Megan was on Skype, since she's in San Francisco. OH MY GOSH! It was so amazing. I never heard them come in! Even the guy sitting outside the first theater we went to was there. Turns out he was a friend of Skip's who he had invited to see the engagement happen. Skip's brother Steven was filming it all. He later said I had said yes so quietly, he started clapping so everyone else would know to start clapping. HAHA! I hadn't realized I'd needed to be loud for an audience.

Most. Amazing. Man. Ever. Seriously. And he's all mine!! He is the smartest, kindest, most loving and supportive man. His patience with me is endless (and needed!) and his encouragement and acceptance of me for who I am is beyond anything I could have imagined having in my life.

I can't wait to spend my life with someone who loves me so completely, so unconditionally. Who supports all my crazy ambitions and dreams, who is excited for everything we get to share together. I can't wait for our lifetime of adventures and days of just being in each other's company.

Life is an adventure, as I have always said. And now I have someone to share it with. And I can't wait!

But seriously. The ring!