Buying the Ring

As some people may or may not do, I started showing my fiancé rings online and (un)subtly hinting about getting engaged for at least a year. Then one day in early 2017, it just so happens I bought a car from a dealership that was located across the street from a jewelry store. When I went to officially pick-up the car, both my parents and boyfriend came with me, and when we were done, I casually suggested we go over and take a look at rings in person- just for fun…

Of course, we end up finding a beautiful ring that we all loved, and somehow my man ends up buying it. I was literally so excited- I was definitely getting engaged!

Fact: I tend to torture myself by overthinking everything. So, as happy as I was, I had to go thinking about a few things. Should we have looked at more rings in other stores before deciding? Did I put pressure on him to do this, or was he doing it because he wanted to? Should I have allowed him to do this himself?! I never imagined we’d actually find a ring that day. On top of that, because I knew he bought the ring, I would never have that full element of a surprise proposal. Speaking of which, when would he actually propose to me? How long would it be before I got to wear the ring that I already knew he had?

April 9th rolls around and I worked until noon that day. I received a text from my boyfriend suggesting that we go for a hike later since the weather was so nice. We had never been up to the Pagoda (a Reading landmark) and there was a fire tower (another Reading landmark) up there that was rarely open, but had limited hours that day. He also mentioned we were going to have dinner with my family that night, and I immediately thought to myself that tonight was the night.

It was brisk, but Spring was in the air. I put on some exercise clothes and an ugly crew neck sweatshirt I had from a festival we went to together. Oddly, he questioned my choice of an outfit change, and I looked at him like he was crazy. Who the hell wants to hike in work clothes?

We get up the mountain and start walking the trail behind the fire tower. We hadn’t walked very far when I noticed a person creepily crouched down in a cement stairwell holding a camera in my direction. I recognized the person immediately and when I turned to my boyfriend in surprise, he was working on getting the ring out of his pocket and down on one knee!!!!! He was so nervous that the only words that came out of his mouth were, “I’ve been wanting to marry you”, and (obviously) I said yes! The face I recognized was one of his (our) best friends, who captured all of it-including the ugly crewneck- on camera. What a day!

*I still rag on my husband for not giving me a long love speech that day*

Please feel free to share your engagement stories below! 🙂