I Got Proposed To, Here’s What Happenedfeatured

This story is not a fairytale romance type of story. This is real. This is me. This is us. This is what happened:

It all started on a Thursday night. My boyfriend of 5 and half years came to visit me at my house. He had been working out in the sun all day doing some DIY projects so he asked if he could take a shower. I told him it was no problem and he proceeded to the bathroom. He took a shower and that was that.

I got in the shower an hour later and noticed my “decorative” towels were in disarray. “OMG! What happened to my towels?!” I exclaimed. My boyfriend stayed silent for some time before saying, “I used the one closest to the shower on the rack.” I couldn’t even believe it. These were solely for decorative purposes. How dare he.

I continued to whine in the ugliest of girl ways until I realized how ridiculous I sounded. I finally told my boyfriend to swear to never retell this story to anyone ever.

I woke up Friday morning feeling like a mean girl. I mean, this guy has been the best partner for almost 6 years and I had known him for 12. He has been through every chapter of my life with me and always done his best to make me feel happy, supported, and protected. And there I was in the middle of the night crying about some stupid towels.

Anyway, I got up said sorry 20 more times and went off to work. I had a Friday the 13 type of Friday. I had a dentist appointment so my workday was cut in half and I was upset since the moment I walked into the office. I had so many things I wanted to get done but knew I would not have enough time to do all of them.

I got through it. I got to the dentist. It was horrible as usual. I decided I deserved a massage after this “off” day I was having. I went to a place I had gone to a few time and asked for an hour massage. It was a nightmare. I was handled by the hands of someone who had a worst day than me. They did not even let me get dressed after it. They kept opening the door as I tried changing into my clothes. Awesome, I thought, how could this day get even worse?

I went home and decided to clean up before my usual Friday dinner date with my boy. I did the “I kinda got ready” look. Fixed some smeared eyeliner and curled my eyelashes and put my hair in a headband. I was starving at this point, so my look was not as important as usual.

I drove to my boyfriend’s house and saw a cracked-out man sitting in my usual parking spot. I chose a different spot and was scared to leave my car for a moment. The crazy crackhead came up to my car window and aggressively asked for a cigarette. I closed the window and phoned my boyfriend to come save me. He came out and the crackhead ran away into the distance.

I told my boyfriend to get in my car but he refused. I said “I’ll drive us to dinner.” And he said “No, I have to do my hair first.” This was strange as my boyfriend never cares about his hair. I wanted to start a fight but I remembered the decorative towels… “Bite your damn tongue, Miss Karen,” I thought.

We finally got in his car and headed to our favorite dinner spot in San Clemente. We have “our” table at this restaurant but it happened to be taken. We were both a little bummed. I usually get bent up about not getting our table but my boyfriend was concerned this time: “Are those people almost done?” He said. This was another strange thing as my boyfriend usually does not care where they seat us.

I was thinking, “Why does he care where we sit tonight?”

We were finally seated at a random table and I said, “Well, here’s to starting new memories in different spaces in this restaurant!” Obviously I loved our usual table more. This day was so horrible that I was so over everything including not sitting at our table. 

We went through dinner as usual. My boyfriend listening intently to details of my day. As I recently started a new career, I was spewing out all these business ideas I had lingering in my head.

My boyfriend seemed calm but a bit on the quiet side. I kept rambling as we ate our gourmet dishes. My boyfriend kept trying to feed me because I was talking so much that I was forgetting to even touch my food. I didn’t understand why it mattered if or when I ate.

As I finally got to the last bits of my dish, my boyfriend said he had to go to the car because he forgot to bring in a gift he bought me. If you know my boyfriend at all, you know he always buys me gifts. Every other day I get a trinket of his appreciation for me and it always melts my heart. I said, “A gift?! For What?” He said, “Oh you know for giving me a ride the other day.”

I was excited as usual. What could it be? I saw my boyfriend come back inside with a large gift bag. Instead of coming straight for the table he spoke to our waiter who has become our friend throughout the years. He must have gotten him a gift too. Great.

My boyfriend approached me and handed me the bag. Inside the bag was a wrapped box. Inside that box was another box. And another. And another. I started thinking if these boxes got small enough to be what I have always wanted I would just die.

I slowed my gift-opening skills as much as possible now. There was no way these boxes led to smallest one I had ever been gifted. I was wrong. As I got down to the last box, our waiter approached and proceeded to take video. This couldn’t be what I thought it could be.

I got down to a tiny green box. I gasped as I opened it. It was the biggest shiniest thing I had ever seen. It was my engagement ring. I immediately screamed “NO!” with a smile on my face. “No, no, no!” I said, still smiling from ear to ear. I meant yes, but I think I was responding “no” to the shock of it all.

My boyfriend stayed silent.

“What does this mean!” I said. He said “Will you?” I said “YES!” Then went on with, “No, no, no…but YES! Of course!”

I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the ring. It was all of my Pinterest pins combined and then some! Most of all, I had been waiting for this moment for all of my life. I cried of joy. Our waiter brought us a congratulations note signed by all staff. I kept crying.

How could I have been having such a bad day for it to end more beautifully than I could have ever imagined? Suddenly my decorative towel ordeal became part of this our engagement story. I am telling the whole world about it even though I made my boyfriend swear to secrecy.

I learned that no matter what kind of day I am having, I will always have a partner who will make it all better. It’s been so many years of us loving and supporting each other wholeheartedly that this moment couldn’t have been more perfect.

I included all the details, not just the good ones, because that is what marriage is about. It’s about not complaining about decorative towels, but if you do happen to slip, having a partner that will always be there to remind you that you can always be better-together.

Love Deeply and Forever,

Karen

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