Okay, so here's the story of our engagement. But before, let's lay the background.It's not like I didn't know it could be any day. I mean, I already knew when we would get married...after he graduates next May sometime. We both wanted it to be a surprise. We didn't go shop for engagement rings, nor did we look online. Well...I looked online...but we never looked together. He knew I wanted a solitaire and I would much rather have quality over quantity. So he definitely had guidelines. Hey, I'm not crazy! Guys do need some guidance! :) My only other request was to give me 6 to 9 months to plan for the wedding. Well sometime in September I started getting antsy. September would be 9 months out from May/June. I played it cool at first, but then once October rolled around, I was really starting to wonder, "Did he forget the 6 to 9 months guideline? Well of course he did! I needed to refresh his memory!" So I did. I would say probably 3 weeks from our actual engagement I decided I needed to run the guidelines by him one more time. Okay, he knows how to count. He understood all along, and he didn't want me to keep asking about it and ruin the whole thing. That's what he said. And I can't say I didn't blame him. He needed to set me straight...after all, I had said I wanted to be surprised.
A week and a half before our engagement day, Caleb and I are getting back from my parent's house. We hadn't been inside my place 3 minutes before he says to me "Hey! Want to take off work on Thursday and go to Chattanooga?" Huh? What? Take off work on a Thursday?! And go to Chattanooga? We don't do things like that! Poor Caleb is in the lab EVERY day, I repeat, everyday, even on Saturday and Sunday, so he wouldn't just randomly decide not to go in one day just to drive to Chattanooga. Those were my thoughts. Why I didn't keep them as thoughts... I responded with a smirk, "Are you going to propose to me, boy?" Immediately after the words came off my tongue, I wish I would have left them only as thoughts. From the looks of his face, he was...I am not sure. Surprised? Confused? Hurt? (Turns out later he told me he wasn't surprised at all that I would say that. He knows me.) He immediately tried to insinuate that of course the trip was "just for fun" and why couldn't we do things like that. Long story short, he basically tells me whenever I can get off work we will go to Chattanooga "just for fun"...but I knew he had a different plan. Turns out he did. Just not the different plan I had thought.
The following week we decide to take off on a Friday to "have fun" in Chattanooga. The entire week I was ecstatic! I was getting engaged this Friday!! Of course when you think you know the day and location of your engagement, you don't go around telling people. That's just weird. What if it doesn't really happen? So I only told my thoughts to one friend. Otherwise, they were all within. Monday I woke up...4 days until I'm engaged! Tuesday I woke up...3 days until I'm engaged! I could barely focus at work. It was all that was on my mind. Wednesday I woke up...2 days until I'm engaged...but wait, my tooth really hurts! I woke up with a terrible toothache. It actually hurt the entire day. I went to bed thinking that night that it had to feel better the next day. Because the following day, I was getting engaged and no one wants a toothache on their engagement day!!
Thursday, I woke up. First thought...one more day until I'm engaged! Second thought...is my tooth still hurting? No! It's not! But wait, I do feel a little strange. I get out of bed, go look at my face in the mirror, and I am swollen!! Yes, swollen! I even take a picture because I know Caleb will not believe me and think I'm exaggerating. The area between my upper lip and nose was swollen...and it went up around the left side of my nose! I looked like a man who had just shaved his mustache! I looked bad! And tomorrow is my engagement day!! So I called the dentist before going into work. I knew the problem. My front tooth had got infected and I knew I would need a root canal. My front teeth have been capped from a childhood accident, and the other front tooth had gotten infected just a year or so earlier which led to a root canal. The dentist says to come in immediately. I was right...a root canal! I told the dentist and all his assistants that tomorrow was a very special day for me and I did not want to be in pain or swollen! So they performed the root canal on the spot in the office that morning. Then I went to work.
On the way to work, I call Caleb to fill him in on my crazy morning. "You had a root canal just now?!" That's all I hear from him. I tell him the entire story, with every painstaking detail, as I always do in stories, when at the end, there is no response. Hello! Did you not just hear me? I had a root canal! Are you not listening? Do you not care? He has nothing to say! I am a little annoyed and tell him I'm on my way to work and will just call my mother instead. We get off the phone.
My day at work passed fairly quickly, especially considering I got there at 11 and went straight to lunch. My friend, Jake, kept asking me when I was going to leave for the day. I typically stay until 5:30ish, and told him I would probably do the same, especially since I wasn't going to be in the next day (because I was getting engaged!!). Towards the end of the day, I did feel a little "eh." Not too bad, just didn't feel great either. Honestly, I really was kind of feeling sorry for myself. Tomorrow was my engagement day, and what terrible luck to have a root canal the day before! Oh well, better the day before than the day of! Right...
A week and a half before our engagement day, Caleb and I are getting back from my parent's house. We hadn't been inside my place 3 minutes before he says to me "Hey! Want to take off work on Thursday and go to Chattanooga?" Huh? What? Take off work on a Thursday?! And go to Chattanooga? We don't do things like that! Poor Caleb is in the lab EVERY day, I repeat, everyday, even on Saturday and Sunday, so he wouldn't just randomly decide not to go in one day just to drive to Chattanooga. Those were my thoughts. Why I didn't keep them as thoughts... I responded with a smirk, "Are you going to propose to me, boy?" Immediately after the words came off my tongue, I wish I would have left them only as thoughts. From the looks of his face, he was...I am not sure. Surprised? Confused? Hurt? (Turns out later he told me he wasn't surprised at all that I would say that. He knows me.) He immediately tried to insinuate that of course the trip was "just for fun" and why couldn't we do things like that. Long story short, he basically tells me whenever I can get off work we will go to Chattanooga "just for fun"...but I knew he had a different plan. Turns out he did. Just not the different plan I had thought.
The following week we decide to take off on a Friday to "have fun" in Chattanooga. The entire week I was ecstatic! I was getting engaged this Friday!! Of course when you think you know the day and location of your engagement, you don't go around telling people. That's just weird. What if it doesn't really happen? So I only told my thoughts to one friend. Otherwise, they were all within. Monday I woke up...4 days until I'm engaged! Tuesday I woke up...3 days until I'm engaged! I could barely focus at work. It was all that was on my mind. Wednesday I woke up...2 days until I'm engaged...but wait, my tooth really hurts! I woke up with a terrible toothache. It actually hurt the entire day. I went to bed thinking that night that it had to feel better the next day. Because the following day, I was getting engaged and no one wants a toothache on their engagement day!!
Thursday, I woke up. First thought...one more day until I'm engaged! Second thought...is my tooth still hurting? No! It's not! But wait, I do feel a little strange. I get out of bed, go look at my face in the mirror, and I am swollen!! Yes, swollen! I even take a picture because I know Caleb will not believe me and think I'm exaggerating. The area between my upper lip and nose was swollen...and it went up around the left side of my nose! I looked like a man who had just shaved his mustache! I looked bad! And tomorrow is my engagement day!! So I called the dentist before going into work. I knew the problem. My front tooth had got infected and I knew I would need a root canal. My front teeth have been capped from a childhood accident, and the other front tooth had gotten infected just a year or so earlier which led to a root canal. The dentist says to come in immediately. I was right...a root canal! I told the dentist and all his assistants that tomorrow was a very special day for me and I did not want to be in pain or swollen! So they performed the root canal on the spot in the office that morning. Then I went to work.
On the way to work, I call Caleb to fill him in on my crazy morning. "You had a root canal just now?!" That's all I hear from him. I tell him the entire story, with every painstaking detail, as I always do in stories, when at the end, there is no response. Hello! Did you not just hear me? I had a root canal! Are you not listening? Do you not care? He has nothing to say! I am a little annoyed and tell him I'm on my way to work and will just call my mother instead. We get off the phone.
My day at work passed fairly quickly, especially considering I got there at 11 and went straight to lunch. My friend, Jake, kept asking me when I was going to leave for the day. I typically stay until 5:30ish, and told him I would probably do the same, especially since I wasn't going to be in the next day (because I was getting engaged!!). Towards the end of the day, I did feel a little "eh." Not too bad, just didn't feel great either. Honestly, I really was kind of feeling sorry for myself. Tomorrow was my engagement day, and what terrible luck to have a root canal the day before! Oh well, better the day before than the day of! Right...
So I leave work. Jake waves from his car window with a big grin...while on the phone. Strange. I just told that boy "bye" 5 minutes ago in the office. Oh well. Drive home. Get on phone with my mother. Re-fill her in on the remaining part of my day and any details I had not given her previously of my tragic morning. I'm talking to my mother the entire trip home...all the way up to my front door. I open the door and...what?! Oh my! My stomach plummets. I start feeling like I'm about to vomit. I see a trail of candles, pictures, and cards from the inside of my door into the hallway of my condo. "Mother, I've got to call you back." I get off the phone. Put my stuff down. I have no idea what to do. Even while I type this now, one day less of four weeks after, some of these feelings linger back into my body. I immediately think, this is the proposal. Oh my oh my!! I call out his name weakly, "Caleb? Caleb?" I know he's in here!! Is he going to come out!? I look out the window for his car. Nothing. Once or twice more, "Caleb?" For a split second I reconsider and presume this is possibly a "I'm sorry you had a root canal kind of sweetness..." But as I kneel down to pick up the first card (1st of 17!!), I know it's a "Proposal kind of sweetness..." I feel weak, sick, panicky, and slightly nostalgic all at the same time. Is this what a proposal feels like?! I don't know what to do. I decide to remain calm and quite and continue to pick up each 
card and read them. The cards are sweet. But at the time, I was in such a flurry, I really didn't take them in. Later that night, I laid on my bed and read each one, oh so carefully. He had put some thought into them. Each card had two thoughts written inside: one of his and one of mine from the beginning of our relationship until current day. I know these cards will carry special meaning to me for the rest of my life and am very thankful I have something tangible to hold on to. I continue to pick up each card and read them. As I round into the hallway, the trail continues to my bedroom door. With each passing card, my heart grows faster and faster. I am not sure how much longer I can hold on. 17?! That's a lot of cards to read when you are feeling rather faint. One of the last cards read, "I am really nervous! - Me" "You are getting really nervous! -You" Ahh!! How much longer must this go on! When I come to my door, I stop to think, should I open it or is he going to? I slightly open the door and find my sweet Caleb knelt on one knee in the floor with one last candle by his side. I for sure am going to faint now. He says a few sweet lines and I can tell he has rehearsed them in his head over and over, as he pauses at the end of each thought. When he asks me to marry him, I back up and respond "Caleb, this doesn't feel real." It is though. He asks again and I say yes of course and get on the floor with him! I eventually see the ring in his hand and he places it on my finger. It fits fairly well! Turns out the entire thing is on camera, which he has placed on my dresser in the bedroom. The batteries go dead, but the last thing the camera gets is my reaction to my ring "Oh, it's so sparkly!"
card and read them. The cards are sweet. But at the time, I was in such a flurry, I really didn't take them in. Later that night, I laid on my bed and read each one, oh so carefully. He had put some thought into them. Each card had two thoughts written inside: one of his and one of mine from the beginning of our relationship until current day. I know these cards will carry special meaning to me for the rest of my life and am very thankful I have something tangible to hold on to. I continue to pick up each card and read them. As I round into the hallway, the trail continues to my bedroom door. With each passing card, my heart grows faster and faster. I am not sure how much longer I can hold on. 17?! That's a lot of cards to read when you are feeling rather faint. One of the last cards read, "I am really nervous! - Me" "You are getting really nervous! -You" Ahh!! How much longer must this go on! When I come to my door, I stop to think, should I open it or is he going to? I slightly open the door and find my sweet Caleb knelt on one knee in the floor with one last candle by his side. I for sure am going to faint now. He says a few sweet lines and I can tell he has rehearsed them in his head over and over, as he pauses at the end of each thought. When he asks me to marry him, I back up and respond "Caleb, this doesn't feel real." It is though. He asks again and I say yes of course and get on the floor with him! I eventually see the ring in his hand and he places it on my finger. It fits fairly well! Turns out the entire thing is on camera, which he has placed on my dresser in the bedroom. The batteries go dead, but the last thing the camera gets is my reaction to my ring "Oh, it's so sparkly!" We spent the next 3 hours talking and me drilling him with tons and tons of questions. How long have you had the ring? How'd you decide what to get? Were you always going to propose like this? Turns out Jake knew about the engagement, as Caleb had feared I would come home early due to the root canal. Jake had been "eyes" for Caleb and Caleb, poor thing, had been waiting for me at my house since 12noon. (I got home around 5:30pm.) Nothing was going to interfere with his plan! He was going to propose so-be-it! And nothing did. Although I wouldn't have ever said I would like to have an emergency root canal on the day of my engagement, I wouldn't have it any other way now. Oh, and the next day we did go to Chattanooga "just for fun."
I love Caleb Kersey. Think he has one of the greatest hearts ever. And I can't wait to be his wife. 
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