But instead of going through an accounting of all of our adventures since January, I will just get to the real purpose of writing this blog…
I’m ENGAGED!!!!!!
Patrick proposed this past Monday after returning to Houston from Denver. He met my family and had a “talk” with my father. It was the perfect proposal- exactly what I wanted, even though I had no idea before what I “wanted” in terms of a proposal.
I flew to Denver on Thursday, about a day and a half before Patrick. Over the phone one evening he asked me how I felt about driving down to Galveston when we arrived back in Houston on Monday. When he asked this, I thought that it couldn’t be more obvious! I was excited, and thought it was funny that he wasn’t being more secretive about it. Patrick, unlike me, is really good at keeping secrets and allowing for things to be a surprise. I just figured he was really excited.
Well, he arrived in Denver on Saturday morning and later told me that it was raining a lot in Houston, so we were going to have to wait until Thursday to drive down to Galveston. I can’t even tell you how disappointed I was. I know it sounds bratty, but I was so anxious to finally make things official and announce that we were engaged. So I did my best (not really) to accept that I had to wait.
We got back to Houston around 4:30 pm on Monday, and made it back to my apartment around 6 pm. Everything seemed normal. We ran into my roommate Kate, who informed us that she was on her way to pick up some frisbees for Family Home Evening. Patrick and I attend FHE every week; so still, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I went inside the apartment, cooked dinner, and before I knew it, Patrick said we needed to head over to the polo club, where we were going to be playing ultimate frisbee. I did think it was a little strange that we were playing at the polo club, but a girl we know plays polo, so I figured she got permission for our group to use the field.
I was driving the car, and Patrick was telling me where to turn. Eventually he told me to stop and to park the car. He wanted to get out of the car, but I protested, telling him that it was kind of chilly and no one had arrived yet. He was insistent, so I got out of the car. There was this booth overlooking the field, so I figured he wanted to climb up and look at the view. Nothing out of the ordinary.
As I climbed the stairs, I was munching on a red apple (silly me) and nearing the top of the stairs I noticed a vase of white daises! I turned around to look at Patrick and he just stopped and smiled at me. I took his hand and we continued to the top of the stairs. There in the booth was a table with a cream colored table cloth. The table was decorated with blue and white candles and coasters that had our pictures on them. Next to the table was his guitar case with his black guitar propped against it. I teared up and turned to him. We hugged for a long time, until he had me sit down on one of the chairs. He took his guitar and went to the other side of the table.
Before we started dating, I told Patrick about one of my favorite songs, and thought that he would enjoy playing it. As he prepared for the proposal, he taught himself how to play the song, and then sang it for me as I sat across from him and listened. He was so cute- he even choked up several times.
When he finished, he got up, came over and hugged me and then turned to his guitar case. When he turned around, he got down on one knee and started giggling/choking up. “Tiffany Lynn Etter, will you marry me?”
I giggled, or cried, or maybe both, kissed his forehead and said, “Of course I will!”
He got up, hugged and kissed me, and then I looked over on one of the ledges and noticed a camera that did not belong to either of us! As I pointed to the camera, Patrick smiled and took me back downstairs. Around the corner I spotted my roommates, hiding. They were there the entire time, and caught the proposal on video! Sneaky girls!
They were incredibly helpful in making sure everything was ready since Patrick and I were going to be arriving Monday evening from Denver. They also helped Patrick come up with the idea of making me believe I was going to have to wait until later in the week!
So yes, I am happily in love and engaged to the sweetest, best, most romantic and handsome man in the world!
