The Proposal

I LOVE telling this story and have lost track of the number of times I've told it. My poor co-workers have heard me re-tell it countless times! Josh and I had been talking about getting married for a while. We had talked about our hypothetical wedding, looked at engagement rings... he even took me to a jeweler to get sized for a ring. One night I came home from work to pick him up to go out for dinner. We weren't really doing anything special, just going out to Applebee's with Benjamin for a low-key celebration of one of our "month-iversaries". I showed up at the house with Ben in tow, ran inside to grab Josh and head out (the car was still running in the driveway!) and when I got inside, there was Josh, standing in the living room all dressed up in a suit and tie, dress shoes, the whole 9 yards. He had a little black box in his hand. I immediately freaked out and asked him what was going on. He got down on one knee and again, I asked him what was going on. He said he was tying his shoe. From there, the conversation went something like this:

"What's in the box?!"
"What box?"
"The one that was just in your hand that's right next to your foot!"
"Oh, that's nothing."
"No, REALLY- what's in the box?!"
"My cuff links"
"NO, REALLY, Josh- What's. In. The. Box?!?!"
"No, Really, Mel... it's my cuff links. I'm totally messing with you"
And he opened the box to reveal none other than... his cuff links.

If it hadn't been so funny, I would've roundhouse kicked him to the face.

About a month later we were in the car and he got this sly look on his face. He told me he got me something from the jewelry store that day that I had been really wanting but I couldn't have it until we got back to the house. I was ecstatic. We got home and he pulled out a bag from Gerald's Jewelers. I peeked in the bag and found... a jewelry cleaner. I looked at him. "PSSHT, Very funny, you got me again." He looked all excited and asked me if I was going to open the jewelry cleaner box. I asked him why, what was inside that I needed to open the box. "I think you need to open the box, you're going to like what's in there." So I opened the box and inside the box was... a jewelry cleaner. At this point, I started to cry. The first time was funny, but this time was not so humorous. He felt appropriately terrible and apologized profusely. I made him promise not to tease me anymore.

A few days later... we were watching a movie. And, like the old people we are, Josh asked me if I wanted to do a crossword. I was grouchy so I said no. A few minutes later, he asked me if I wanted to do a crossword. I was STILL grouchy so I said no again. About an hour later, he practically begged me to do the crossword puzzle so, begrudgingly, I gave in.

"OK, a 4 letter word for wild pig"

It took him about a second to say, "boar!"

I got about half way through penciling in the "O" before I saw my name in the puzzle. I looked a little closer and saw that question 44 down said "Melanie, will you marry me?" I just about crapped my pants. When I looked up, he had this...

I. WAS. SPEECHLESS. He had this whole sweet speech to go along with the proposal. Of course I started blubbering. All the while, Benjamin was in between us babbling and trying to steal the pencil in my hand. Finally, Josh said "It's a 3 letter word, for "Will you marry me?" Are you going to write in the answer?" So of course, I wrote in Yes. Cried some more, Benjamin laughed and it was all around a beautiful moment. I didn't expect his proposal would come at a time like that. I was grouchy, not wearing any makeup, in pajamas, dead tired... but he says he wouldn't have it any other way because I was caught completely off guard.

Further proof that I have the most AWESOME fiancee ever! Sorry, gals, he's all mines!