Well here is the long and (not so) short of it…
It was a dream come true.
Even as I sit here typing this, with this gorgeous ring on my finger, I sometimes need to pinch myself to make sure that this dream that I seem to be living in, is actually a reality.
Matt and I have been together for almost six years, and although yes, I knew this moment was coming some day, I was taken completely by surprise by this man and his awesomeness.
For our date night this week we decided to go to our old stomping grounds in Waltham to our favorite sushi restaurant, which is now called The Sushi Box, but it will always be Sushi Yasu to us. We ordered some sashimi and some sushi rolls and enjoyed a delicious dinner old-school style. After dinner we took a ride by the old house to see it for nostalgia purposes, and laughed at the irony that we used to live across the street from a Benjamin Store- funny since we now spend most of our time and money at one near or new house ;)
After that ride we decided to stop by Gore Place- a gorgeous historical estate right near where we used to live. We would go there on our evening walks, especially during what I have coined “golden time” when the sun begins to set. I would always joke about how the view from the bench we would sit at looked like my favorite scene from the Pride and Prejudice movie when Mr. Darcy would come out and meet Elizabeth Bennett in the early morning mist and they agreed to marry(my favorite book!). I also spent a lot of time there myself, reading in the gardens, especially in one in particular which I like to call “The Secret Garden” (after my favorite childhood book) due to the fact that this gorgeous space is surrounded by about 20 foot hedges that surround and enclose it.
Well, we park at Gore and I went over to check out the bulletin board of what was happening at the estate in the coming weeks. Matt joined me and we went for a walk around the side of the house where the bench where we would sit is. Unfortunately they were setting up a carnival on the grounds below and mmb grumbled something about this “being a mood killer” and I joked about getting away from the clowns. At that point we decided to walk on back over to the garden area and stopped to check out a giant tree that we had carved our initials into about 3 years ago- we even have a picture of that tree on our bureau in our bedroom! Apparently he was about to propose there, but people started to walk by and he says he knew I would like this to be a private moment. At that point we kept walking and he was walking really fast and I told him to slow down a little bit and he kind of laughed at me. We walked into the secret garden and looked around a bit, as much as we could in the dark anyhow, and he began to tell me the most beautiful things he has ever said to me.
Before I knew it, it began to lightly rain (which was amazing because not only do I love love love the rain, but it rained on our first date when we went on a walk in the park near his college) and he was down on one knee and asking me to marry him! I was stunned at first and didn’t respond and when I finally did I said “Are you serious?!” and he laughed! I did a little happy dance around the garden and he asked me if I wanted the ring and started laughing again. I said yes and he put the ring on my finger and we were engaged!
After that we sat on the bench that we sat on the night before we moved from Waltham and talked for about 45 minutes , basking in the glow of what just happened before we began making the phone calls. It was undoubtedly one of the greatest moments of my life :)
Now under normal circumstances I probably would have caught on to his plan before he had a chance to enact it, but my mind was quite busy planning some surprises for him. I had arranged for one of his best friend’s from college to fly in with his wife and surprise Matt for his birthday and to attend his surprise birthday party the next day! They were supposed to stay with us on Friday, but fortunately mmb’s parents knew of both surprises and arranged for his friend and his wife to stay in the city for Friday night and to meet up with us for drinks we all had dinner so that Matt could propose!
After we left Gore, I told him it would be a great idea to go have champagne at one of our favorite restaurants, Tempo, on Moody Street- little did he know that the real reason was so that Vick and Renuka could meet us there and surprise him. I sat facing the door so that I could see them arrive and when I noticed them told Matt “boy, the surprises just keep coming…” then Vick tapped him on the back and he turned around and was stunned! It was so great! We spent the night celebrating with them and then went home. The next day was a surprise party for mmb’s birthday which worked out great because we are able to spend and celebrate with many of the people we love!
It was a CRAZY weekend!
Now I know that this initial “engagement glow” is going to wear off. And I am smart enough to know that although I plan on thoroughly enjoying the wedding planning process, there will be inevitable bumps in the road and it won’t be all bliss all the time. But I know I am going to savor it now, while it is. And what I know above all of else if that the love I share with this man is like nothing I could have ever imagined. Yes, we disagree and we don’t always see eye to eye on things and our relationship is certainly not perfect, but I can say with absolute certainty that we are perfect for each other. And that is why I am going to marry him.
Oh my goodness. I am going to marry him! <3