My sisters are chatting about candle lighting ceremonies. My cousin has made herself available to help with questions and contest entries. Local friends have given me names and websites for photographers. My aunt and mom have already started planning. I now own several magazines. I have a rather large rock on my hand.
It’s official, I’m engaged!
For the story of how we met, click here.
And without further ado, here’s the detailed engagement story you’ve been waiting for…
Our engagement story:
On Friday, November 1st Cason went in to work and I planned an afternoon of shopping followed by an evening of studying. I was at Target when Cason texted me to let me know they had too many people for his shift, so he got to go home. I asked if we were making plans for the night, and he said he wanted to have a nice date night since we hadn’t planned one in a while. (This is not unusual–we like to randomly plan fun nights, spur of the moment, where I put on a dress and he wears something besides athletic shorts.) He picked me up at 6:30pm and we ended up going to dinner downtown at a place called Sam’s on the Square. They had about 10 different kinds of tacos to choose from–I got fish tacos, and they were surprisingly delicious. At dinner we did our fair share of people-watching; we constantly overhear tons of hilarious conversations among “college kids.” So at first I didn’t notice how quiet Cason was being. Towards the end of dinner I remember asking why he was so quiet–come to find out, he was super nervous.
After dinner we went to one of my favorite places in Waco–Katie’s Frozen Custard. We get Katie’s at least twice a week because it’s so delicious! Then we took our frozen treats to Baylor instead of to my house to watch TV, which is perhaps when I realized something was up. We parked on campus and walked towards Pat Neff Hall, passing the Judge Baylor statue and stopping in the gardens to sit and enjoy our frozen yogurt. At one point in our walk I got pretty excited about the shrubs because they were cut to spell “Baylor Bears,” and I remember thinking it was strange that Cason seemed indifferent. (We usually get excited about random/new things, but he had seen the shrubs before when he scoped out the location, and he had other things on his mind–which is obvious in retrospect.)
So we sat down in the middle of the garden looking at the glowing green Pat Neff Hall. I’m trying to eat my frozen custard, but it was unusually cold outside for Texas so I gave up and listened to Cason tell me the history of the glowing green light. (I’m still rather shocked that he did his research.) After sitting for a few minutes I told Cason that I had to go to the bathroom, so he said, “Well then I will make this quick.” (This is it!) Then he got down on one knee, with the glowing green building behind him, and he told me how much he had always looked forward to finding the right person, how at times he wasn’t sure it would happen, and how he was blessed to have found me. Then he said my full name and asked me to marry him. I said, “Yes” through my tears and I got down to hug and kiss him. Then he stood up and asked me if I was going to say yes (which apparently happens in more engagements than you would think), and I told him that I did say yes and that I do want to marry him. So he put the ring on my finger and we smiled and laughed and kissed and hugged. Then, since it was dark, he pulled out his iPhone and turned on his flashlight so I could see the ring. (It’s perfect, by the way. We previously looked at rings, so he had a good idea of what I wanted, and he just took it and ran with it. 🙂
We walked back to the car, giddy, and I asked all sorts of questions like, “Were you nervous? Did you think I would say no?” etc. (Yes he was nervous but not because he thought I would say no.) Once we got back to the car, we called my parents and face-timed them so they could see the ring. Then we face-timed Cason’s parents, who were on their way to Florida with his youngest brother. It was all very exciting to start sharing with family. I also called my aunt and my nana, and my cousin’s reaction was priceless.
People asked me if I was surprised, but I think the better question is, “Were you pleasantly surprised?” Truth be told, if I had no inclination that it was coming, I would have been surprised, but I’m not sure that I would have liked it. Cason’s proposal, for me, had the right balance of expectation and surprise. So yes, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a special moment shared between the two of us, which we will never forget. Even now when I drive by campus at night and see Pat Neff Hall glowing green in the distance, I get this big grin on my face.
a thousand new paths 