I Proposed to Jessica Last Night

I proposed to Jessica last night! It was incredibly cool--definitely the best and most exciting thing I've ever done.

Jessica knew that I was working towards asking her; she thought, however, that I wasn't going to be able to ask for a few months at least. Naturally, I didn't correct that impression... OK, I admit: I encouraged that belief just a little bit. In contrast to thinking that I was going to ask her far off in the future, Jessica often misinterpreted things to mean that I was going to ask her then. We were scheduled to have a youth staff meeting this Tuesday; I arranged with John to have it "canceled."Tuesdays are also supposed to be our date night--well, I "had a lot of homework" and "didn't know if date night was going to happen." For some reason or other, Jessica was thinking that I was going to propose that day. After a few hours of being with me, she was back to being convinced that I wasn't going to propose for a looong while.

Little did she know that I bought a ring the Saturday before last and had talked to her dad and set up arrangements for friends to come over on Monday. I then convince her that I need to pick my birth certificate up from my parent's house in order to get paid for something or other--so off we go. Before stopping there, I suggest we eat at a restaurant so that we can have at least some for of a date. So, we eat at the Outback Steakhouse--during the whole meal, she's ragging on me for being slow about asking her and she's acting mopey.

When we pulled into my parent's driveway, I covertly slipped the ring box into my sweatshirt pocket. She came and hugged me, nearly feeling the box (and nearly feeling how fast my heart was pounding, too...). We walk through the backyard, and I pause at the spot I gave her a red tulip more than three and a half years ago (this was the precursor to me asking her out two days later). I sit her down on the bench and ask, "So, do you remember when I gave you that red tulip?" "Yeah..." she says in a stop-trying-to-make-me-feel-better-with-sentimental-crap voice. I reach down and pull out the red tulips that are hiding under the bench (courtesy of my family), and hand the to her. She starts to act a little confused. I then pull out the ring box and man, does she freak out. I ask her, and she continues to freak out. (She does say "Yes," however).

After we settle down, my parents take pictures and we drive back to my apartment where our friends are waiting to celebrate.

Here are some engagement pictures.