the story, part two

I came to L.A. to visit Colin one more time before he goes back to China for a while. On Saturday morning, he told me he had an appointment he couldn't cancel, but after that he wanted to go on a hike since he'd been inside all week. So, he came to pick me up at my friend's house. I had bought a skirt the day before and my friend wanted me to wear it (she knew about the plans and kept them a perfect secret), but I told her "We're going on a hike! I can't wear a skirt!" He was a little late, but blamed it on traffic and I didn't think anything about it. After he picked me up, he kept getting text messages, but I didn't really pay any attention to that either. I noticed his hand was a little clammy, but didn't say anything. I was curious about his "appointment" from the morning, and asked a few questions, but he didn't seem to want to talk about it, so I let that go. If I'd thought about all these things together, I might have suspected something, but I had been trying not to expect anything. I knew that he'd been really busy all week. If he'd waited a weekend, I might have had a few more expectations or suspicions. I'm really glad I was surprised, though!

We got to the park and walked up to a redwood grove that we had been to before. In the middle of the redwood grove, there was a couch, coffee table and rug that someone had brought up. Colin commented about it, wondering what it was. He said it was probably part of some kind of setup for a photo shoot or something. (He really didn't know what it was, but it was good, because it helped to throw me off!) As we kept walking, I saw something else at the corner of the grove and wondered out loud what it was. As we got closer, I made the silly comment out loud "You know what? It looks like someone is going to propose here!" As soon as that comment left my mouth, I realized that it was probably him that was about to do the proposing and I went into a little bit of shock. (He thought I must have suspected something and that was a sarcastic comment, but it wasn't!)

He and his friends had been working on the setup most of the morning. They set up a blanket with a heart shaped carpet of rose petals around it, outlined in Gerber daisies (because I had commented once that they are my favorite!). His guitar was there with long stemmed roses around it and in the middle was a heart shaped rock that he'd found for me on the greenbelt in Austin when he came to visit. Wow!

So, he pulled out the ring box and played Over the Rhine's "I Want You to Be My Love" on the guitar. (That's one of my favorite songs and I gave it to him on a mix CD after we started dating.) Then he said some really great things, but for some reason I can't remember what he said. I was just smiling and smiling. So, he asked me to open the box and then he asked me to marry him. I said "yes" in a kind of high voice and he put the ring on my finger. I'm so impressed with how perfect and unique the ring is!

He also had his friends buy my favorite Korean food: dduk bokki and kimbap plus lots of other tasty things. It was so good, but we couldn't eat much because our stomachs were turning flips. I didn't have my phone with me, but we called a few people from his phone. He had called my parents earlier in the morning to ask my Dad if he could ask me to marry him. He also asked if I wanted to celebrate with people or have time to process it first, which was sweet. I don't think the magnitude had really caught up with me at that point (maybe it still hasn't!). Later on that night, we met up with some friends for wine, cake, and the food we couldn't eat before. It was really nice that he had thought to call up my friends and have them waiting to help celebrate.

I told Colin last night that since I was a pretty happy and even-keeled single person that I thought I would probably just stay that way the rest of my life. Not that I really wanted to, but just because it was usually okay with me. But, this guy has surprised me and swept me off my feet and I am so lucky, so blessed, so happy. I never expected any of this, but I am so thankful that he found me.