Four years ago, Joe and I had been dating for almost four months and had been talking marriage for two. I was not so patiently waiting for the day when he'd officially ask me to be his wife and finally put a ring on my finger, and I knew the proposal was coming soon, I just didn't know when or where it would happen. Both of us were in agreement that a proposal on Valentine's Day was cliche and wasn't going to happen, but on our date that Valentine's night, things happened that made me think Joe had decided otherwise, and I had reached that crazy girlfriend stage where I wanted to be engaged and officially able to plan our wedding so badly, I almost didn't care.
Four years ago, Joe and I had been dating for almost four months and had been talking marriage for two. I was not so patiently waiting for the day when he’d officially ask me to be his wife and finally put a ring on my finger, and I knew the proposal was coming soon, I just didn’t know when or where it would happen. Both of us were in agreement that a proposal on Valentine’s Day was cliche and wasn’t going to happen, but on our date that Valentine’s night, things happened that made me think Joe had decided otherwise, and I had reached that crazy girlfriend stage where I wanted to be engaged and officially able to plan our wedding so badly, I almost didn’t care.
Back story: I introduced two of my friends to each other in late December. A while later, they went on a date to The Spaghetti Factory and that was the night that they decided to date each other exclusively. I had never been to The Spaghetti Factory, but Joe’s family raved about it all the time and I’m a huge fan of pasta, so Joe and I talked often about going there on a date sometime in the future. The night that my two friends upgraded their relationship after their date there, I joked to Joe that maybe we could go on a date there and end the night engaged.
^^ This was taken a week or two before Valentine’s ^^
On Valentine’s Day a few weeks later, Joe picked me up for our date and I gave him his present. The only thing I remember getting him was a massive blanket for cuddling with me, but I remember that I had a lot of fun putting the gift together. We started driving (I had no idea where Joe was taking me) and a few minutes later Joe said, “I have something for you too. You may or may not get it tonight, I haven’t decided yet.” I was a little surprised because I’d told him that because he was saving for a ring, he shouldn’t give me a gift on Valentine’s and we’d just consider the ring my gift when he proposed. When we pulled up to Trolley Square and Joe told me that we were finally going on our date to The Spaghetti Factory, my mind started racing.
From the minute we got out of the car, so many thoughts were going through my head. I’d been joking for weeks that we should go to The Spaghetti Factory on the night that we got engaged, we’d agreed that Joe wouldn’t get me a gift for the holiday and instead put that money toward my ring, and he had told me that he had something for me that I may or may not get tonight. I was sure that meant that he had my ring and was trying to decide if he should be cliche and propose on Valentine’s Day or make me wait a little longer. I remember almost asking him on our walk into the restaurant if that thing that he had for me was a ring and I almost asked him a couple of different times during dinner but changed my mind last minute. Dinner was delicious, the company was amazing and I was trying not to read too much into every little thing that Joe did and just enjoy our time together.
After dinner, we went back to Joe’s parent’s house to watch a movie (quality time, quality conversation, and cuddling. The best kind of date night!) By the end of the night, I knew that I wasn’t getting my ring, but I still really wanted to know if he had it because I’m curious about things, so I finally just came out and asked him. I told him everything that I’d been thinking all night and then crazily told him that if he wanted to be cliche after all and propose on the most romantic night of the year, I would be totally fine with that because it was going to drive me insane if I knew or even just assumed that he had the ring and had to anticipate the proposal happening any day. Joe laughed at me, told me that he’d be right back and went downstairs to his room. Cue my mind starting to race again (I over-analyze things way too much sometimes). By the time Joe came back upstairs, I was thinking rationally again and realized that I really didn’t want our proposal to happen that night just because I was an impatient girlfriend, but it was too late. Joe got down on one knee in front of me and pulled something out from behind his back….
Earlier that day, his mom had been preparing little gifts for the grand kids and joked that it would be funny if Joe gave me this clear ring pop for Valentine’s. Joe took it but wasn’t sure if he’d actually use it or not and I guess he decided, after my crazy thinking and impatience, that it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I was so mad at myself for reading into things so much all night, but we had a good laugh and it made a really great memory! This was I guess technically the second time that Joe had fake proposed to me (the first time I told him no). I’ve kept that ring pop in my box of treasures, although, I discovered when we moved this summer that at some point it melted in its little box, so it looks like a half eaten ring pop now, but I can’t bear to throw it away because it’s part of a fun memory in our relationship and I want to be able to show my kids when I tell them the story. (Because apparently pictures aren’t good enough?)
Looking back on stories from our relationship is one of my favorite things to do!! I love remembering the memories that we made, it’s um…entertaining to think about how crazy I am sometimes and I’m always reminded of all of the reasons why Joe is the perfect man for me!