Engaged

I'm officially engaged. Reese & I made it official yesterday. I've got a blog so I'll chronicle it!

(To set the scene, She has NO idea I'm going to propose, let alone that I had a ring.)
Reese and I usually wake up early on Sundays and go to the park. I do some running, she does some walking and we eventually end up throwing some frisbee. This particular Sunday, we went to Rotary park in California where we first met. Its not unusual for us to go here, we spend at least a few hours there each week to get some exercise. I hid the ring in a zipper pocket of my running pants before I walked out the door of my house. When we get there, I talk with my buddy's mom who I had seen passing and Reese began her walk. A few laps into her walk she asks "Do you mind if we just skip frisbee today? It's cold." to which I reply "Nope, we're throwing some frisbee at least for a few minutes." I proceed normally. The ring is safely tucked inside my pants pocket and I run my mile. After my mile is complete, Reese and I walk toward the middle of the field. I put my hands in my pockets to make it look like I'm trying to "warm them up". I grabbed the ring and placed it in my left hand, still acting like I'm warming them up. She's still walking towards me, but I notice she's got her mitten to her mouth. "What's wrong?" I ask. She replied that she had thrown the frisbee up in the air, went to catch it, missed it and it fell and hit her square in the lip.

Precisely the opening I was looking for.

My original idea was to begin throwing the frisbee but "twist my ankle" and get down on one knee, then pop the question. It turns out I didn't need to do any such thing. She provided me the perfect opportunity to propose, herself. The frisbee had hit her upper lip, and she wanted me to to make sure there wasn't anything wrong (which there obviously wasn't) so I knelt down on one knee and told her to look up. I got the ring out, and when she looked down she was met with a "LaResa Mae Welms, will you marry me?"

I was a bit taken back by the way she replied initially, saying "Are you serious?" forcing me to push the whole ring thing harder. THEN! Then she leaves me hanging! For what felt like an eternity, she just kind of gawked and didn't say much. I could have sworn I was on my knee for an hour. Many thoughts ran through my mind. "Did I do this right?", "Is this the wrong setting?", "Why the hell isn't she saying YES?"

When I finally got the answer I was looking for (she said "yes") she flipped her wig. What started as some soft crying, exploded into what I like to call "The Hines Ward End Zone Dance." She does this bit of a jump-and-twirl dance each time Hines scores a touchdown (she's got him on her fantasy football team). So, I was relieved after she broke into dance. We exchanged some more mushy moments, while some people drove by beeping and yelling out the windows of their cars.

The best part of the whole engagement came while we were walking back to the car. She said, "This is exactly how I wanted you to propose: where we met." You couldn't spell RELIEF better if you handed me a burrito and some Pepto Bismol. All I could think at that moment was "home run".

She spent the rest of the day calling everyone on earth and letting them know that she was indeed engaged. It was a fantastic day filled with many a happy tear and many a good time. I'm really glad that I was able to do something really and truly right for that girl. Love you, Reese.