Something Good This Way Comes: gosh, it's a beautiful night...(the moment)

So, we had a long conversation, went on our first ring adventure, and found it. The ring of my dreams. It was utterly and completely me, and as much as the jeweler showed us other rings, I just kept putting this one back on.

It was a yellow/fancy yellow/canary diamond- call it what you want- it was perfect and totally ME! Yellow is my favorite color, so naturally, that made sense. Beyond that, it was a radiant cut- the perfect mesh between princess and brilliant, in my opinion. It was also pretty unique and complete unexpected, just like ME!

Canary like these little guys!

I fell in love. Mr. Pencils could tell. The jeweler just kept lowering the price; going in the back, coming back with more knocked off. Then more. Then some more because our ship was set to sail in forty five minutes. I was beginning to get uncomfortable....was Mr. Pencils about to buy my ring?!?! I shouldn't be here! Ack! Get me out of here.

When Mr. Pencils whipped out his phone to call his financial advisor (yes, he dorkily has one of those) and I knew it was time to go. Mr. Pencils' little bro took me back to the ship and I proceeded to hyperventilate, ask "is he really buying it? No, he can't be buying. Is he buying it?!?!" while little bro and I went to a buffet to pass time.

Thirty minutes later, Mr. P was back on the boat, with the story that he got stuck in a long line to board back onto the ship.

Yeah, right.

Then, a day passed and no proposal. The final formal dinner passed, and no proposal. The cruise ended, and...no proposal. We had three days alone on the road trip, and no proposal. We visited Memphis, Little Rock, and came home and...no proposal. We looked at ten other jewelry stores and no proposal.

I was getting sad, worried, and a wee bit irritated. Did he buy it? What if he didn't buy it? He bought it, right? Why wasn't he proposing?

I mean, there were quite a few beautiful opportunities on board our ship:

As we glimpsed the beautiful glaciers from our balcony....

or at sunset, over the expansive, turquoise ocean...

You may have thought I kept these queries to myself. Of course I didn't- I asked Mr. Pencils every single one of them nearly every day for two straight weeks. Yes, two straight weeks. I'm not proud of this, but in the spirit of honesty, I am disclosing every detail- romantic and ridiculous.

So, I decided to give up and realize that he wasn't going to propose until he wanted to, and at this point, he was probably waiting to do it on the beach in North Carolina, so my parents could be there. Le sigh. So, I officially let the issue go as we drove to Ocean City, Maryland for the annual beach trip with his family. What is it that they say- life happens when you stop expecting it? I may have just made that up...but, just know, I truly had stopped thinking that it could happen soon. I relaxed.

Our first night at the beach- Saturday, July 26th- was our typical first beach night. We got Alaska Stand burgers and Sweet William's ice cream. We played Skee-Ball, and Mr. Pencils took the lead on our ongoing competition (he beat me 4 times that night!). His family disappeared, but I thought nothing of it, as people often leave each other during beach week to go off on their own. We started walking back to our hotel, via the beach, as we have done every year previously. The conversation went a lot like this:

Man Pencils: "Gosh, it's a beautiful night! Look at all the stars!"

Me: "Yeah, it's pretty."

Mr. P: "Such perfect weather too, not too windy or humid"

Me: "Yeah, it's great"

Mr. Pencils: "Ooh, listen, you can hear the bagpiper we saw on the boardwalk earlier today!"

Me: "Oh, yeah, how fun."

Mr. P: "Want to sit down and listen a while?"

Me: "Sure, I guess so. Will you hold my ice cream bowl? It's empty now."

Then, Mr. Pencils looked at me and said "remember when you said how great it would be if I proposed on the beach?" Then he said all of the things a girl wants to hear, followed by the best four words: "Will you marry me?"

From that moment on, all I could muster was "No, no, no, no, no" in disbelief. Eventually, I eeked out an "Of course!" and he presented me with the first ring I had ever put on my finger.

I now present to you, dear friends, my engagement ring. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!