Engagement, v. 2.0

Friday was an interesting day.  I had just been hired for a long-term substitute position on Wednesday, so on Friday I headed down to the main office to pick up paperwork.  I then drove all over L.A. to get a physical, TB test, and live scan done.  I wasn’t feeling well, and I was very tense because I had to drive my friend’s car with a very stiff clutch and low visibility.  (My car was in the shop.)

One of my favorites 'cuz I look so happy. :)

After managing to get most things done, I came back to Master’s to get Amos.  Amos was working on a paper in the library, but he was done and we needed to pick up my car.  I figured that I would get to spend the rest of the day with him because we were both done with our other stuff.

J: “Now what?”
A: “Ummmm, I have to go home after we get your car.”

J: “Oh.  What do you have to do at home?”

A: “Stuuuuuff.”

J: -very quiet-

As I said before, I was not feeling well, plus I was tired.  I was also stressed out from driving my friend’s car and not knowing what to do about my car, which had not passed smog and needed a new catalytic converter (lame + lots of money).  I also really wanted to hang out with Amos because I don’t get to see him as much now.  So of course, I started crying (not that much, though; I was tired.)

We decided that Amos would go do his stuff (he needed “to go to Chatsworth to get something”) and I would take a nap.  Amos would pick up the bulletins we needed to stuff for church and then call me when he was back at my apartment.

So I went to bed and slept for an hour and a half, which is rare for me.  Amos called, and I went to let him in.  It turned out that my roommate had already let him, and he was sitting on the couch!  We sat on the couch and talked for a little while then Amos asked me if I wanted to go on a walk.

Awwwwwww...

Now, Amos doesn’t mind walks, but he doesn’t usually want to go when I want to go.  This was weird.

I agreed, thinking this was odd since I still wasn’t feeling quite right, but I thought I should take him up on it since he asked (and I figured he had a plan).

Our usual back and forth:

J: “What do you want to do?”

A: “Ummm, I don’t know.  What do you want to do?”

J: “Well, we could walk to the little park?”

A: “Yeah, we could do that.”
J: “How far do you want to walk?”

A: “Oh, I don’t know.”

After this usual exchange, Amos suggested we go to Bridgeport, a little residential area with a manmade lake/pond.  We’ve walked around this little lake a billion times, and I suppose we’ll walk around it a billion times more.  We sat under a little tree in September 2008 and had a two-plus hour DTR.  We didn’t want to jump into a dating relationship just to have fun.  We talked about our long-term goals and some of our responsibilities.  When Amos dropped me off at Aptartment 29, I asked him, “So, are we dating?”

We were. :)

Thus began some of the craziest years of my yet-young life.

Haha!  Protecting me from the sun...

We’ve had a lot of ups and downs.  But every once in a while we went back to Bridgeport to walk around and enjoy each other’s company.

That’s where we went on Friday.

Amos and I walked around the lake and laughed at the ducks.  We walked out on one of the piers.  By this point I was pretty sure he was going to propose. (Why didn’t he tell me what he was getting in Chatsworth?  Why were we going on a walk?  What about that e-mail I saw a few weeks ago?)  I wondered what would happen if the ring dropped into the water!  Amos did not propose there, though.

The two of us kept walking around the lake, having a good time and saying a lot of “I love you!”s.  I rather unromantically declared I needed to go to the restroom, which meant we had to go back home because there are no restrooms around, since it’s a residential area, not a park.

Awwwww, he's so cute!

We got back to the car, but Amos led me over onto the grass at the place we had had our first conversation  It was time to define a new relationship! :P

I hugged him, and he hugged me back.

I can’t remember what all was said, but I’m sure it was something like “I love you” and other sweet stuff. :)

A: “You’re my sweetheart.”

J: “Mmmmmhmmmmm.”

A: “For always?”

J: -pause- “I think so…yeah”

A: “I have something for you.”
J: “What is it?” (hehe. ;) )

A: -pause- “A present.” ;)

J: “Oh, okay.”

Amos pulled out a small box and opened it (with one hand, by the way; I was holding his other arm).  Of course there was the sparkle. :)

J: “This is crazy.”

A: “Will you marry me?”

J: “This is crazy.”
“Are you sure?”

My beautiful ring

I said yes in there somewhere and hugged Amos some more.

J: “It looks pretty.”
A: “I think it’s pretty.”
J: “Are you going to put it on?”

I took off my purity ring and stashed it in my pocket.  Amos will get to keep that one day. :)

Amos took the ring out of the box and put it on my finger, and we were engaged! :)