Thus, I thought it would be a good time to share our engagement story (considering we're into the second month of this blog and all).
Adam and I started dating in the fall of 2003 when we were both juniors in high school. Having started dating so young, we knew we weren't going to get married right out of high school, nor did we want to.
Prom 2004 (the only year we went)
In our first few years of dating, I tended to be the responsible one: going to work, going to school and sometimes playing a mother role for Adam. Adam's parents were going through a divorce during the majority of his senior year and not having one or both parents around to cook dinner, or even buy groceries really kind of threw him off. He knew that he could get away with not going to school.
As a result, I didn't always feel like the relationship was mutual. I told Adam pretty early on, after we got serious, that I wanted him to graduate from college before we got married. I didn't want to make the same mistake my parents had done by getting married at 19. It was also because it seemed like most people get married around that point in their life and partially as a safe-guard against a permanent parasitic relationship (and I mean that in the most affectionate way).
So fast forward to Spring 2008. Adam was struggling with school and I was about to start student-teaching. So as a way to give himself a break and also help pay our bills, Adam ended up leaving school and going to work full-time painting houses with a friend of his. My graduation came and went after that semester and I ended up getting a teaching position in the school where I was student-teaching. Adam ended up going back to school and changing his major from electrical engineering to computer programming (best decision ever!).
Graduation...with honors yo!
I never realized, back at the ripe-old age of 17, how long it would take Adam to finish school. And honestly, it wasn't really a problem either, I just wanted him to be happy and successful. It wasn't until this past summer that I really started getting wedding fever. Adam was doing really well in school, his graduation was sight (Spring of 2013!), not to mention that a lot of my friends were getting married.
So I started hinting about it. Making jokes, looking at wedding rings online, assuring Adam that it was "okay" to have an engagement last longer than a year. I honestly thought my comments were going in one ear and out the other. Turns out a couple of them might've stuck because around Thanksgiving him and his brother went ring shopping.
I never had really found a ring that I was in love with online. I knew that I wanted a circular stone, but other than that, I was completely undecided. Adam had actually looked into my computer's browser history to see the rings that I had been looking at before they went shopping. Looking back now, I'm really glad that I didn't have my heart set on anything in particular because it makes me like the ring I got so much more because it had no expectations to live up to.
Adam proposed on Christmas Eve of 2011. It really surprised me because it's not really his style to go where LOTS of people have gone before with the whole holiday engagement thing. However, with the way he proposed, there was really no other time to do it. And Christmas Eve is always something that we really enjoy together. We often drink champagne and listen to Christmas music with the light from the Christmas tree (we even brought our mattress out to the living room one year!). Our Christmas Day is always so busy, with visiting Mom, Grandpa, Dad, Adam's Mom and Adam's Dad all separately, we run the entire day. So for us, Christmas Eve is the chance that we can take to really soak in the holidays, give each other our presents and just enjoy each other's company (which is what I really think the holidays should be all about!).
So for next time, the actual proposal...
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