8.20.2010

Lucky Number 13

Thirteen years ago today, Evan asked me to be his wife.
If you haven't heard the story of our engagement, you're in for a treat.


Evan did everything perfectly that day and I pretty much tried to mess the whole thing up.
But I'm glad he was patient with me though.
My life with him is nothing short of a dream.



Here's the story:
Evan and I started dating around Thanksgiving of 1996.
It's strange, but I have no idea of the date we first went out.
But anyway, I knew that he was the man for me almost immediately.
I had never dated someone as thoughtful and sweet as he was/is.
And he was pretty darn cute too.



Flash forward to the next summer.
Evan was working up at the Mall of Georgia for the DOT.
I was at home in Fayetteville.
We saw each other often, but I had no plans of seeing him on the night of August 20th.
I felt awful. I don't remember exactly what was wrong, I think I had a really bad headache and just felt icky.
So I was not real thrilled when Evan called to ask me if I would meet him in Atlanta.
Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing him. But it was a long drive from Fayetteville and I just didn't feel like driving.
But he convinced me to make the drive.


The plan was to meet at the Varsity since that was right off of the interstate.
We met in the parking deck of the Varsity and Evan was quick to convince me that he didn't want ice cream from the Varsity, we had to go to Zesto's.
So we got into his car and drove to Zesto's.
The place we first met officially the year before.
Evan had it all planned out and I still had no clue my life was about to change.



I ordered a Rocky Road Arctic Swirl and Evan had his usual Nana Nilla Arctic Swirl.
And strangely enough, I was told by Evan we had to sit on the silver stool and the gold stool (the place we were sitting when we first met).
At this point, I still had no clue what was going on.
I just knew I had some ice cream and a date.
Things seemed to be pretty normal.



The next detail is a little foggy. I can't remember if I went to the bathroom or Evan went to the bathroom. I think at some point we both went, but I just can't remember the order.
Regardless, we were apart for a few minutes.
At this point, Evan had taken out "the ring" and placed it on his pinky.
When we finally were both sitting back on our respective stools, I saw the funniest looking man and I thought Evan needed to see this guy. The guy looked like one of those clay jars that you see at folk art festivals.




For some reason, this struck me as funny.
Evan didn't seem to be interested in looking at the man.
I now know why.
Poor guy was nervous and I was ruining his perfect proposal.

But we quickly got back on track.
And Evan looked over at me, said "Do you remember when we were here that first night and I asked you if you would marry me?"
I still having no idea what was going on but I said "yeah".
He then said, "Well, will you marry me?" and put his hand up with the ring.
Wow!
I have NEVER been more surprised in my entire life.
He really did a great job of making it special and unexpected.
And I'm still not sure I said "Yes". I just said, "Oh sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart".
And after we finished at Zesto's, Evan was nice enough to drive down to Fayetteville to show my parents the ring and let them know I was officially engaged!

And so began our journey into life together.
Perfect love that started in an ice cream and hot dog joint.
Happy August 20th Evan Bryant! You make me the happiest girl alive.

PS- My very thoughtful husband carries around in his wallet the laminated receipt from the night he asked me to marry him. Proof that he treasures that moment. I could not ask for more.

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