I'm down in Haiti and have been for 6 days now. It's still a little surreal to me that Eric proposed last week but I've loved wearing his ring this week, especially when I got some proposals from some Haitian guys when I was at the hardware store yesterday.
I got on a plane about 40 hours after I got engaged and haven't had a ton of free time but have a few minutes now and thought I would jot down the proposal story for you.
I'll confess - we did things way out of order. We picked a wedding date, booked our honeymoon, and I even bought a wedding dress weeks before he proposed. I knew he had a ring and I knew it was coming but I just didn't know when. And I also knew that my life is always crazy with coming and going and once the summer started rolling, I wouldn't have much time to do those things.
I honestly didn't think he would do it before I went to Haiti. I had hoped he would but had resigned myself to waiting until sometime in July when I was back and I was OK with that.
But he had something else in mind.
I spent Tuesday, June 18 up in Estes with Eric, his sweet daughter Anya, and his parents who were in CO for the week. They were staying in a little cabin with a beautiful deck right over the Big Thompson River just outside of town.
We (all 5 of us) spent the day picnicking in Estes, eating Dairy Queen ice cream cones, and taking a pontoon boat out on Lake Estes. Anya was ecstatic when her grandpa let her drive the pontoon. It was an awesome day, very relaxing and a good introduction to Eric's parents, who I hadn't met before.
We took everyone back to the cabin around 4:00 and Eric suggested we have some Robin and Eric time on our own. I was convinced he wasn't going to propose until July so I was completely oblivious and not suspecting anything. He suggested we go up into Rocky Mountain National Park and walk around Bear Lake. I thought that sounded like a great idea.
I will mention that I did watch him back at the cabin to see if he went into the bedroom to put anything in his pocket. I was secretly hoping he would propose :) But he didn't even go into the bedroom before we left for our alone time.
Little did I know he had been carrying the ring in his pocket all day!
We got up to Bear Lake and there were about a gazillion people there, but we still managed to break off from the crowds and as we starting walking around the lake, he motioned to a little side trail that went down to the water. There was a bench there so we sat down and just enjoyed the view.
I was resting my head on his shoulder, feeling grateful to have him in my life, when he gently slipped his arm out and started sliding down on one knee to the ground. He said, "I'm sure you knew this was coming," but I didn't! I was stunned as he took my hand in his hand and told me he loved me and asked me to marry him.
I exclaimed "YES!" and threw my arms around his neck before he even had a chance to get the ring out of his pocket. I will never forget that moment of anticipating seeing my ring for the first time. I had asked him for a pearl ring with small diamonds around it because I love pearls and pearl is my birthstone, and I think they are very classy and beautiful. Also, with as much as I travel to poor areas, I wanted a ring I could still wear that didn't have a huge diamond attached to it. I'm also a pragmatist at heart, and while I know Eric would have gotten me a big old diamond if I had asked for one, I also feel like there are more useful things that much money can be spent on. I wasn't comfortable having something super flashy on my hand when I spend time with people who struggle to know where their next meal is going to come from.
So Eric brought a beautiful pearl ring out of his pocket. It's sitting in a setting of white gold with 25 tiny diamonds encompassing it, so it still sparkles in the sunlight. My favorite flower is a sunflower and this particular ring was called The Sunflower Ring on the website he got it on, which confirmed to him that it was the perfect ring for me.
I love how he took the time to even find that kind of detail in this ring. It very much reflects his tender heart towards me and his desire to know and understand me. It's one of the many reasons I said yes without hesitation.
We spent a few more minutes at the lake, I cried a few joyful tears, and we returned to the cabin where his parents were making us all a delicious steak dinner. They were in on the proposal and did an amazing job not letting on.
Anya is pretty excited we're getting married, as evidenced by the picture she presented to me when we first met, a picture she drew of me as a bride and her as the flower girl, although she wasn't sure who the groom was in her picture at that time. She's been anticipating this news for weeks and is ready to be the most important flower girl in the wedding (there are several others in addition to her.) She was dismayed that we hadn't already gotten married in the two weeks that went by when she didn't see me.
I let her try the ring on and she squealed and jumped around when we explained to her what it meant. I am just as excited to have her in my life from now on as I am to have Eric.
We've picked October 12 for our wedding day, because that will be the one year anniversary of when we were introduced to each other on eharmony. We're still figuring out the details of the day but most likely it will be a small wedding in Nebraska.
I continue to be humbled by how God has so graciously granted this desire of my heart that I had long given up hope of happening. Eric matches me in ways that no one else ever has and even though we are also very different in some ways, it's undeniable that God is joining us together.
I'm so grateful for him and eagerly anticipate spending the rest of life with him, and I love the wonderful and beautiful surprise his proposal was!
