Jumping On The Engagement Bandwagon!!!!!!!

There are seven exclamation points there because it was our seven month anniversary when Rob proposed.  Yep, that’s right.  Rob proposed!  I’d gone to Domino’s that day and was at the Matawan store for about an hour when PJ said that Jane said I had to go to Marlboro.  Yeah, that store I was transferred to that I quit after a week at?  Bleh . . .  Anyway, it was only for a day, so despite HATING that store with something akin to a burning passion, I left Matawan and drove over there.  I was there until ten, then gave the money, counted my tips, and came home.  Didn’t get there until about ten-thirty and I knew Rob had his orientation for Wal-mart the next morning, so I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him before he had to go home for sleep.  Hence another reason why I hated going over there that day.

 But I made it home and Rob said something about realizing that day was our anniversary.  I asked him when he realized it and he told me around four.  I’d said that was better than me, I hadn’t realized it till around seven.  He had something in his hands, behind his back, and I knew he wanted to give whatever it was to me then.  But something in me sensed that this was important, so I insisted he let me go up and take a shower and change.  To quote me, "I wanna be clean!"  So I grabbed my jeans with the buckles on the legs and my new black "Bad Witch" T-shirt that I got from a very Wizard of Oz oriented shop in the Kansas airport, and took a shower.

When I came down, my mom was sitting on the one couch with a camera.  Hmm . . . conspicuous much?  Anyway, I sat on the one end of the other couch and my mom made me move to the opposite end.  Again, conspicuous much?  I finally slid down to the other end and Rob began a speech.  Lol.  I wish I remembered all of what he said, but I do remember the end: "We’ve had so many memories over the past seven months.  I hope we’ll make a lot more in years to come– (takes out ring box) –so would you be my wife?"

I admit, I didn’t have the whole tears and happy gasping and all that kind of reaction.  As soon as he started talking, I knew what was coming.  We’ve talked about it before and such, and plus with my mom sitting there with a camera, I knew it had to be something big.  Ironically enough, I kept telling myself in the shower to not make a big thing of it, it’s probably just some cute, thoughtful gift, like that fiber optic pen he got me a few months ago.

The first thing I said was, "Where did you get this?"  Cuz when I’d mentioned the idea that Rob and I might get married to my mom, she said I should tell him not to spend an insane amount on the ring, because she had one that was given to her from a great grandparent or something, and insinuated that if Rob wanted to use it, he could.

But he gave me a ring with a quarter carat diamond in the middle, with three rows on either side of even smaller diamonds, and it has a silver band.  I love it.  I had to get it resized, cuz the only ones he found there were ones that he could fit on his pinky and somehow, we’re the same ring size, at least for pinky and ring fingers.

So the first couple of days, I wore it on my pinky.  Then Tuesday, I took it over and had it resized at the jewelry store in Airport Plaza.  They resized it with a ten carat piece of white gold.  And the guy did a really great job.  I gotta go over there and thank him one day soon.

So yeah.  I’m engaged.  It’s still kind of a heady feeling.  Like I truly have passed over the threshold between childhood and adulthood.  I don’t know, there’s just something more mature and heady-feeling, being able to say "finace and fiancee," instead of just "boyfriend and girlfriend."

We’ve got the wedding set for sometime in Decmeber of 2008.  It’s gonna be a Christmas themed wedding.  Obviously, I’m gonna have a white dress, and we’ve basically already got the wedding party.  Dolly, obviously, is my matron of honor.  We promised one another that when we were kids and I’m keeping to it.  Then, Melanie, Jess (yes, you from Open Diary,) Stephanie, and Veronica, (Rob’s younger sisters,) will hopefully be the bridesmaids.  His side, he’s got his younger brother, Jonathan, then Ryan, then these two guys who’re friends of his and in a band, both named Frank.  And he’s yet to decide on a fifth person.  ::Sighs::  Oh, well.  We have time.  Maybe when we go down there, and he and Zeb meet, if they get along, he could be the fifth peron.  (Cuz, Dolly?  I’m already hoping that Bobby’ll be our ring bearer, and I’d just feel really bad about leaving Zeb out.)

Anyway, the guys are gonna be in white tuxes, the girls in green dresses and shoes.  I decided I’m gonna have a bouquet with a red rose and two white carnations, (in tribute to Nana,) and of course, some greenery behind it, tied with green and red curled ribbons and a piece of white lace tied in a bow.

Then for the reception, we’re gonna have tables with either green or red tablecloths and silver garland around the edges.  And little Christmas trees with tinsel and decorations for the centerpieces.

Melanie gave me a wedding planner when we hung out this past Monday.  (She got like, six at her engagement party.)  I’ve paged through it and there’s so much to think about!  But I think we can pull it off.

Yeah, our move to Kansas is definite.  Rob and I leave October 9th.  We’re not sure yet whether the wedding’s gonna take place in Kansas or up here in Jersey, yet, though.  Kansas would definitely be cheaper for us, but then there’s the question of everyone we want to invite.  Cheaper for us to go with Kansas, yeah.  For the rest of them, on the other hand . . .

So we definitely have a lot to consider.

On the upside, Rob got bloodwork and another EEG done, so with any luck, his medication can go down.  Then once we find a neurologist near us in Kansas, they can learn his history and all that, and hopefully, bring his doseage down more till he’s off those things.  I’m aware that this’ll take months, if not a year or more, but I’m also hopeful that it can be done.  The only thing I’m gonna really worry about is the side effects that can hit him while his body regulates itself to the lowering of medicine going through his system.  With any luck, though, that’ll be happening while he’s in the passenger seat with us driving halfway across the country.  Because then it’ll just be a matter of us pulling over if need be.

Lol, I already told him I was gonna be overprotective of him during taht time period.  Oddly enough, he looked at me and said thank you.  I suppose my lack of freak-out really did have an effect on him.  I’m glad that I could prove that I can handle this stuff to him.

He has a follow up appointment with his neurologist at the end of September.  I suppose that’s when we’ll find out if his medication’s gonna change and by how much.

Anyway, that’s about it for now.  Hopefully this entry’ll save, because the la

st time I wrote this out, it didn’t.  Here’s hoping!