Our Own Engagement Memories

Reading this engagement story brought to mind my own.

While our story doesn't have any enlightening lines, there was much hidden emotion, deeply hidden, and a few lines we'll never forget.

We'd been dating a year, and we were in love. Like many couples we had a silly little thing we'd do. One of us would ask the other,

"How much do you love me?"

The other would squish their fingers together tightly and say,

"This much. All the way around the world and back together."

Yes, we were sickeningly, stomach churning, hot flash, heart racing in love. My husband had decided to pop the question Thanksgiving weekend. We were spending my first Thanksgiving away from home with his family, and I was duly nervous. We celebrated a huge traditional Southern Living magazine type of feast at my husband's Aunt and Uncle's home, in the dining room that had been featured in an interior design magazine. I, the farm girl who took Thanksgiving scraps out to the garbage pile for the dogs, was totally at ease.

Uh, yeah.

Actually, I was doing just fine until dinner started. After grace, Hon's aunt looked down the table and asked my love,

"Are there any announcements?"

Dead silence.

Followed by, "No, there are not."

This uncomfortable moment would have been forgotten had my love not gritted his teeth through dinner and spent the rest of the evening furious that his aunt would ask such a pointed question. I couldn't understand why he was so furious. If he called his aunt rude once, he called her rude 20 times. It was unsettling. Especially since I had thought we were definitely moving towards engagement. Needless to say I cried myself to sleep that night thinking we would never get engaged. And oh, my Lord, did that mean, he didn't love me like I thought he did?

The next day I asked to be taken back to my family's farm a day early. We had planned to visit my family over the weekend, but after the joy of the Thanksgiving debaucle, I was ready to see my family and get some dressing leftovers before they were gone. A girl's got to cope.

Soon after we arrived, I was inside talking with my mom when we noticed Hon out at the woodshed following my dad. My dad was spending a beautiful day outside chopping wood. Hon was right on his heels, hands in his pockets, not really helping, and we couldn't figure out what in the world was doing. I would later find out he was asking for my hand in marriage.

"Um, Sir, I'd like to ask Katie to marry me. And we'd like to have your blessing?"

My dad picked up an ax, raised in high in the air...

and split a huge log clean in two while the lack of his reply hung in the air. Hon, at this point decided asking for a girl's hand in marriage at a woodshed is a very, very bad idea indeed.

"Well, I would have run you off by now, if you weren't okay," my dad finally replied.

??????

Hon was not entirely sure that was a, "Yes." Did that mean he could ask me? My dad was still holding the ax. Was it safe to ask again for clarification? Hon, as always, was persistent.

"Sir, does that mean yes?"

As my dad raised the ax again...

To be continued....