Reminiscing about the proposal

A coworker's daughter is soon-to-be-engaged, or at least that's what we think. The daughter's boyfriend contacted my coworker and her husband a few days ago and is taking them out to dinner tonight; it's all we could talk about this afternoon every time I popped my head in her office! (Ha, I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog, considering I've never met her, so I'm not ruining any surprises!)

Naturally our conversations turned to wedding planning, which usually brings me back to the fun, once-in-a-lifetime experience of getting proposed to, myself, and the nine and a half month engagement Mark and I lived while planning the next chapter of our lives together. So fun!

I'll never forget the morning he proposed (does anyone really?) -- the worry I felt when he left the Adoration Chapel to take a phone call (at 4:30 a.m.), the confusion I felt when he strolled back (unhurriedly, so it could not have been someone sick or dying) into the chapel with his backpack and a piece of paper in his hand, the silence that fell when he told me to "come here" and held my hand to pick me up off the floor (I had been prostrated) and sit me into a chair, the love I felt when I began to read his beautifully written and sincere letter he handed me, the way my heart skipped a beat when he looked at me with focus just before he knelt down on one knee, the sound of his voice when he asked me to marry him, the embrace we shared after I said "yes," the blessings I felt as we prayed the joyful mysteries of the rosary and the enthusiasm with which I had in proceeding to call my family and best friend as we left the chapel and headed to IHOP to take in what had just taken place.

What joy I feel for my coworker this evening as she begins to dream about her daughter experiencing, in her own way, what I've just described!

How could I have been so lucky?

Aug. 29, 2008 -- the morning Mark proposed. Fancy IHOP breakfast following.