On the 21st November 2013 Toms parents, sister, my dad, his partner, our kids and I all went out for dinner to celebrate my 26th birthday. Tom kept pulling each family member away one by one and as far as I could tell, he was asking them permission/there thoughts on proposing to me. So I asked him once we were in the car what he had been doing and he came up with the greatest excuses. I was convinced he either hadn't asked there thoughts at all or he had but was going to sit on it and think about it for a little.
On the 22nd of November 2013 I dropped the kids off to be babysat at around 5pm and when I got back Tom had changed all the tyres on the car, cleaned the car top to bottom but was sitting on a camping chair in the middle of our shed looking very gloomy. I gathered by the tent at his feet that we were going camping, but it had started to rain :(
So we decided a movie and dinner was a good second option and I began to get ready. A few minutes later Tom runs in and tells me his brilliant plan. We have a station wagon and could just put the seats down and sleep in that! So I start getting ready AGAIN. It was so random and fun, we basically took nothing. Just a few blankets, a lighter and a change of clothes. The drive was awesome, we laughed, chatted, talked about how much we loved each other, the future, the past, EVERYTHING! It was so great to just have some alone time, time to remember why we fell inlove with each other.
We got to Walhalla quite late so Tom had to set up the fire in the dark but luckily it had stopped raining. We sat in front of the fire for hours, talking about everything and anything again. I felt like we were meeting each other all over again. That night will stay with me as one of my favourite nights for the rest of my life. It's one of the stories we will be telling our grand kids :)
By about 2am I was struggling to stay awake and a near by camper had asked us to quieten down lol so we went to bed. Fire still lit, and the car backed up to the fire, we jumped in the back. Tom climbed over me and grabbed something out of the front seat, which ended being a business card. Not that I could tell because I could barely see anything! He started to explain that this is not how he had planned things nor how the trip was supposed to go with the rain and all and he pretty much confused the hell out of me because we were in the dark, he was holding a card and his ramblings weren't making any sense! But finally he said the words that still make me shiver, "Would you do the honour of becoming my wife?" And in a high pitched squeal I screamed "YES!!!!!!" That was followed by "what the hell are you holding lol??"
So it turns out that at my birthday dinner he asked everyone there thoughts on marrying me and I was happy to hear that his dad said it was a great idea and everyone could see just how inlove and happy he is :) And finally he asked my dads permission which my dad replied "welcome to the family mate!" With a big hand shake :) So my suspicions were right but I had no idea that the proposal was only a day and a bit away!
So what's with the card? Well it turns out that Tom had started planing this moment just over a month ago. He had picked the ring, ordered it in and then found out they had ordered the wrong ring. So he ordered the right ring and went to pick it up while I was out dropping the kids off. Only they had sent it to the wrong store!!!!!! He was unable to get it for the big weekend, and that explained the bumbed out mood he was in when I got home to find him in his camping chair. So he had the choice to wait even longer, which he had told me was just not an option for him because he had been waiting a whole month for this moment, or he could propose to me with the card that the jewellers had given him! But what made it even more upsetting for him was that he had planned on taking me to the Thompson river the next day and proposing there, but it had started to rain again!!! So he was afraid that this would be the last romantic chance he would get.
And boy was it romantic. He felt so bad but seriously I'm still up in the clouds. It couldn't have been more perfect and the fact that he had tried so so hard to make it perfect, and in the end he couldn't hold it in any longer, was the most flattered I have ever felt! The proposal isn't about a fantastic setting or a great diamond ring, it's about love, and he opened up that night and I felt so loved that I could go the next year without a kiss and still live off that moment, knowing im loved.
November 24th 2012 came next. This is my birthday. We spent this day relaxing more than anything after our camping trip. We had toured alot of places on the way home so we were exhausted. I went to pick the kids up but when I got home, my sister and her boyfriend where sitting on my couch. Once again Tom had confused me. "We're going out for that movie and dinner, we have to do something on your birthday!" So my sister was there to baby sit for us.
By the end of our date, there was still just enough time to duck into the shops to grab a pair of sunnies. So we jumped into the car and started driving toward the shops car park. Then Jason DeRulo's "Will you marry me" came on the radio and Tom said "That was convenient" I said "Oh what, are you going to sing it to me haha?" Then he asked me to grab him a napkin from the glove box. We had used all of these to wipe the 'breath' off the windows the morning after we slept in the car so as I was saying "I don't think there's any left" I was opening the glove box. I can't even imagine what face I made in that moment. The glove box was empty, except for one opened box, holding the prettiest solitare engagement ring. The exact one I had spoken of a few months before.
He pulled the car over and put the ring on my finger. And the rest? We lived happily ever after ;) .........
Xxx
