7 years ago on this very day, we became engaged! Most of the entry below is what I wrote down exactly after being engaged in my blog. I tweaked some stuff to reflect that time has passed though 🙂 . I love reflecting back on this time because it was just very happy. I’m excited to share our engagement story from 2010!
part 1: how we met
part 2: dating and falling in love
part 3: is here
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Devin’s Aunt Carolyn invited us to visit her in San Francisco. I was ecstatic because I had never been there and after having already meeting her, I knew that we were going to have a great trip. My parents called me before Devin came to pick me up and my Mom said “Congratulations!”
I was really confused. “Congratulations to what?”
“Oh, you’re engaged!” My heart sank. I explained to her that I wasn’t and it was going to be a surprise. She went on to say that Devin called to talk to Dad and I was engaged. I told her that she just ruined my surprise and hung up. Devin came to pick me up and I could see him through the door with a skip in his step, but when he opened the door and saw me he immediately said: “oh, you know… .”
I did what I think anyone would do: I began crying. I told him I didn’t want to be proposed to on this trip, especially since it was no longer a surprise if that is what he intended, and I also remember telling him I would be mad if he proposed now. I wanted to focus on just spending time with Devin’s Aunt.
This is especially humorous because on our last day of the trip, I had explained to Devin again that I was happy that he did not propose. Little did I know that that morning Devin had explained to his Aunt that he had a ring he wanted to get rid of that morning. Hashtag: Devin does what he wants.
We then left for the aquarium and spent several hours there and after leaving and driving to the golden gate bridge. We had been before on the trip, but it was so foggy that we couldn’t actually see anything that day.
I fell asleep in a comatose state in the car… and I almost slept through my engagement. If you know me well you realize how funny this is because I still get a nap as an adult daily even when I am not sleep deprived; girls gotta sleep. At the time though, I had been working two jobs while in practicum and summer classes throughout the whole summer. Most of the people I knew had quit their jobs, but I didn’t want to go in debt and chose major sleep deprivation instead. This was my only break before my fall semester began and I was so tired. Let’s add in that there is something about being a car passenger that just makes me drowsy.
We had had a fun packed day and week, but I remember feeling disappointed in how tired I was; Devin’s Aunts kept telling me to look at the pretty views out the window. I didn’t want to be a poor guest, but I would mumble something and be completely sound asleep again.
The previous day Devin and I had decided we wanted to inspect this fort when we were walking across the bridge and while I was asleep Kristy had called Carolyn so she was going to meet us on the other side of the bridge like she had previously. They finally asked me “…do you want to stay in the car or do you want to walk around?” Gratefully, in my sleep I mumbled the later.
Because of my sleep deprived state, I was completely oblivious.
Devin’s Aunt took a lot of pictures of us which didn’t phase me since she had been doing that the whole trip and then Devin and I went for a walk. We walked down to the fort and he thought I knew what was going on because I explained I was really excited to be married to him someday and I loved his family a lot. We walked around the fort taking pictures of random things and asking a stranger take a photo of us here and there.
We walked up to a hill to watch some sea lions and he said “Autumn, I really want to spend forever with you.” I hugged him and grabbed his hand and started to walk up the hill to get a better view of the bay. Devin repeated it, looked around very quickly to see if anyone was looking because he is pretty shy, and dropped to one knee.
Apparently, I never said yes to the “Will you marry me?” so he became very nervous. I think the answer was very obvious though since he had barely finished before I had stolen the ring and was hugging him.
P.S.
I think it is funny because Devin and his Dad both proposed around the same area and Devin had no clue.
P.S 2.0
Devin’s great-grandma painted a engagement/wedding present for Devin’s parents of the Golden Gate bridge because of their engagement; his great-grandpa made the frame out of food from their farm in Iowa. Since Devin’s parent’s divorce, the painting had been put into storage at a family member’s home. We received it as a wedding present and it felt like Devin’s great-grandparents were giving us the most special wedding present ever. This painting is one of the things I am most proud of in our home and hangs in our family room!
