I wasn't referring to the ring itself, but the situation. We had talked about marriage for so long and now I was transitioning from girlfriend to fiancé. Marriage was no longer a fictitious concept. We are getting hitched! Well, not immediately. In fact, Sunday marked exactly 11 months until our wedding day.r
But let me back up. Before I said yes, Roger had called me to figure out our 4th of July plans. This year, it was smack dab in the middle of the week. He had just moved to Arlington, Virginia, and was unfamiliar with the city, so he offered to come my way and cele ate the holiday in Annapolis. I said that I didn't want to make a fuss of the fourth. It was on a Wednesday, so no reason to go crazy fighting traffic and attempt to get a good view of the fireworks display I'd seen for years. Roger was fine with my decision, but I noticed that he sounded unusually chipper on the phone. He told me that he wanted to do something we used to do... share a glass of wine on the beach I grew up playing at, and later, inging the boy of my dreams to. At the time, I thought it was a nice idea, but I wasn't married to it.
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Then, just a few days before the holiday, Roger called again to confirm that we were on for dinner. I told him of course, and I was really looking forward to a low-key evening. In the meantime, my parents were my newest houseguests due to the Derecho storm that had knocked out their power. The morning of our date, my dad was acting funny, cracking all kinds of jokes about Roger and me. He kept asking if he and my mother were going to be in the way, and why don't they just book a hotel room since Roger was staying over. I didn't think much of it because my father is the eternal jokester but at the same time, I started to feel giddy about the night ahead. I went so far as to have a mental conversation about the possibilities of the evening. I assessed the facts.
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Roger and I are together. We've been this way for years. He just moved 3 hours closer to me – granted, his job forced him to, but we had often discussed what it would be like living in the same zip code. We weren't there yet, but Arlington to Annapolis was a vast improvement.
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On top of our dating history and living near one another, I kept noticing what a good mood Roger was in. And my parents seemed unusually happy, considering the hellacious week we just had with the record- eaking destructive storm, 100-degree days, and I was still recovering from the exhausting afternoon and evening I spent helping Roger move into a high-rise where the AC was oken.
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Anyway, giddy or not, I was just looking forward to spending quality time with my boyfriend. He arrived about 30 minutes before our dinner reservation, but I was running late, which caused us to be late for our reservation. On top of that, service was slow. Yet, Roger never oke his cool. After dinner, I insisted we stop for bug spray. That turned into a 20-minute errand with me becoming distracted by the beach balls and water guns and everything else Giant Supermarket had put on display for summer fun. At this point, Roger started to get antsy and asked me to hurry up. We finally arrived at my parents' house around dusk. The whole neighborhood was still without power but there was a soft glow from the setting sun and the fireflies were coming out to play. Roger unloaded his trunk and grabbed his backpack plus two grocery bags and I just kind of stared. What's all that for? He quickly muttered that the bags were necessary for carrying a blanket, the wine, glasses, and "stop asking questions."
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At this point, the sun had completely set so it was difficult to see through the ush. But just ahead, I saw the most beautiful nature scene and I whispered to Roger to stop walking. Before him stood a deer and a fox, and just then, a great heron flew above us. It was magical and a great foreshadowing of things to come. The air was perfect, not muggy, not cold, and there was slight eeze that accompanied the evening. I was wearing a black linen dress and after I kicked off my sandals, I took my seat on the towel Roger had laid out for us.
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He poured us each a glass of red wine and we began to reminisce about our time as a couple. We watched practice fireworks ighten the sky in Galesville and at that moment, Roger asked me if I still wanted to marry him one day. Of course I did. Then he turned to his right and rummaged through one of his bags. When he twisted back towards me, he had a black box in his hand. I started choke up knowing what would happen next. "Will you marry me, Alexandra?" I said yes and hugged him tightlym taking in the moment that we were sharing together. Surreal is the best way to describe our romantic July 3rd evening and now, every day I look down at my hand and admire the elegant ring he chose for me, but not because it's striking and classic but because of what it promises - laughter, love and a long life with my best friend.
