Engagement Story

Yes, yes, yes. If you haven't heard yet, I am engaged! I suppose you want the details of how it went down; right? Well, sadly enough, Zach tells the story waaaay better than I do. But since he isn't going to write the post, you have to suffer through my version.

I'll give you a little back info first. We've known we wanted to marry each other for quite some time now, so it wasn't a complete shock when he finally busted out the ring. We went to a jewelry store that Brad got Holly's ring made at, and we thought we'd do the same. That's right, we designed my engagement ring. Which translates to waiting what felt like a lifetime for the ring to be made! Neither one of us knew the exact date of when it was going to be ready, so I suppose that was really hard for him to make any sort of plan as to how to do it. Well, we knew it was going to take "about a month" to be made, but that was it. Of course while we were at the store all these guys were coming in saying how excited they were because the ring was done early and the girl had no idea. Naturally I'm going to assume they say it's going to take a long time so everyone is pleasantly surprised when it's done "early." That wasn't our case at all. It was actually more than a month. After about 2 weeks of waiting for the ring, I was anticipating it just about every weekend. Let me tell you, that sucked! So weekend after weekend I was slightly disappointed in the jewelry store, and I decided to forget about it, well, as much as I could anyway.

We were at Zach's house on Thursday and I caught him writing an email to the guy. I freaked out! I wanted to see what he was writing. Of course I couldn't get his phone away from him. So he told me, "okay, okay, I'll tell you! I called him on Tuesday and he told me it was going to be delayed again because they couldn't find something and had calls out to other jewelry stores trying to get it." I believed him because they had been delayed before for other reasons.

On Friday, October 22nd, we were just doing the usual, hanging out. We ran a few errands and then we were wondering what else we were going to do on a Friday night. Zach suggested that we go to Little Corona in Corona del Mar, and then to the Montage in Laguna Beach to climb around on the rocks and maybe catch the sunset. I didn't really think anything of it.

We went to Little Corona and decided to leave for The Montage. But Zach forgot his sandals at my house, so we had to go back to get those. It was kinda convenient because I was able to grab a towel, different sandals that were better for climbing, and he grabbed his sweatshirt too. As I was coming outside, I noticed that he went to his car and took something out and put it in his sweatshirt. I thought that was a little suspicious. But I thought, no...he doesn't have the ring, it's delayed again. Stupid. I tried to forget about it because I didn't want to be disappointed again. Oh, did I mention that Zach loved to fake me out? He did that once. At the Jack Johnson concert. The date of the concert fit in perfectly with the "but it could be done sooner than they said." At the end of the concert I was walking ahead of him and he said my name, and I turned around and he got to one knee....yeah, my heart started racing, and he said, "Will you...wait for me while I tie my shoe?" Even though I knew from the very beginning that he didn't have it, I was still like "holy crap, is this really happening?" I wasn't very happy with his little stunt. I knew he didn't have it then because he would have done it way sooner than as we are walking out.

We got to The Montage and I kept asking Zach if he wanted me to carry either his sweatshirt or the towel. At first he said no, which made me think he actually had the ring. Later I asked again, and he handed me the towel. I think he was on to me. I was a little sad because I thought, "dangit, he doesn't have it." So finally it was nearing sunset, and we climbed to the top of this huge rock.

We were up there just talking and watching the sunset, took some pictures with our phones, and of course exchanged mushy words that I won't repeat here (you're welcome.)

After the pictures, he turned around and got to both knees.

M: "ummm what are you doing? Stop it right now! You're freaking me out. That's not funny. Seriously, sit down." (You can picture me freaking out and talking super fast, can't you?)

Z: "Why is it freaking you out?"

M: "Seriously, not funny or nice. Sit down!"

Z: "Would it freak you out more if I did this?" (says as he is getting on just one knee.)

M: "Are you kidding me?! Are you kidding me?! Stop!"

Z: "What about if I did this?" He reaches into his sweatshirt and pulls out a ring box.

M: "Uhhh...are you kidding me?! Are you kidding me?! Are you kidding me?!" (repeat about 50 times.) I realized that I sounded like a broken record, but I couldn't seem to stop. It didn't feel real. I waited my whole life for that moment, and no way it could possibly happen right then. Once I kinda stopped freaking out...

Z: "I'm not kidding. Will you marry me?"

M: "Are you kidding me?!?! Holy crap. Of course I will marry you!"

~End Scene~

The date is set. February 2011. Can't freaking wait! Oh, by the way, I still get to be MEP. Mary Ellen Parker. Who likes the sound of that??

And here are a few more Mary & Zach pictures for your viewing pleasure: