Happy Engagement Day

Two years ago, a very nervous Derrick and a very cute nephew of mine changed my life. On October 18, 2008, two years to the day after we met, Derrick asked me to marry him. I remember being in a horrible mood that day because Derrick was out late with his friends the night before and I was stuck at home cleaning and preparing for his sister to be in town. I don't recall Derrick acting weird or anything. I was probably too irritated to notice. As it turned out, he was out late with friends making the final arrangements for the proposal. And he was a nervous wreck the day of. Needless to say, I felt kind of bad for my attitude afterward.

When Derrick's sister and brother-in-law finally pulled up, Derrick said he would go down and meet them. This was not unusual since the apartment we were in had secure entries and guests had to be buzzed in. When he came back up, he knocked on the door. That wasn't unusual either. The door always stayed locked and he may have not taken his key. I've locked myself out of that apartment a few times back in the day.

I opened the door and my nephew was standing there with a piece of paper. He handed me the paper and as I tried to make out what it was, Derrick got down on his knee. The paper turned out to be the sign-in sheet I used when I first interviewed at the job we ended up working at together. That interview was how we first met. There was my name and the date of October 18. When I finally looked up from the paper, I saw Derrick holding out a ring. In a shaky voice, he asked me to marry him. So what did I do? What any girl would do when her boyfriend asked her to be his forever. I ran to the bedroom and cried.

I'm sure Derrick was confused. But I was just so excited and shocked and surprised that I just ran. A few minutes later I came back out and said "yes." Later, we all went out to dinner to celebrate and I begin planning what would turn out to be one of the best days of my life. It's crazy to think that we've been married for almost six months. This time last year, I kept telling myself we'd be married in almost six months. Those six months felt like forever, but these six months have flown by.

I'm excited for the next six months and the years to come. Happy Engagement Day, hun!

Photo by Rebecca Peters of Rebecca Peters Photography