An Engagement Story
There have been a lot of engagement stories lately, and I love them all. This one is mine, and I will happily share it, as it really is a good one.
This year for Thanksgiving, my family traveled to Oklahoma to visit the Parkers and meet for the first time. We arrived on Wednesday evening to the greeting party of Nick’s whole family—grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, and parents. We had a family dinner all together, sharing stories and making introductions and relaxing after the long trip.
After a while, though, Nick suggested that we escape the crowd and go on a date—we hadn’t seen each other in a couple weeks. I felt guilty to leave my mother and Maegan so soon after arriving, but after asking my mother if she would mind if I bowed out, she smiled very knowingly at me and said that she thought I should “go do that.” Nick and I said our goodbyes and left (amid much less teasing than I was expecting). I knew where we were going. We always go to the same place, and I had no reason to believe things were any different on this night. We were going to Huddleston’s, an open field out under the stars on the Parker’s property. We took our time getting there… an unusually long amount of time… returning a movie… filling up the tires with air… stopping at Sonic for some hot chocolate… waiting for the hot chocolate to cool down…. You get the point. Nick obviously was in no hurry to get there, and it was still early in the evening, so again… I had no suspicions just yet. When we finally started the truck up and made our way to the property, I was antsy, but blissfully oblivious… even when subtle signs continued to show up that this was no ordinary night. The gate to the property was already open. Nick was getting texts that he seemed to find amusing, and in the back seat of the truck was an unlit floating lantern, like the kind you see in Tangled, that Nick and I had set off before at our one year anniversary, when I got a job… special celebrations only. Nick drove through the field for quite some time, trying to find a “dry place,” despite the fact that everything looked exactly the same to me. After he finally parked the truck, he grabbed the lantern and said, “I want to set this off tonight. I didn’t realize I still had this one. It’s perfect outside, no wind.” I argued with him (briefly) that we might want to save it for a special occasion, but he had his mind made up. We played our song, “Sweet Afton,” on my phone while we worked together to light the lantern and send it floating. We watched it float high into the air until Nick grabbed me and hugged me. Tight. Around my head. Above me, I heard a very muffled, “I just missed you so much.” At this point, I began to feel (other than light-headed), slightly suspicious that Nick was hiding something from me. Several seconds later he released me, and I barely had time to reorient myself before his speech was rolling. In the pitch black of the night, under the stars, Nick told me many kind, loving, and amazing words, and as he spoke, hundreds of floating lanterns and glowing bubbles lit up the sky behind him. He knelt on one knee in front of me and asked me to marry him… and although it was too dark to see the ring he held out to me, I was quick to say “Yes.” He may not have finished speaking yet. He put the ring on my finger, promising, “I know you can’t see it right now, but you’ll really like it,” and took my hand and led me towards where the lanterns had been released. We were greeted there by our families, who had left immediately after we had and were responsible for setting off the lanterns and balloons. I saw the ring for the first time with them all there, and was dumbfounded.
It, like the rest of the evening, was perfect, made so by the thoughtfulness and care of Nick Parker. He explained the creation of the ring with all of us there. It’s a brand new ring made in all the old ways, but the diamond is mine-cut from the late 1800s.
The metal band was fashioned by a master designer and jeweler from a wax replica, which Nick took part in designing. His special design just for me? Two crosses hidden subtly within the design, to remind us both where our first love is owed, and who made ours possible. In the same way, this vintage ring will only get better with age… what we pray our relationship will continue to do. God has blessed us with so much, particularly our family and friends. Thank you all for your love, guidance, time, and prayers. Please keep us in them in the years to come, because I know we’ll need them. We always do.
