Engaged: The Rest of the Story

As originally posted by Angela on Facebook on December 14, 2008:

I am marrying the most thoughtful and amazing man I can imagine. And I offer this story as proof:

Justin and I met on May 25. He is a law student at Baylor, which is located in Waco, TX about two hours south of Dallas. He lived in Dallas this summer while working for a law firm downtown. Coincidence, or fate, or I'd like to think the will and working of God brought him to visit Preston Road, where I go to church, on May 25. He must have encountered something appealing that day because he kept coming back all summer long. It was several weeks before I realized that that something appealing may have been me. I'll be honest with you, his affections were not totally reciprocated during those first few months. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but I had places to go and people to see. Dating wasn't exactly on my radar. I agreed to go out a couple of times; his interest was obvious. Then I left for Bolivia. Three weeks in South America brought me three weeks worth of emails from Justin. An email a day, to which I responded in kind. With every email, I discovered more of Justin's character. There was a depth I hadn't known before; a wit and an insight in his words that drew me in. It didn't take long after I got back from Bolivia for Justin and I to start dating officially. Looking back, I'm grateful that God is wiser than I in choosing a partner for me. And even more grateful for Justin's stubborn pursuit in the midst of so many obstacles.

Justin's birthday was the first of December and looking at our schedules the earliest time we could work out to celebrate it was December 12. Justin asked me to plan a party so all our Dallas friends could get together. He insisted that I take the afternoon off work as well so we could do something special to celebrate; just the two of us. Justin arranged for a personal guided tour of the Nasher Sculpture Center, in the Arts district of downtown Dallas. We parked at the West Village and took the Trolley downtown, so we wouldn't have to worry about parking. Our docent met us at the door and led us around the museum, talking at length about several of the pieces. As we made our way outside into the garden, I wanted to make sure we went inside the piece at the back; I had told Justin it was my favorite. It's a large square room made of stone with a hole in the ceiling open to the sky. The walls are lined with angled benches. Sitting down and looking up creates an optical illusion which causes the sky to appear to change colors. It's a beautiful and peaceful space. The tour guide left to return to the front desk and the two of us went into the room together. It was empty except for a green cloth grocery bag which I thought we should probably drop by the desk on our way out. Someone would be missing their groceries.

Let me take this moment to say that up to this point I had no reason to be suspicious of anything that was going on. I was not anticipating a proposal from Justin anytime soon. While we had talked about the future and our shared desire to spend it together, nothing specific had been said about timing. My sister recently got engaged after a relatively short courtship and I had been quick to reassure Justin that there was no pressure for us to do likewise. I was happy taking my time. I was in no hurry. We had barely talked about rings, much less looked at any to see what I might like. In fact, Justin had even said a few things in recent weeks that lead me to believe it would be quite a while before he would pop that famous question.

You may have guessed by now that the green bag was not mistakenly left by an absent-minded shopper; although I had not. It was in fact Justin's bag. And he had brought it by the Nasher earlier that day. We were only in the room a few minutes before Justin started to investigate the contents of the discarded bag. Among other things, it contained a long thin package wrapped in brown paper, which turned out to be a rose, but was reminiscent of a loaf of bread and only added to the grocery illusion. Justin pulled out a very random looking t-shirt and even a pair of underwear which he tossed my way in typical Justin fashion. All this to throw me off in case I had begun to catch on to the surprise. It only served to confirm to me that we should not be going through this person's things, and I began throwing them back into the bag as fast as Justin could pull them out. He pulled out a verse printed on heavy paper and began to read it aloud. It was from Hosea 2; a beautiful passage about covenant and commitment and I confess that my heart filled with joy and love as he read it, but even then I didn't suspect anything. I still had it in my mind that this was someone else's stuff. He had changed a little of the wording to make it more personal for us and even added my name, but because I was looking at him as he read and not at the paper, I didn't think anything of it. He often adds random lines to printed material as he reads it aloud, so it didn't seem out of the ordinary. After the verse, there was a coin purse with money from Uganda and in my head I marveled at the coincidence. Justin had been to Uganda. It wasn't until he pulled out a small box and got down on one knee that the full realization set in. He said something then that I'm sure was perfect but I can't remember it and neither can he. All I know is I said yes. Even with the ring on my finger I had to ask him if this was really happening, it was such an incredible surprise.

We spent a few more minutes there together, going through all the things in the bag and laughing at my obliviousness. We said a prayer to ask a blessing on the promise we had made to each other. Then, because the museum was closing, we made our way out front where we met a horse-drawn carriage that took us on a ride through downtown. The driver dropped us off in the West End at the Y.O. Ranch Steakhouse. Justin had arranged for both of our families to meet us there to share in our joy. They had all been keeping the secret for weeks, all except my sister, that is. She had found out about the plan only that morning after I left for work. It would've been terribly difficult to keep such a secret from the person you live with, especially for someone as prone to talking as Teresa is.

After dinner we went to Justin's birthday party, which turned out to really be my engagement party, where our friends were waiting to add their congratulations to the mix. It was perfect.

Several have asked about wedding plans and dates. Since the proposal was such a surprise, we don't have anything specific decided yet. It will likely be next fall, after Justin takes the bar. Thank you for your congratulations and well wishes. I feel blessed beyond all that I could ask or imagine.