11- The Proposal

After our Valentine's date at Robintino's, Marcos told me he owed me a date. He wasn't going to let me pay unless I agreed to a date the following weekend. Again I called up my poor mom to come stay with great grandma while I went out with Marcos. I forgot how often she saved me during that time. She pretty much came down every weekend so I could have some sort of a break from a long week of being cooped up in the house. I should've known something was up, but I'm so lame. I really thought Marcos just wanted to take me out. I figured I was safe because there was no way he could possibly have a ring yet. And I knew he wanted to talk to my dads (my dad and my step dad) and I didn't think that had happened either. My mom took me shopping for a new bra and shirt. "You should look cute for your date tonight!" she said. I picked out a pretty boring shirt. My mom tried to get me to change my mind, but that was me - simple and boring. Even when my mom was treating, I couldn't be high maintenance. It just wasn't my style. She also had brought down a bridal magazine so I could look at ideas for a dress. She had me read this article on proposals to decide which kind of proposal style my guy had. I guessed somewhere between romantic and a family man. How did I not know what she was doing?

Marcos picked me up and my uncle came to take pictures of us before we left. Hello, again another big flashing sign right there that passed me up. Why was he there taking pictures? I thought it was odd, but I didn't think this was the night. Nope. We went to the Carriage Court for dinner. We had a little corner booth with sparkling cider set up for us. I was a little suspicious about the pre-set apple cider, but we had our nice date and nothing happened so I figured Marcos had really just wanted to show me how much he loved me.

We were walking around downtown and out of nowhere he asked if I wanted to take a carriage ride. I had ALWAYS wanted to do something like that with someone I loved, but I never would have asked. I just looked at him with a questioning look and said, "Really?" "Sure, let's do it," he said. Okay, this kid is out of his mind. I'm sure he's spending his entire paycheck on this date, but whatever. It was FREEZING so we were snuggling under the blankets and enjoying our tour of downtown. Lane, our driver, was really cute with us. He took us up through Memory Grove and stopped at a bridge. He was so cool about the whole thing. He just stopped and said, "This is where a lot of people like to walk around so I can let you down if you want. I'll just go up and turn around and then come back for you." Okay, sure. Marcos took my hand and helped me out of the carriage. It really was one of those moments from the movies - everything was almost too perfect. We walked around for a minute and stopped on the bridge to talk. I was looking out at the creek and Marcos says, "Well babe, it's a beautiful night isn't it?" I said yes. We kissed a couple of times and then he reached in his pocket and told me he had something for me. I was freaking out. My heart was beating a million miles a minute and I could hardly breathe. He pulled out a white box and opened it. It was empty. My heart sunk. What the...? This kid is so strange. In what was probably only a couple of seconds, I tried to get my thoughts together. He's probably going to do a bunch of fake proposals so I'll never know when it's coming. Okay, sure. Now what? While I was trying to decide if I should punch him or kiss him or walk away or even cry, he reached in another pocket and pulled out another box. He got down on his knee and said, "Babe, you are the love of my life. I'm happier than I've ever been when I'm with you. Will you marry me?" I shook my head and finally muttered yes. I had intended to say hmmm...and eventually say yes after making him wait a while, but it was too real. I couldn't joke with him right then. What a range of emotions he had created in a few simple minutes. I thought my heart was going to explode. I felt like I was floating and I couldn't wipe the big cheesy grin off my face. Then, in true Marcos style, he walks over to the edge of the sidewalk and starts announcing our engagement to all the carriages driving by. What a nut! All the strangers were now sharing in our moment and began congratulating us. Seriously, can't we have one normal moment? There is no way to describe it. We were like giddy schoolgirls prancing around. Marcos took my hand and we just ran down the sidewalk together. It was like we were too excited to contain our emotions anymore so we just ran around. He told me he was so happy he was going to jump in that freezing creek. We were just nutty and almost childlike in our pure joy. On our way back, Lane took our picture with a polaroid camera and then we hopped, skipped and ran back to the car. We couldn't help but jump around a bit. We stopped to use the bathroom and when I looked at myself in the mirror with my ring on, I lost it. The emotion had caught up with me and I couldn't believe it. I was engaged! Thinking of how sweet and sentimental and genuine Marcos had been just got to me. I came out of the bathroom with tears in my eyes and Marcos was on the phone with his brother telling him all about it. Esteban congratulated me, but I couldn't say much at this point. I just said thanks and handed the phone back to Marcos. When we got in the car to drive home, Marcos told me how nervous he had been and how his knees were sore from practicing the proposal all day. I don't know if he was serious about the practicing part or not, but it was cute anyway.

When we got back to my great grandma's house, my mom wasn't there. I figured she must be down the street at my aunt's house. We walked over and I gave my mom a great big hug. Then we told everyone the story while they looked at the ring. We called Marcos' mom and told her the whole story and then my mom and Marcos' mom talked forever on the phone while Marcos and I stared at each other. I couldn't believe this was my true love, the one I was going to marry and be with forever. What a perfect night!