No, no. I am NOT engaged… again… to Diego. Well not yet, anyways. I had a fellow blogger write about engagement rings and I decided that in my little honeymoon phase that I would share with everyone how Diego and I got engaged the first time around.

I knew he was going to propose.

I knew that he was going to propose because I was with him when he bought the ring. No, I didn’t see it or go into the store with him… we were in Oregon to see family and friends when Diego and I took our mutual friend to the Oregon outlet mall with us that we frequent often. I kind of egged him on to go into the jewelry store to shop for engagement rings. We had been together almost three years at this point. Last time we went to the same outlet mall, I showed him what rings I liked and what I didn’t.

After egging him on, he actually went into the store! Something I wasn’t expecting at all. After he was in there more than ten minutes and my friend went in to see what was going on. She said it was beautiful, but I could NOT see it. I got butterflies in my stomach, trusting her judgement. Now, it was just a matter of when he would propose, not if he was going to. I was genuinely happy.

It’s hard to surprise me.

Now that I knew the proposal was on, my mind wandered on how he would do it, when, what I would be wearing. So every time we got dressed to go somewhere nice, I always put on a little makeup and looked extra good in case he proposed. It didn’t work out that way though….

I can read Diego like the back of my hand so this surprise would have had to be super well thought out or else I would have picked up on his clues.

The day…

Diego and I had slept over at his house (he was living with his parents at the time and I mine) when we woke up and started cuddling; our normal morning ritual. We talked about the plans for the day. I had the day off (I was working graveyard at the time and would switch my sleep schedule every weekend to sleep at night, and be awake during the day so I could spend the most time with Diego). He had to start work I think an hour after we got up, so we didn’t have much time for anything considering he had a twenty minute drive to work.

I remember I was wearing his pajama pants and his sweatshirt, still had distinct morning breath, and my hair was a curly mess. He kinda rolled over and looked at me as there was a pause in conversation. He gently asks, “Will you marry me?” I kind of laugh and say, “Of course. But are you being serious?” He said, “Yes.” He gets up and walks over to his dresser and pulls out his top drawer and gets the coveted box.

My mouth drops open and I think, “Holy shit, he is for real!” I patiently wait for him to sit back up on the bed and I move myself closer to him. He says, really slow, as he opens up the box and slowly slides the ring onto my left hand, “Dani, will you marry me?” I exclaim, “Yes, of course. I’d love to.” We hug and kiss and it was true bliss. I was honestly surprised considering how I looked wasn’t ideal.

He later told me he had planned for photographers to come capture the moment and have a huge proposal, but in the moment he knew that it felt right and he couldn’t miss that opportunity to make me his future spouse.

He then says he had to take a shower and get ready for work. So this gave me time to admire my new pretty pretty shiny shiny ring.

The ring…

After I admired the ring and the moment and the true gift this was, I decided that I truly hated the ring. I hated the cut, the circular style, the criss cross band, it didn’t feel right; definitely was not something I would have picked out for myself.

I debated telling him that day, but I didn’t want to ruin the moment. He gets out of the shower and we took the photo I pictured above of us kissing and displaying our love and affection. That photo went directly to Facebook and we made the required calls to our parents about the engagement.

My mom didn’t seem that surprised when I told her considering Diego went to a baseball game with my dad and asked for my hand in marriage at the game. That was something I admired about Diego. He certainly didn’t have to ask my dad’s permission to marry me considering my dad loves Diego and would be fine with it. It was out of respect of my dad and that is something they just don’t teach anymore; respect that is.

I think it was three days later I told Diego how I felt about the ring. He was a little bummed out, but considering it would be on my finger forever, he wanted me to love the ring. We made a trip to the jeweler in Seattle for me to pick out my ring and I found out he spent a pretty penny on my ring and then I fall in love with an even more expensive ring and he decided to pay the extra $500 to make me happy. I ask him if it was okay considering he spent A LOT on the first ring and $500 is almost a week’s pay for him. He said he wanted me to be happy.

It also gave us an opportunity to pick out his wedding band and his was cheap and unique, which my wallet appreciated. But it’s the one he wanted so he got what we both wanted.

Now you could totally say that I was being shallow by picking out a ring that is similar to the first one. But there are some pretty distinct differences. The first ring was circular, very twisty and too flashy whereas this ring was ovular, less twisty, and had a better halo effect. It was more refined and spectacular. Now if only I could get that ring back when Diego proposes again… one day.

Well that’s it for me and this story. Stay tuned for more content Aquarians…. and other astrological signs lol.

Much love,

Dani