Me & My Man - Part 12

With this understanding, I knew with confidence in my heart that this was the man with whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

I said very little about this to Mr. Wonderful, though. I wanted him to initiate this kind of conversation. But Mr. Wonderful was completely silent on the topic...

Part 12: Surprises

Sometime back during our freshman year in college Mr. Wonderful made a promise to me. He promised that he would never tell me that he wanted to marry me until he knew for certain that marriage was God's plan for our future. He said he had seen too many of our friends say that they were going to marry their significant other, only to turn around and part ways with that person a few months later. The heartache after those break-ups seemed all the more intense. I knew that Mr. Wonderful was only trying to protect me and guard my heart as best as he could, but, man, the silence was hard.

When our junior year began in August 2001, Mr. Wonderful and I had been dating for a little over two years. Over the summer we celebrated our 24th monthversary, and Mr. Wonderful had surprised me by taking me on a small sunset cruise out of Kemah. It was so romantic! Our relationship was in a great place - the drama of our freshman year was long behind us, and it seemed that the trials of our sophomore year had only matured and strengthened our foundation together.

The school year was pretty uneventful. It was a welcomed, much needed break after the events of the previous year. We were able to spend a lot of time with each other and with our friends, just having fun like "normal" college students. It was great to be one of the gang again!

Over Easter weekend, while we were at home celebrating with our families, Mr. Wonderful pulled me aside one afternoon to talk. He was as serious as he could be. I was a bit nervous about what was coming. He began telling me about how the Lord was working in his heart in recent months. He said that he cared for me deeply and wanted so badly to spend the rest of his life with me, but he needed to be sure that this desire was from the Lord. He explained how he had diligently prayed over this for months, how he had been spending focused time in the Word to learn what the Bible says about marriage, and how he'd also sought the advice/counsel of a few older men from our church in College Station.

He looked me deep in the eyes, and in the most sincere, yet confident, voice he told me for the first time that he wanted to marry me! It wasn't a marriage proposal. But he had never said anything like this to me before.

From that weekend forward I began wondering when Mr. Wonderful was going to propose to me. We hadn't really discussed a time line of when we'd get married, but I assumed it would be right after I graduated in a little over a year. Mr. Wonderful never said anything further, though.

Then one day he asked me if I wanted to go ring shopping. Are you kidding me?! I have wanted to go ring shopping since I was 3! ;) We visited a couple of jewelers in College Station to find out my ring size and also learn a little about diamonds. This may not sound very romantic to some of you. I know a lot of girls who want(ed) to be completely surprised by their engagement ring. And I did too. We by no means picked out the ring, but it was a great opportunity for me to see how much those puppies really cost!! (Smart boy, my Mr. Wonderful!) The whole experience helped me appreciate the purchase that Mr. Wonderful faced in the future. And afterwards I just knew that it would be late summer or early the next fall before he would be able to afford a ring and propose to me.

That summer I decided to stay in Aggieland and take some summer classes. I worked in the dorms helping host different summer groups staying in our buildings during camps held on the A&M campus (soccer camps, firefighter training, etc.). Mr. Wonderful stayed in Aggieland too. Over the past year he had built a pretty sizable lawn business in town that he wanted to maintain and grow over the summer.

A couple weeks after school wrapped up for the summer, Mr. Wonderful's family took their annual trip to Indiana for a family reunion. He and I talked on the phone very regularly while he was gone. It just so happened that May 31, 2002 - our 36th monthversary - fell while he was away. We were both a little bummed about the timing, but Mr. Wonderful promised that when he returned to Aggieland he would take me out to dinner to celebrate. On the actual day of our monthversary he had a huge, beautiful bouquet of pink roses (my favorite!) delivered to me. This man never ceased to amaze me in how much effort he'd put into making me feel special.

The following Sunday he called me as he drove into Aggieland. He told me that once he dropped off his luggage at his place, he would come pick me up for our celebratory dinner. As we pulled away from my dorm building he said that we need to run by his parents' rent house in Bryan first. His parents had just bought a rental property and were making some improvements to it over the summer. An electrician had done some work that week, and his mom asked him to make sure the job was complete. She wanted him to call her that afternoon with a report on the progress.

When we pulled up to the rent house, Mr. Wonderful and I climbed out his truck. Instead of going to the front door, like I was expecting, I followed Mr. Wonderful through the side gate into the backyard. I was about to ask what we were doing when I remembered that he was storing most of his lawn equipment in the backyard shed. I figured he wanted to check on the equipment before we went into the house.

As we rounded the side of house into the backyard, there were Mr. Wonderful's parents hiding out.

What are they doing here?! My mind starts racing. I thought we were coming here to check on the work so we could report back to his mom in Houston? His mom looks surprised and embarrassed that we ran into them, like we weren't supposed to know they were there. Where's their car? I didn't see it out front of the house.

Mr. Wonderful's mom's words abruptly interrupt my thoughts. She says nervously, "Oh, hi. Um. I'm sorry. We were just leaving." And they immediately walk away.

I turn to look at Mr. Wonderful. There goes my mind again -

It's like he pretended they weren't even there. What in the world is going on?! He's just heading to the shed and unlocking the padlock to check his equipment like nothing happened. He didn't say anything to them. He ignored their presence. What? Huh?

I'm so confused.

Then it hits me. I look at Mr. Wonderful. Our eyes meet, and I say in a sing-song voice, "There's a surprise for me inside, isn't there?! You have something special planned in the house for our monthversary, don't you?!" Mr. Wonderful looks down at the grass, then back up at me, and the slightest of grins spreads across his lips...