Engagement Story, Part One

As if we needed to squeeze one more significant life-event into these two weeks--

we've had a final day of college for B20, a senior prom for BC18, finals, and her graduation from high school, plus dress rehearsals and performances of Robin Hood (no small event in the lives of our younger children), and all four grandparents here for graduation and the show--

Blondechick18 had to go and get herself engaged!

Actually, we knew it was coming.

People keep asking me how I feel, and the truth is, I've had nearly six months to work through a lot of emotions.   I think it was at Christmas time that Blondechick first broached the idea of getting married...THIS summer.

I was so overwhelmed that I wisely didn't say much at all, initially and to my credit!  I was very calm and I asked questions about what they were thinking and I didn't say much of what was going on in my brain. 

Not to my credit, the loudest voices in my head were not the ones asking, "Is this God's will?" or "Are they mature enough?"  No, the voices screaming in my head were, "How can we possibly plan a wedding for this summer when you're not even engaged yet?!" and "I'm sorry, but I do NOT have time to plan a wedding with everything else we've got going on this spring!"

Okay, got that confession off my chest.

Then my husband and I talked.  And talked.  And decided it would be good to invite the young man's parents out to dinner, so we could see how they felt about this plan.  (Oh dear, am I going to have to come up with a blog name for him, too?)

So we met and enjoyed getting to know them!  It is a delightful family that she will be marrying into.  We had a wonderful conversation about our young people, in which we all agreed that it was only the timing that we had concerns with.  We love him; they love her.  We see a lot of good things going on in their relationship.  They complement each other in their strengths and weaknesses.  Most importantly, it was clear that they are both fully committed to God and to following Him the rest of their lives.

We agreed that this summer was just too soon...but that we would be fine with them getting engaged then.

Then a month or two later, BC's young man invited Papa Rooster out to breakfast, and they had The Talk.  After receiving PR's blessing, he indicated that he might even propose before graduation, because he thought Blondechick would like that.

Then we heard nothing more for awhile, except for Blondechick's observation that he sure was working a lot of hours, but he was always broke.  He's a store manager working nearly full-time, as well as finishing out his first year of college at a local school; he's living at home to save money.  That's one thing we like about him--he's such a hard worker, and he's not a big spender. 

Then he invited Papa Rooster to breakfast again, the day of their prom.  He just wanted to give us a heads-up that he now had the ring, and it would be soon--before graduation, he hoped. 

He had the ring with him at the formal dinner, which was on a boat on Lake Geneva, but the moment never seemed right.  The weekend passed.

On Wednesday night, just as we were pulling into the driveway after dress rehearsal, my cell phone rang and it was the young man's mother.  "How is Blondechick?" she asked anxiously.  "Are they back from the hospital yet?"

Turns out she was injured at her soccer game that afternoon, in a head-on collision with the other team's goalie.  She may have had a slight concussion, but the bigger concern was her knee, which was what eventually ended her up in the ER for x-rays.  It was a bad sprain, and she would be on crutches for graduation and unable to play soccer for awhile.

Which blew his plan to propose on the soccer field at the game the next day!

In fact, would she even be at school the next day?

To be continued....

(Can't promise when.  We have 3 more performances and a strike party this weekend and grandparents to spend time with on Monday, then school to make up on Tuesday and a Piano Guild competition on Wednesday and a graduation party on Saturday.  But I'll try!)