Everyone has a story! Part of my sanguine personality is that I find great joy in hearing the journeys of other people and I love sharing my own experiences. In particular, I adore real-life love stories.
Welcome to Story Swap, a series on this blog where I share a specific part of our story and hope to hear all about yours.
In this edition: Our Proposal Story
The month: June. The Year: 2004.
Jason was on his summer break between his 2nd and 3rd year of medical school. We had enjoyed a month of freedom from his normal studying and stressing. We spent ample quality time together, visited with friends and family, and we went on a mission trip to Cuba. The break wasn’t long lived as he was to report back on Monday, June 28th.
Jason wanted to make his last open weekend special. He suggested, “how about I plan the date for Friday night and you can plan the date for Saturday night.”
I secretly wondered if he was going to propose on Friday night. I was confident that Jason wanted to marry me, but I knew he had concerns about getting married while in medical school. He was aware that I wanted a short engagement so I figured if he wanted to get married while he was still in school a proposal had to be coming soon…. 
Friday, June 25th:
We spent the day swimming with friends. By the time everyone left, I was not feeling very well (I struggle with an auto-immune disease and it was in the midst of a flare up). As I began to get ready for our date, Jason kept telling me not to push it if I didn’t feel well. I was anxious to see what he had planned (and if a proposal came at the end of that date…). Yet, the pain ended up being too much and I began cry. Jason came into the room and reiterated that we didn’t have to go out. I told him, again, that I wanted to. He responded with, “why don’t we just rent a movie and get take out? I don’t have anything special planned.”
And with that, my heart sank a little, there would be no proposal anytime soon. So, I resolved to just take it easy.
Saturday, June 26th:
I awoke feeling much better and drove over to Jason’s apartment in the late morning where I waited for him to return from his Saturday Morning Bible Study. We enjoyed some free time and then I shared with him the date I had planned: a movie and dinner (I know that sounds very basic, but we rarely went to theaters and I chose a restaurant that was not in our normal price range).
He picked me up from my apartment at 4pm and we went to see The Notebook. Following the matinee, we ate dinner outside at Martini’s. I don’t recall what we ordered, but it was an enjoyable evening. After dinner, we went to a chocolate shop for dessert. I’m always in favor of sweets! We purchased 6 chocolate covered strawberries and took them to a park.
The park wasn’t part of my date plan, but Jason suggested it as we were driving back to my apartment. He said, “It is really such a pretty night; would you want to go to a park and walk around?”
We went to “our park.” It earned that nickname because we had visited this park together often throughout our courtship: often times just to relax and have a picnic lunch, but on a few different occasions, when we had been in a serious argument, we would go there to pray, cry, and heal. We had a lot of memories at that park so I began to wonder if he was going to propose after all. We took a nice stroll, but as we were heading back to his truck I realized he had no intentions of proposing.
On our way home, Jason missed the turn for the highway. I asked him what he was doing and he claimed he really needed to use the bathroom. To be honest, we had just returned less than a week earlier from a mission trip and Jason’s stomach had been acting up since our return. So, I didn’t question his need. Ha!
We passed by two gas stations, but Jason said he wanted to go to church “because the bathrooms at church are cleaner.” I looked at him funny because while I am picky and never use public bathrooms, Jason is not particularly choosy. I pointed out that the church would probably be locked since it was after 10pm, but he convinced me it would be open.
Photo Credit: Phil Russell
To my surprise, it was! I offered to wait in the car , but he said, “no, it might be a while, just come on in.” I made small talk with the security guard while I waited. I told him how confused I was that Jason was going to the bathroom at the church late at night. The guard responded, “oh don’t worry about it – people do it all the time.”
Jason finally came out and asked if I wanted to do our daily devotion at the church. That wasn’t an uncommon request because we often did our Scripture studies at different locations. We read from Ezekiel, but after our discussion Jason flipped and began to read the marriage passage from Ephesians 5. He took a few steps, grabbed a hidden guitar, and began playing a song. I had heard this song before… he would often play me the song and then say proudly, “I wrote that.” This time, instead of simply playing the chords … he began to sing,
If I could take away all your pain
If I could make you feel all brand new inside
If I could wipe away your tears
And help you forget all of the times you’ve cried
You know I would
You know I would
You know I would
For you, I would
If I could live my life with you
We’d serve the Lord in all the things that we do
If I could reach the lost with you
And teach them all about God’s Love and his Truth.
You know I would
You know I would
You know I would
For you, I would
And I’ve dreamed of this day
For such a long, long time
But Darby, I never dreamed
That YOU could be mine.
And I’m so thankful just to have you in my life.
I’m so very thankful just for you.
So if I asked you to be my bride
And if I asked you to stand by my side.
And if I got down on my knee (which he did as he sang this line!)
And if I asked you, “Will you marry me?” ………………..
And with that he stopped singing to wait for my response. I hesitated, not out of fear, but because I didn’t want to interrupt his song and so he said, “well?!” I smiled and exclaimed, “YES!” He stood up, “Good. Then you can have this.” and he handed me a small velvet box. I opened it up and saw my beautiful engagement ring!
I had made sure not to tell Jason what I wanted in a ring, but if I had told him everything I wanted – this ring would be it. From the shape of the center diamond to the diamonds all around the sides to the unique engravings on the band… perfect.
He put the ring on my finger and I realized that Jason proposed to me at our church where we had first met on January 22, 2002. What a perfect place to propose since our faith was the foundation of our relationship!
June 2004!
We were married six month later at the same church where Jason sang another original song… but perhaps I’ll write more about that in another story swap post.
What’s your story? How did your husband propose to you (or vise versa)?! Send me an e-mail, leave a comment, or share on facebook!
My Other Story Swap:
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