On this night 10 years ago…

I was sitting in my Mass Communication class.  My boyfriend, Dave had asked me to meet him at Henry Fords Estate National Landmark in Dearborn, MI.  He said we were meeting with a few of his friends just to hang out.

We had been talking marriage & we had looked around at rings that I like so naturally I hoped he’d pop the question in the place that my best friend, Jodi had also been proposed to.  This was also the place I visited at least once a month to be alone, and to spend time with God.  And it was also the place where Dave & I first realized & confessed to each other finally that we liked one another.  It’s a beautiful place, full of great memories.

When my friend, Jodi got engaged there her husband, York had sent a few friends to set up with roses and music and chocalates and all sorts of stuff all over the gazebo.  Naturally, I envisioned my proposal to be the same.

Well, I excitedly pulled in and walked around to the gazebo to see…

absolutely nothing.  Not even Dave.  Oh, well.  Not the night he’d be proposing.  I got over it.  So, I walked around for a little while before realizing that almost 30 minutes had went by & no Dave.  I was pissed.  We all ready had this horrible precedent set up in our dating relationship whereby every time he came to visit me in Detroit (since he lived in Kalamazoo throughout our courtship) our time together started in a big fight because he would be anywhere from an hour to two hours late ~ no matter what! I’m not even kidding.

I decided to wait until 45 minutes & then that was that, I was gone.  This was well before the days of personal cellular devices.  People didn’t carry beepers anymore, that was sort of lame in 1999.

I got in my car just seething mad that I had left my class early for him and just as I was speeding out of the parking lot, I see him pull in.  It must have been the Lord, yall!

Anyway, he told me some story about how he went to pick up his friends but they weren’t ready so he left them & they were going to meet us soon.  I bought the whole thing because I thought he could not honestly be proposing to me and be almost an hour late.  But, I was wrong.  When we got to the gazebo he got down on one knee and popped the big question.  He presented me with a beautiful poem he’d written, printed & framed.  (It’s now hanging in our office.  I’ll have to scan & share it later).

Well, let’s just say, the anger wore off & of course I was absolutely elated.

We set off to go out to dinner to celebrate only we couldn’t find a “nicer” restaurant that wasn’t just about to close at 10pm so we settled in at a Big Boy.

I remember calling my friends Jodi, Jean & Jenni from the payphone at Big Boy to spread the news.  Jean & Jenni were so excited but for some reason Jodi wasn’t home.  Odd.

When I got home I decided to hold out my left hand to come through the front door first so my mom could see me flashing my bling.  We were both smiling and giddy when all of a sudden my mom yells out, “Grace, York has just called and said Jodi is in the hospital and she might die!”  I hadn’t even mentioned that I was engaged yet & I she hadn’t noticed my entrance.  “What?! Die of what?!”  As it turns out, she was suffering from complications due to being 30 weeks pregnant & they had to take the baby to save her life.  It was a long night of waiting and fear as York didn’t call me back for an update until the next afternoon!  It was absolutely torturous not knowing whether or not your best friend or her baby born 10 weeks early would survive.

Needless to say, I told her the good news a little later when she came to.  Her & her son -who turned 10 years old today- are both doing great!

Here he is, the 2 pound miracle baby last summer, swimming with Ransom

Dave & I, 10 years out from a marriage proposal and still 100% glad we married each other.

8 months after September 14, 1999 - Married on May 20, 2000 -

So, if you dare to try to rack your brain, what were YOU doing 10 years ago about 1/2 way through September?