We’re Engaged
It’s been just over a week and I still can’t say ‘engaged’ without a smile on my face. Every morning when I wake up and there’s still a ring on my nightstand I get excited all over again - it’s real. We’re engaged. It’s been a whirlwind since Blake popped the question on Saturday the 18th and we left the following Wednesday to be part of our friends destination wedding in the US Virgin Islands. Now that I’m back on the mainland and starting to regroup I wanted to write about our engagement while all the little, perfect details are still fresh in my mind.
Where to begin? The most exciting part of all of this is what it means - that I get to spend my life with Blake. I knew immediately after meeting Blake that he was special. A year in I joked that it was the first relationship I’ve ever been in, in which the idea of breaking up had never crossed my mind. Not once. Not after a fight, not on the worst day. Never. Since the day we became an ‘us’ it’s felt natural to take things on together. We’ve worked at our relationship and we’ve grown both individually and as a couple. I shared before that we even signed up and took premarital at our church BEFORE we got engaged. Blake is my one. My forever. And having found that kind of love is such a gift. I’m grateful every day.
When I think about our relationship so far I’m most grateful for how it’s changed me. For how much I’ve learned about love. For the way loving Blake has made me better, not just happier. But second only to my gratitude for how it’s changed me has been the sweetness of watching Blake grow - spiritually, emotionally, relationally. I loved him exactly how he was but every time I think I can’t possibly find more to love about him he surprises me again with his thoughtfulness, depth, and maturity. What a journey it’s been and now I know this will be the shortest part of it. Blake is the only person I’ve ever met who makes me think forever might not be long enough.
So how did he do it? In the perfect way, for us. He took me out on the boat to cruise the Alafia River. The river is our spot. It’s where we went on our first date. It’s where we first knew we were in love. And now we get to add to that list: the place we decided on forever together. One day it’s where we hope to buy a house and make our home. It’s our spot. It’s the very spot I think of when I think of us, the future Biggs. If I could have picked where Blake would propose this was the exact place and way. Just us, in our spot.
Blake had planned for our friends Jessie & CJ to be waiting on a nearby dock. We picked them up and took them with us to get a few good pictures before the sun went down. So thoughtful and friends: I am so grateful for you two. It was so special to get to celebrate with you two so soon after and to have amazing images to remember this night. Thank you both.
Everyone keeps asking me if I was surprised. Being a complete details freak I’ve never liked surprises much but I will admit he got me good. I was onto him the day before the proposal because he said he was ‘shopping’. In the year and a half we’ve been together I’ve never known Blake to shop. I was group texting with my girlfriends and I told them I was sure he was in Sarasota picking up my ring. Of course they gave him the heads up and he immediately starts sending me pictures of what he’s shopping for: sandals. It completely threw me off. So Deon & Alisha - we owe you for making this one the biggest surprise because I don’t miss much and you two saved the day.
We had just finished cruising down the river and turned around when I leaned into Blake and told him I loved him. That I was going to love him forever. He asked if I promised and I said I did. Then he pulled a ring box out of his pocket and said: then this is for you. We both immediately started crying. He didn’t ask. He wasn’t on one knee. I didn’t even look at the ring. We just held each other and cried with big smiles on our faces. After a few minutes I snapped back to reality and told him he better get on a knee and ask and show me that ring. He did. It was perfectly us.
Ok last detail for today of course has to be the ring, right? A few months ago my friend Glenda sent me an Instagram account of vintage rings. I fell completely in love with a very classic, vintage ring. My friend Jessie introduced us to her best friend (also Jessie) who’s a jeweler and she was amazing ( I have her card if anyone needs a perfect ring). She taught us so much and talked us through some decisions about how to create a new version of the vintage look I loved. After our meeting I tried to completely stay out of it (but also begged for pics and hints I never got) and when I finally remembered I was getting a ring in addition to getting to marry my favorite person it was the dreamiest ring I’ve ever seen. It was somehow better than I could have dreamed.
And that, my friends, is how we came to be engaged.
Love,
The Future Mrs. Biggs
