My sister got engaged. I feel like that merits an exclamation point, so I should probably rephrase it: my sister got engaged!
I'm laughing to myself, because I honestly first wrote it as "my sister got engaged?" As in, what happened there? What kind of engaged? Or, if you too are a fan of that Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice adaptation...
Charlotte: Mr. Collins and I are engaged.Well, Charlotte, you could engage in battle, you could engage in a round of drinks, you could have prior engagements, like a party or a dog grooming appointment. It's not an exclusive word per se.
Elizabeth (shocked): To be married?
Charlotte (annoyed): Yes, of course, what other kind of engaged is there?
I guess I should verify that my sister is actually engaged in the marriage variety. So congrats to them!
I have been dying with this secret for a really long time, though I have told my trivia group, my writing group, and a random friend I made. I figured that this was okay seeing as they don't know my sister or any of my friends back home. Or so I justified it. And I'd ask for opinions on where he, my sister's beau, should propose, because he called me weeks before their planned trip here to sort of plan.
And it was pretty much the blind leading the blind as we went over things he had to prepare, like talking to all sets of parents, finding the right ring, and figuring out where he was going to pop the question. We spent a few hours online, sending links to one another from dummy guides on what to look for in rings or what the lingo was, and I ended up sending links of rings I knew my sister hated, if only to get a better idea. We debated venues, though I really just sat back to listen as he came up with his plan, until the week to them coming was right around the corner.
It was getting scary and immense, I guess because I remember in one conversation, telling him, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm saying this, but, um." I hesitated for a small second, before trucking through. "You do realize that if you ask her to marry you, you have to get married?" TLC bridal shows and movie montages danced in my head with worry.
But I know! I'm a terrible sister to even bring that up, but I think it was more of a fear on my part than anything. And Thony, bless him, simply laughed and told me that that was the general idea of a proposal, which set me at ease entirely because it meant that he really did want to marry her and that he also considered TLC bridal shows and movie montages. We joked about it later, after the proposal, telling Sam, but they both had this no-nonsense sort of air about it, like even with that question, they just knew. And that was encouraging.
The day came when Thony chose to propose, and I sat in their hotel room as they got ready, watching cartoons. Sam was busy drying her hair, and Thony was asking if she was going to wear shorts. When he came near me, I asked him if they weren't going to dress up, and he his face twisted in confusion. No. Why?
Oh. Disappointment took over. Weren't they going to be fancy?
Thony replied in the negative again, but at least he put on pants. And I helped Sam pick a nice shirt to go with her skirt. I deduced that telling her to wear something nicer for no apparent reason would be suspect.
What also would be suspect would be following them to the Empire State Building to take pictures to send back to Pam, which she wanted and tried to convince me to do. She was pretty close. She got me with the whole "disguise" aspect, and I started to contemplate where I would get a wig and what would be the opposite of a George outfit. Then I realized that I'm not the most graceful person. Nor am I the most sneaky person. I posed it to Thony, who agreed that this wasn't ideal. He also laughed at my joke-but-really-testing-to-see-if-possible mustache idea.
So I stayed up, waiting for the announcing text or phone call or anything of the good news. And every time my phone made a noise, I'd scramble to get to it, only to be disappointed by news from Sam that they were at a really nice restaurant with nice food. Great?
A part of me felt like it was a test. Like she wanted to see if I knew or was just yanking my chain because she knew that I would be waiting for her to tell me. So I wrote a wary post of how that was nice of her to share and waited. But even then she was talking about the music playing, so I quickly pushed away my over thoughts. She wasn't engaged.
Nor was she engaged an hour later, when I was sleepy, passing out on my bed, cursing her for not telling me right away, cursing Thony for being too preoccupied for not telling me a play-by-play, cursing myself for not going anyway just to watch the scene unfold because I'm impatient and clearly creepy.
Blearily, I woke up to my phone wanting attention, and I remember opening a text from Sam that burnt my eyes in the darkness. "I'm engaged! :)" it said, and I remember trying to muster up a proper response that held positivity and support and good will and love, so I added an extra exclamation point, allowing auto-correct to make the most of my lazy fingers' work, "Congrats friend!!"
So in celebration of this momentous occasion, I leave you with these two proposals that are just fantastic. The first is from Emma Thompson's version of Sense and Sensibility. The second is from the fantastic program The Vicar of Dibley, where Geraldine made fun of Emma Thompson for making that terrible noise when Edward tells her he loves. Geraldine can't help but make it too.