| With the help of a few accidental clues, I suspected that maybe something might happen during
Mark’s visit over the 4th of July weekend but I couldn’t be sure and
didn’t want to expect anything. After I picked him at the airport, we headed
back to my house, ate a late dinner and then Mark told me that he had a few
birthday presents for me. His
instructions to me were to try to guess what each gift was before I opened it.
Gifts #1 and #2 were dark chocolate and a pink polo from
MIT, which I guessed right. When Mark
pulled out gift #3, I started to get a little nervous because the box was small
and square-ish, and looked like a ring box.
Not wanting to be presumptuous, I guessed, “A piece of jewelry???” When I opened it, I found it to be filled
with… baby carrots!!! Some of you may
think that this is a mean joke but this is actually quite in character, and all
in fun. I laughed, pulled out the
half-eaten ghetto-looking bag, and noted that it cost $1.29 from Trader
Joe’s. I figured that this was another
one of those pranks that Mark liked to play on me once in awhile. I played along by taking a carrot out and
eating it.
As I was crunching away, Mark said, “Actually, there is a
real piece jewelry…” and pulled out another box. By this time, I had already let my guard
down, thinking that the last box was the end, so I was really surprised. He opened it and popped the big
question. Subconsciously, I thought, “I
can’t believe that this is happening right now and for some reason, this is not
happening the way that I thought it would.” My first instinct was to ask him, “Aren’t you
going to get down on one knee?” His
reaction was a kind of if-you-really-want-me-to, “ook.” Apparently, and I don’t remember this part, I
finished crunching on my carrot before I said, “Yes!”
Then Mark sat back down next to me and I thought, “Hmm… I
don’t want to put the ring on myself.
That would be weird.” I asked him
to put it on for me but I still felt like something was missing so I asked,
“Aren’t you going to tell me why you
want to marry me???” I figured he had to
have thought about this before asking me and it was perfectly reasonable that I
would want to hear this. His response? "How do you expect me to know ALL of these things???" I think he was being completely serious too, haha. Thankfully, he
gave me a lovely heartfelt impromptu speech  .
 My new bling :) Thanks sweetheart for the beautiful ring!!!
Two days later, Mark planned a sentimental engagement party, in which we re-lived the experience of our first real interaction with some friends and family. We dressed especially for the occasion!
 
For more on how we met and some engagement pictures, you can
visit my friend Cindy’s blog at:
http://orangeturtleblog.com/2008/07/09/catherine-mark-engagement/
When we think about how many things had to happen for us to
meet, how unlikely the circumstances were, we know that truly God was at
work. His hand was upon our relationship
from the very beginning and continues to guide and lead us. And now, we are happily engaged, though
having to do the long-distance thing for the time being. As we prepare for marriage, we covet your
prayers, your friendships and your support!
Thank you for being a part of our lives! |
. Today I turned 27 on 7-7-2007. How awesome is that?!?!
. Last year's was pretty fun since it was held in SF and I got to see a lot of old friends. But this year's was by far, the most relaxing convention that I have ever been to. It was even better because Mark (and his co-worker) submitted a paper which was accepted for presentation and he got to go too!!
