And Then He Kissed Me! Part 15

Ring, ring.

"Hello," my little brother answered.

"Hey Shane, is mom there?"

"Yeah, I'll get her," he said in his less than enthused voice.

"Hello," answered my mom.

"Hey, guess what?"

"What?" my mom questioned.

"Steve and I are getting married!" I said excitedly.

"Did he ask you?"

"Well no, but we talked about it last night and we decided to get married on January 19th."

"January! It'll be freezing and there will be tons of snow! And that only gives us about about two and half months to get ready!" my mom hollered.

"I know. But Steve doesn't want a long engagement and he'll start school right after we get back from the honeymoon," I said.

"Oh the honeymoon!" I thought to myself. I imagined the two of us on a cruise ship, standing by the ship railing, in the middle of the ocean, and observing the sunset, as I was enveloped in his arms. As my mind drifted off about my fantasy honeymoon, I all of the sudden felt embarrassed that I even said the word "honeymoon" in front of my mom.

We continued our conversation about my ideas for the wedding receptions and her ideas on what food to serve. We decided to look for a dress when they came to Utah for my cousin's upcoming wedding in a couple of days. I couldn't wait!

Wedding plans were in full swing, even though "plumber guy" hadn't officially asked for my hand in marriage. I was obsessing over ring adds that would come in the mail and my collection of wedding magazines was growing. Looming decisions and choices were to be made, such as, what will my dress look like? What are my wedding colors going to be? Then there was the centerpieces, flowers, invitations, pictures, bridesmaids, and, just what kind of kiss would be appropriate in the temple, once we were married?

On one particular day we decided to make a quick trip to the mall and scope out the rings. We walked hand in hand from one jewelry store to another, like a love sick couple. It was sickening, but I didn't care. My romance with "plumber guy" felt like I was floating on a billowy cloud. It was pure bliss.

We would take turns trying on an assortment of rings and trying to narrow down our likes as opposed to our dislikes. I was quite found of the princess cut. A half karat would do. And not to many bells and whistles. However, "plumber guy" did not agree and said that the princess cut did not look good on my hand.

"What? Why doesn't the princess cut look good on me?" I asked him to my dismay.

"Well, it kinda makes your hand look shorter. And I think the diamond is too big for your hand," he replied.

"Too big? Whatever!" I thought to myself. I did want to be reasonable and did not expect the love of my life to spend his life savings or go into an enormous amount of debt for my ring. So I was sure to pick out humble sized rings there on out, even though the big shiny ones kept whispering to me, "Try me on. C'mon, you know you want to."

We left the mall without purchasing any rings, but I had hoped he knew what designs I had preferred. I wanted my ring to be perfect. This was going to be the ring that I was going to flash for the rest of my life. And I wanted everyone to not be mistaken that I was, indeed, hitched for eternity.

When we got back from the mall, I quickly cleaned my apartment for my parents arrival. The plan was to have my parents meet his parents for the first time, while we ate dinner at Sizzler's that evening. Then the following day we would look for a wedding dress.


Dinner was pleasant and I was happy to know that our parents enjoyed each other's company. Not that I had any doubts. "Plumber guy's" parents had been so thoughtful and caring to me and were quick to include me as one of their family members.

The following morning, me and my parents headed out in search of the wedding dress of my dreams. I had an idea of what I wanted and had high hopes of finding it. I knew I wanted long sleeves, since I was going to be married in the middle of the winter, and I did not want a lot of beading, poofy sleeves, lace and definitely no butt bows! I wanted it to be elegant, yet simple. And I wanted it to take "plumber guy's" breath away, as he first gazed at me inside of the temple.

Finding the dress of my dreams was proving to be more difficult than I had imagined. Trying on dress after dress was disappointing. Many of the dresses seemed to be stuck in the 1990's time warp, with huge poofy sleeves, butt bows, sweet heart necklines, and a massive amount of beading. There was so much beading on some of those dresses, I was fearful of cutting someone as I hugged them. Time ran out and I would have to continue the search on my own.

It was a long and exhausting day of shopping and wedding dress searching. My mom bought dozens of tiny tart pans to make individual tarts for the reception in Wyoming and was full speed ahead with wedding plans, herself. As we rested on my couch, the phone rang.

Ring, ring.

"Hello," I answered.

"Hi!"

It was "plumber guy"! I couldn't help but smile every time I heard his voice. My mom mentioned to my dad, "It must be Steve."

"Hey, do you mind if I come over right now? I have a surprise for you!" he said excitedly.

"Sure! See ya soon. Love you."

"Love you too."

"Steve's coming over," I told my parents. "He said he has a surprise for me."

My mom gasped. "Do you think he's going to ask you to marry him right now?"

I gasped too. "I don't know?!?!?! What if he does? What do I do?" I asked, while almost hyperventilating.

A minute later and there was a knock on my apartment door.

Knock, knock.

It was plumber guy in all of his glory. He was beaming from ear to ear and looked magnificent, as ever, in his jeans and tee-shirt that accentuated his pecks. Oh his glorious pecks!

"What's the surprise?" I asked him, as my parents looked on. In my mind I was hoping that he didn't plan on asking me right then and there in front of my parents. I had always thought he would ask me during a private moment between us. A moment that was romantic and timeless, and not spur of the moment.

"Plumber guy" was holding a small white bag, with the Zales logo on the outside of it. It was like slow motion, as he pulled out a gray ring box.

"Oh my word! He is going to ask me to marry him right now!" I thought to myself. Then I thought, "Hey, why isn't getting down on one knee?"

He opened the box and turned it towards me. I was dumbfounded and silent. This ring didn't look like a normal engagement ring! It had a thicker band, and a squarish top with rows of small diamonds.

I couldn't talk. "How do I tell him, that I don't like this ring?" I said to myself. "What do I do?"

"I bought my ring!" "plumber guy" whooped. "It was on sale and I got a great deal on it!" he said proudly.

Recovering from the shock, I managed to mutter a few words. "I thought I was suppose to buy your ring?" Secretly I was so relieved to find out that it wasn't my ring!

"Well, yeah, but I got a great deal on this ring," he said.

"Oh Steve! We thought that ring was for Jen! You had us so worried!" my mom bellowed.

I was very surprised by his ring choice. I always pictured him with a very practical wedding band with maybe some decorative cuts here and there, but he went with the bling ring. I later labeled the ring as "the pimp ring" and it will forever go down in history as "the pimp ring".

I knew some girls would have been very disappointed and angry with their fiance's if they pulled a trick like that on them, but this moment was one of those moments that I love to reminisce about. I didn't doubt that when "plumber guy" did propose, it would be unforgettable. It's one of those things that made "plumber guy" so alluring to me... I never knew what exciting moment was coming around the corner.