#97

GO STAR GAZING

I had resolved myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get to star gaze as it was beginning to get a bit cold. And after all the rain in October this month, I DEFINITELY figured this would be a big fat fail. Jason's original idea for his proposal was to take me star gazing at Little Mulberry Park (my little piece of heaven on Earth).

Turns out his proposal was even better since it was at the location of our first purposeful hangout. :)

My parents came in town for my birthday. This night, we asked my parents if they would "watch" the kids after bedtime so we could sneak off for a little bit. We grabbed a couple of blankets and headed to an undisclosed location. Armed with hats, gloves and jackets, we laid in the pitch black to see the stars in all their glory. We even caught a glimpse of a shooting star. I can't remember what wish I made but right now, honestly, it feels like any wish I could have possibly made has already come true.

TASK #97 ... COMPLETED 10/24

BONUS!!!!

For the last six months or so, I have been thinking about one thing that I didn't put on my list for fear of ridicule or misunderstanding. It was highly debated among the committee (me, myself and I) whether #100 on the list should be "Fall in love".

For the longest time, I felt as though I would never find someone who I would want to spend the rest of my life with. The last four years it seems I have been surrounded by couples who were unfaithful or simply bored after 20, 30, even 40 years of marriage! It's not that the desire wasn't there. I just wasn't sure that I would find it. So it was fitting that "Fall in love" was a HUGE risk for me. I figured I would just keep "Fall in love" on my list of 100 things until the day it actually happened. And boy, would that be a great post. I didn't want people to think I put it on my list in an effort to force myself to fall in love. And I didn't want to explain myself every time it came up in conversation. So I left it off the list. Looking back, it seems like I should have gone with my instinct and kept it at #100. Hindsight is always 20/20 though, isn't it?

By now, you've probably read enough of this blog to know a great deal about my story. You know about some of my deepest hurts growing up and through my divorce. You've read some of my journeys to become unafraid. You've read my journey over the last several months about how my friend, J, became my boyfriend, my best friend and truly the love of my life. I remember my uncle telling me once in response to my question, "How do you know when someone is THE ONE?" that "You just know, Ana. You just know." That was in 2000. Nine years later, I can say with confidence, "I just know". But... I digress. You are probably wondering (some of you already know) what the BONUS is. It starts with ...

The very first time J and I hung out intentionally, just us, as friends, was a random night when he was having a craving for ice cream. We met at the Ben & Jerry's by my house and swung on the swings outside of it while we enjoyed our ice cream and talked... about everything. That was about this time last year (Nov. 2008).

Fast forward to Monday, October 12th. J was on his way back in town from a work trip and we had a date planned for Little Mulberry Park and hopefully, stargazing (trying to cross more off of my list). The weather has been pretty crappy and it was cold and wet that day and quickly turning into night by the time we got back up to Gwinnett from the airport. I had mentioned being in the mood for sushi so J asked if I just wanted to go to Green Tea (a sushi place by Ben & Jerry's) and swing on the swings. Of course, we had to get some ice cream first. Dessert before dinner? Heck yeah!

We grabbed the ice cream and got on the swings. Just like we did last year. He confessed that it was that night when he first began struggling with liking me. (I don't know what the struggle could possibly have been. I'm a catch. haha) After that, he mentioned a lady he spoke to at the airport and a cool story she told him...

The story begins with her husband's parents.

On their 25th wedding anniversary, the wife gave the husband a ring. A nice men's ring with a blue sapphire in it. The husband was grateful and thought the ring was nice but he was a guy. And guy's don't wear jewelry. So the ring sat off to the side until a couple of years later. The couple's son was turning sixteen. The father passed that ring off to his son and the son had the same thought. "This is a nice ring but I'm a guy. And guy's don't wear jewelry." So once again, the ring sat off to the side. Until the day a few years later when the son met and fell in love with a girl (the lady J was talking to at the airport).

Now, it's the 1950's. The son is in the Navy and fears he will get shipped out. He doesn't want to marry this girl and risk going to war and not coming back. So he takes the ring that his father gave him and gives it to the girl with the promise that he will marry her when he gets out of the military a couple years later. Well, the couple can't wait. They get married within the year. The son replaces "the ring" with a proper engagement ring and once again "the ring" gets set off to the side.

Until the day, more than 50 years later, when a young gentleman expresses his desire to marry their granddaughter. He wants to know whether there is a ring in the family that has an special meaning or story because he knows their granddaughter will appreciate that much more than a random ring bought at the store. So they think about this ring. This ring that has been set aside for all these years. The ring they thought over the years of turning into a necklace. So they take the blue sapphire stone out of the ring. Get it placed into an engagement setting, give it to the young man to give to their granddaughter and it looks like this...

I looked over at J. And he had a box opened with a ring in it. A ring with a blue star sapphire as the center stone. And he got down on one knee on the cold wet ground and asked me to marry him!

And it clicked. The son and the girl he fell in love with were my grandparents. The lady in the airport was my grandma talking to J on the phone giving him all the details so he wouldn't forget the story when he told me. After I cried, and said 'Yes', he told me one more thing...

"Your grandma told me when you were a little girl that you always used to sit on your grandpa's lap and ask him if he would wait for you, so you could marry him when you grew up. Now, you have an engagement ring from him."

It never seemed possible to love someone as much as I love J. What seemed even less possible than that was loving someone who loved me just as much and didn't have a problem showing it. It took four years that seemed so long but now, they seem to have passed by so quickly. I constantly see the signs along the way where the Lord was leading J to me and me to J. It was difficult at times to follow His lead but I'm glad I did it. And THAT'S how I "just know".

J~

It was a great day when I said "Yes" and I am SO looking forward to saying "I do."

I love you ... more than all the seconds I had to wait for God to bring us together!