You shouldn't keep secrets!

Good Advice! This past month has been one of the most deceitful and stressful months of my life. It all started on christmas. My mom was driving me back to my apartment after we had done the Xmas with the family, and I figured this was the best time to bring up the convo. We had been talking a little bit about Nat and I, so I thought I'd ask my mom what she thought if we got married. She said she though it would be great, and started asking me questions of how I would take care of Natalie and what told me I was ready for that  commitment. Now she wasn't asking me about the readiness because she didn't want me to, she was just making sure that I was being fair to Natalie and not just doing it on a whim. So after I gave her my reasons and my thoughts of everything she told me that I had the right mind set for a marriage. she didn't say that word for word but that was the gist of it. So with that down It was time for me to talk to my dad. I had told Nat that I had talked to my mom to show her I was serious about our relationship, but I told her that I wouldn't tell her when I would talk to my dad or her parents. (apparently she wasn't paying attention to this bit of information, you'll find out later) So I had went to Alice (I wouldn't be surprised if no one knew where this was at), but this is where I'm from. So new years rolls around and we were getting ready for a new years party and I decided this would be the best time to talk to my dad before we all got trashed. When I approached him I told him that I needed to talk to him about something, and asked if my mom had told him what we had spoken about on christmas. He told me yes, so it saved me a lot of time and breath loll. I asked him what he thought and his serious tone came in. He only does this for meetings and times when he is trying to show off, haha kJ. So he told me that he thought Natalie was a very great woman and that she takes very good care of me and she has relieved a ton of stress from him and my mom. He said that he was very happy with our relationship, and that we had his blessing for a marriage. I would have done it even if he said no haha.

So two down and two to go. My time with Nat's parents was limited because of the day I wanted to ask her and the fact that they live about 4 hours away and it would be a long walk for me if I wanted to see them. So luckily they had come for a week to a town close by to spend the new years and relax for a bit. Sadly Nat's mom went up to waco for a few days to see her mom so that cut my time a little… It's not your fault lol. And on top of that we find out on Tuesday that Nat's uncle is getting married the coming saturday, talk about short notice haha..  So it is saturday (wedding day) everyone is together so I finally have my chance. so I discretely disappear with Nat's dad to ask him if we can go for a drive, but he has to ask nat's mom to come because I had to talk to them. He agreed so we reappear and he asks her if we can go for a drive. Well Natalie decides to impersonate a bad cases of hemorrhoids and  lingers around me so it is kinda hard to shake her off. So I tell her we are going to go get something to drink and ask her if she wants me to pick anything up for her. Well Ms. nosey asks why her mom is going, I tell her I dunno her dad just asked her to come. So we are about to take off on our drive, and they almost forget me! Lucky I realized this or it would have been a loss haha.We take off and I told her parents that no family outside of my own has been so accepting of me and loving towards me (at least I think they do) and I asked them if I would be able to join theirs and marry Natalie. There was no answer but I could tell her dad was excited. He turned back and asked mama(nat's mom from now on)  what she thought. She didn't answer, but then I realized she was crying. (I didn't know she hated me that much) lol. She said that she would be happy if I did. So I was thrilled and her dad said ok and shook my hand. So to give the eyes a little time to not be so puffy we got some gas. When we got back Ms. nosey asked why I didn't get anything. I hadn't realized I was empty handed so I told her that I was looking for a fairly rare soda, and that they didn't have it. She said ok and I was secretly thinking to myself "fool!" lol. Now that the easy part was down… (wish I was making that up) It was time to find a ring.

So I made up a story that I had to go home to see a doctor for some therapy I do. And Natalie bought that story too. So it was a few days after I talked to her parents and I was home. It was actually 2 weeks from today that I went. I had the perfect jeweler in mind so I utilized my great guide dog and walked to his shop. Well he was out of town. haha. But lucky for me a woman that worked there called him and told him what I was looking for so he went to the place where he gets his diamonds from and he hand picked a few for me. The next day he came into town and luckily he was at an office right next door to where I was and he gave me a ride to his shop. That is the greatest customer service I have ever had. Hand picked diamonds and a ride to the shop? Did I mention he is practically family? haha. So we arrive at his shop and Natalie starts texting me. So to cover up and assure that she wouldn't call I told her I was talking to a cousin that I hadn't talked to in a long time and that she likes to talk. So I got the ring and diamond picked out. It was a Marquise diamond on a cathedral setting with a white gold band. So I had to wait for a few days to have the ring built and prepared. It was done and my parents picked it up for me because I was in San Antonio by this time. So then the next challenge was to figure out how to get the ring in right under Nat's nose. Well with the help of my great (awesome not old) grand parents the ring arrived in S.a. Luckily Natalie had a class where she was going to been gone for at least an hour so my grandma could bring me the ring.So Natalie left the apartment and in less then a minute I was on the phone with my grandma asking her if she would be so kind and bring the ring over. She did and I was like a 5 year old waiting for christmas. Then finally it arrives. I told my grandma thank you very much and hurried back inside to check it out and hide it. My hiding place was second to none. Under Egypt's crate. haha. It has an area kind of like the bottom of a dresser but the front was covered up. I slid it over just a bit so I could stash the box underneath, making sure that when I slid the crate back it lined up perfectly with the impressions on the carpet.

Natalie comes home shortly after and we just hung out for a while. Then some how we got into the engagement conversation and she asked me if I had talked to her parents. I told her no because I hadn't had a chance to talk to them. She argued with this lie by saying that I had a perfect chance to talk to them around the time of the wedding. Little did she know. Then she asked me if I had talked to my dad and I told her I hadn't again she told me I could have talked to him when I went for new years.  Then I told her that I forgot about both times and she was right that I could have talked to them. If she had been paying attention to me on christmas she probably wouldn't have been so upset. haha. She got her feelings  hurt because I had "forgotten" and I felt bad because little did she know she was standing literally feet from her ring. So after a while I went out and started beating around the bush and asked her what she liked for a ring, partly to cheer her up but also to make her think I hadn't started. Yes guys can play mind games too. So we start looking online for some ring ideas and she tells me she kind of liked the princess cut diamonds. I could have shot myself ha. So we did that for a while and then I told her I would start researching things.

So mission accomplished Then saturday rolls around. My oldest sister came into town and she was staying at my brothers house. it was going to be an all sibling night over there. So I was very excited because this meant I could show them the ring so they wouldn't be left out. they already knew I was planning on proposing by the way. So I asked Natalie if I could spend the night there, but forgot in all the excitement we had a date that night for our anniversary. Could you blame me it was like a minute that all this happened and world war three almost started. So Natalie got extremely upset, and so was I because It was our anniversary dinner. When I was trying to explain to her all I could do was lie, yes that sounds bad but I couldn't tell her. OH! I want to go so I can show my brother and sisters your engagement ring! that would just ruin everything. So I get yelled at for a while, and retreat. I tell Natalie's sister what had happened so she wouldn't be mad at me because I thought Nat had told her what had happened, and I also wanted some advice on how to apologize because there was nothing I could say to fix it, and I sure wasn't going to tell her the truth. So while I was talking with Erin, Natalie was getting more upset because I went and talked to Erin "behind her back" as Natalie thought. The war just started… Poor erin. So after Erin and I get yelled at, I try and make things better. I have no idea how I did it but I made Natalie feel better and not be mad. Natalie said all I had to do was apologize and mean it. If I didn't it would have been a really awkward dinner.

So now we pass some excruciatingly slow days to tuesday our 2 year anniversary. I told Natalie I wanted to take her to the San Antonio botanical garden so we went. I had my whole speech planned out to lead me up to the proposal. So we were going around the gardens and Natalie was going crazy on her camera taking pictures of dead plants haha. Then I told her I wanted to get to a swing we had seen close to the entrance of the park. I told her this because it would give me some time to build up some courage to start my speech. Well there was a flaw in the plan… I was standing about 10 feet away from a bench so she told me "Why don't we sit at this bench?". I wish I had a bat so I could have broken it so we wouldn't have had to sit there. To bad I didn't. So we sit and I start my speech on how I can compare a relationship to a garden. I thought it was a good speech but Natalie told me later that her and Erin thought it was corny. She's lucky she got a speech and not a ring box thrown at her while I run away screaming the question instead. So after my clever comparison I told her I had to ask her a question, while I was saying this I got up and was beginning to kneel down. I had pulled out her ring box from Egypt's treat bag. That was the only Place I could hide it. I cleaned out the treats that morning. Poor Egypt she did good work that day too, but I made up for it.  So throughout the day I was walking with a ring in my dogs treat bag, and one time natalie got to close to it so I moved it to the other side of my waist. I was paranoid. So After my proposal she told me " Ah no you didn't, no you didn't" I told her I did lol, and then she told me yes. So after that we called mine and her parents to tell them. Her mom put her on hold, my mom didn't answer her dad didn't answer, but my dad did. He never gets calls so I'm sure when he heard the ring he leapt across the room to get his phone haha just kidding dad. So later on we are driving back home and she confessed to me that she was looking at my pants pockets to see if I had any bulges that should be there. I'm not stupid enough to leave something like that out for her to see. Later we went to this awesome restaurant called the melting pot. It's amazing. They gave us a toast to the engagement and free wine glasses. I told Nat we could use the glasses at the wedding, but she had to burst my bubble and tell me the glasses said The Melting Pot on the side of them haha. O well. So that was the worst/best month of my life. It was hard lying to her and making her cry, but I told her I would make it up to her. I promised that. Hopefully it was enough haha.