Promises

After being long distance friends for ages, Aaron and I began dating when we met face-to-face and brought in the New Year together in 2009-2010. He made a promise to me then, that we'd end the year the same way we'd started it: together. Since then, I have moved 3000 miles to California to live with him. We eventually moved out of his old place and got an apartment together in a nice neighborhood. We even inadvertently rescued a cat, together.

This New Year we attended the same party as we had last year, hosted by the lovely Emily at her and Jon's apartment in Los Angeles. As 2010 ended and 2011 began we exchanged the traditional midnight kiss, but then something more happened. Still holding me close, he says, "Last year I made a promise, and here we are. This year I'm making another promise..." and slips a ring onto my ring finger. My heart raced and I'm almost certain I blushed, speechless. I kissed him and he smiled like he always does, "I take it that's a yes?"

We were even sitting in the exact same place. Perfect in every imaginable way.

Of course it was a yes! It took the room a few minutes to catch on, but once it did the excitement was like electricity in the air. Congratulations and hugs all around. We had to excuse ourselves into the vestibule for a little privacy as we made the appropriate phone calls to people who weren't there, "We're getting married!"

The best part was what he told me next. How long he'd been planning this and more specifically, when he set his plan into motion. That week we went down to his mom's house for Thanksgiving and I got the super flu? When he and his mom went out to fetch me some soup, they also went and had my ring designed. He knew he wanted to marry me even when I was at my absolute orifice-spewing grossest. How sweet!

The ring deserves its own paragraph. It is one of a kind. Remembering that I prefer white gold to yellow gold, that my favorite gem is the garnet, and that I absolutely adore pearls in every way -- even after only having been told once in a conversation so long ago; he had crafted exclusively for me the most beautiful ring I've ever seen. Featuring a splendid white pearl as its focal point, two vibrant oval-cut garnets, two circular diamonds, all set in delicately and elaborately designed white gold.

It was the perfect timing, at the perfect place, with the perfect ring, in the perfect company. Every time I look at my hand, I smile now. I just can't help it. The thought of spending the rest of my life with him instills in me just such a joy it cannot be contained.