Big Secret: I'M ENGAGED!

Some readers of this blog may already know that because they know me "in real life," but I've been avoiding saying anything about it on the blog until pretty much everyone in my life knew about it and until we started actual planning.

The Life Partner (LP) and I are officially engaged. In fact, we have been since October 9th, when he proposed to me on our anniversary. We've been together for six years and were in no rush to actually get married. We debated the moral/ethical quandaries of marriage in the modern world, including whether it was right to get married when others are denied the right. But, in the end, the decision we came to is obvious.

Now, please indulge me while I share our engagement story. I just can't help myself.

Jake and I had a big day planned for our six year anniversary. I got the entire weekend off of work, and we knew we wanted to spend the morning of October 9th at the Griffith Observatory (which you can see from our apartment window), followed by a Thai Massage, and then dinner at Mozza. I had absolutely no clue that Jake was planning on proposing to me... until we got to the observatory. He started wandering around aimlessly, restlessly, until we got to the roof. I went to the ledge, trying to spot our building.

When I turn around, Jake is kneeling, rummaging through his backpack.

"Oh! Did you bring your camera?"
"No..."
He pulls a huge fairytale pumpkin out of his bag...
"Will you marry me?"
Jake takes the lid off the pumpkin, which he's carved out, to reveal two cupcakes from my favorite bakery.

I might have said something ridiculous like, "for realsies?" at this point, but when Jake started talking about wanting to get a ring custom-made and how he'd been talking to a goldsmith... that's when I realized that this was actually happening and started smothering him with kisses. And then he asked, "Did you say yes? I kind of blanked out there..."

Oops. "Yes! Yes! Of course, yes!"

And then I devoured the cupcakes... and Jake bought me some flowers.

Then we got a fabulous massage, went home, changed, and went out to dinner. It may have been one of the most perfect days I've ever had. I was so excited the entire time.

We told our families immediately, and I tried to tell as many of my friends in person as possible. Then we began the process of designing the ring with our goldsmith.

He's semi-retired, so I won't share his name, but he came recommended to us by one of Jake's co-workers who had his wedding rings and engagement ring done by him. I'll call him MG (master goldsmith) and he's the most fabulous man. He has a huge, bushy, white handlebar mustache, and lives on a sailboat for about half the year. We met with MG and his wife on the boat to talk about the design together.

I brought some of my favorite jewelry, my personal aesthetic, things that Jake and I like to do together. And after the initial meeting, MG e-mailed us some sketches, and we sent him some photos of things that inspired us and we nailed down some concrete ideas.

After that, MG sent us a wax carving of the ring, along with some ring sizers, so we could OK the final design and take photographs of the wax carving on my finger. Then, on December 23rd, MG was back at his sailboat, with the ring, and we met him there.

We are talking about over two months of waiting for the ring at this point, and the suspense was killing me. "Do you want some wine?" "No, nope. Just... I'm fine." Finally, MG pulled out the box and gave it to Jake. And inside that was another box. And then finally, the ring!

I've had it for over two weeks now and I still can't stop looking at it. What's amazing is how comfortable it is. MG made a curve in the ring to accommodate the webbing between my fourth and middle finger. It's not your typical engagement/wedding ring, but it's exactly what I wanted and very much who I am and I'm thrilled with it. I especially like that the stones are off-center, so it's sort of a surprise when you see them on my finger.

We're going to have MG make Jake's ring sometime in March and I'm even MORE excited about that!

Now, I swear I won't talk about wedding stuff too much. There's definitely a lot of other stuff going on in my life that I need to focus on, as well. 2011 is going to be a busy year!