Tuesday, July 25, 2006

So I update last with the good news of my engagement. Well, the emotional event rollercoaster continues. Last Tuesday I got fired from my job. MedStar has these wacko attendarnce and tardy policies. They put a new tardy policy into effect on June 1, without telling us what it was going to be, then they made it retroactive to the beginning of the year. It is basically a no-tolerance tardy policy, for whatever individual reasons we have. So by the time the new policy went into effect I already had 4 tardies; one for oversleeping, a couple for bad weather, and one for traffic problems enroute to work. Then the Thursday I got engaged, I was late for work because I was exhausted and completely slept through my alarm. My bad. Then last Tuesday I was late again because I got stuck on the freeway in the aftermath of a fatality auto-ped accident. They had the freeway shut down to one lane so they could do their investigation into why this lady got creamed on the freeway, and I got stuck with no exit to take. I was 15 minutes late to work. But that was my fault because I should have known that that lady was going to be killed that morning when I was trying to get to work, and I should have jumped the concrete barrier, or whatever, so that I could get on time. So I got fired for tardies. Oh, well. I didn't cry. MedStar is the one who cant make it's response times to calls and is 23 paramedics short of being staffed. Not me. I had another job by Thursday. I'm just glad
that I had two weeks of vacation banked. And I'm glad that I had almost a full paycheck coming to me anyways. So my last check was big. And I get two and a half weeks of vacation before I start my new job at CareFlite. And I'm excited about my new job. It sounds like they really care about their employees, and I should hopefully be making more money than I was at MedStar. So it's all good. I'm still happy. And all of this came at the perfect time to hang out with all of Jeremys family that are coming into town for his brothers wedding this weekend. So it worked out better than I even thought it could have. Yay for me.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

I was just re-reading the last post I made just after my birthday. Remember how I said that the turquoise ring was a test ring? Well, I guess I won't say I told you so, because it's tacky. But I will say that I am ENGAGED! Jeremy proposed to me last Thursday, the 13th! Wow, crazy, I know. Now, the story, in great detail so I can remember it and tell it to my grandchildren:

I had suggested last Wednesday that we go out to dinner on Thursday after I got off of my overtime shift, since we had not had much alone time with all the preparations for his brother's wedding going on. On Thursday, Jeremy called me while I was at work and asked me where I wanted to go. Then, he suggested this Brazilian restaurant in Grapevine, Boi Na Braza, that we love so much for it's totally delicious vegetable bar. I immediately agreed and went on with my shift. After work, which I got out of late, I scrambled to wash MedStar off of me and put on something cute, then we flew out the door, because apparently he had made reservations. I noticed on the drive over there that he was nervous about being late because he thought they would give his table away, even though we were only about 10 minutes behind schedule. When we walked in, the seated us at a table (the one he had reserved, so all the worrying for nothing, I thought, not realizing the real reason for the nervousness). This table was in a side room with the wine racks, and no one else was seated there. There was a crystal vase on the table with huge, fragrant lilies. I thought, "Hmm, when did they start putting flowers on the table?" I'm dense sometimes and don't pick up on things right away. We then jumped all over the veggie bar and made googley eyes at each other between kisses and bites of artichoke hearts. It was a very romantic dinner, and after we had finished eating he reached into his pocket and pulled out a little leather box. He handed it to me and said, "I got you a gift." Inside I found a plastic gumball ring; a silver star and a large blue plastic stone. He knew that I wanted a sapphire engagement ring because I had jokingly mentioned it sometime in the first month of dating, and then we had been looking at engagement rings online a few weeks before, so he could see what I wanted. He said, "I couldn't afford much because I am saving up for the real thing." And I excitedly exclaimed "You got me a star sapphire! How beautiful!" I simply took this as affirmation that he really wanted to marry me, and he was working hard toward that goal, fully expected an engagement ring by December. The waiter came and took our plates and asked if we wanted dessert now, and Jeremy said yes. When he returned, instead of having the dessert cart, he had a cake, which he set down in front of me, along with a sterling cake server. I recognized the cake as one coming from the favorite cake-maker of the family, which we had been using heavily recently, with all of the weddings, birthdays, and parent's days stuff that had gone on in the last six month. I though, "Geez, his mom will come up with any excuse to buy a cake." See how dense I am? Jeremy suggested I cut the cake, and I when I did, the server would only go halfway into the cake. Confused, I said to Jeremy, "I can't cut it, it won't cut!" He told me to try again, in a different spot. Same results. So he tells me to take the top off the piece of cake and see why it won't cut. After digging, I see a box, in the middle of the cake. I pull it out, wrapped in plastic wrap, and I unwrap it, with my hands shaking. At this point, I think, This is weird, but surely it couldn't be a ring, it's too soon. That won't be until December. That's when everyone gets engaged. It was a porcelain box. With tissue paper inside. Then, shaking, I pulled out the ring from the tissue paper, and Jeremy took it from me. He got down on one knee, and he said, "I love you more than anyone else in the world. You make me so happy, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You are every beat of my heart, and every breath in my lungs. Will you marry me?" Somewhere in the hyperventilating and crying I said yes and hugged him for several minutes. Sometimes it's hard to let go of a hug and move even a few inches away from someone you love that much. I had no idea, until the end. I didn't believe it was happening until I had the ring in my hand. He did a good job. I couldn't have had a better proposal if I had planned it out myself.

The ring:
Is frickin huge. It's 14K white gold, an almost 3 carat oval sapphire, perfect color and opacity, surrounded by 14 diamonds, totaling just under a carat. And it fits my finger perfectly. It was made for me. And God made sure Jeremy found it and that he got it for a reasonable price. The thing takes up almost my entire knuckle. I have a doorknob. I was not expecting it to be anywhere near that size. I will post pictures of the ring, and of the newly engaged couple as soon as I can get a clear, up close pic of the ring. Mitch will have to do it next time I see him, probably on Thursday. Ug, and I guess I actually have to learn how to post pictures on this blog now. I hear it's easy, but not when you don't know how.

Isn't that crazy? I'm engaged!