of course i will!

anna maria island, 8/11/12

i have been dying to go to anna maria island since i had found out about it a few years ago. as a matter of fact, i had told two little birds that go by sara and christine, that i would LOVE to get engaged there. and so when my family was visiting last weekend, and pat suggested we take a day trip there, i knew something was up. but alas, my two brothers decided they wanted to go to cocoa beach, i was out voted 2-1 for probably the one billionth time in my 27 year life, and was put in a terrible mood. when we got to cocoa beach, i jokingly told pat "do not propose to me here, i am in the worst mood right now."

fast forward to a week later, pat (on his own) booked a hotel for the three of us and made a dinner reservation at the best restaurant on the island for just us two, and off we went to anna maria island. we were there for about 15 minutes, before i said i wanted to go down to the beach to see the gulf of mexico. we sat down and started talking about chicago, and how different our surroundings are. patrick kept saying "you know i love you, right?" so often that i finally stopped saying "i love you too" and started saying "i know you do." he finally turned to me, on one knee, and with shaky hands asked me to marry him. i wanted to tell him to calm down, that he had nothing to be nervous about. but all that went out the window the second i saw the ring. i grabbed it out of his hands, put it on my finger, then asked "does my dad know?" and when he nodded his head, i threw my arms around his neck, nuzzled into his shoulder and said "of course, of course i will marry you!"

i wanted to wait until my mom was home from china to tell everyone, and so that's what we did. we spent the rest of the day just us; talking about where we want to get married, who we want to stand by our sides, we referred to each other as "fiance" so often that we now say it with a very exaggerated french accent, and i just stared at my hand as the most beautiful piece of jewelry sparkled back at me...

"of course!"

i love this man, and i cannot wait for him to be my husband.