ring.jpg


A few months ago I re-branded C Weddings.  My friend Byron designed a few logos for me and I knew I had found the right logo when I saw an engagement ring incorporated into the C Weddings brand.

More than anything else, I find getting engaged to be the most exciting moment in the process of getting married.  Before all of the busywork that goes into organizing a wedding, before the awkward meeting of parents and in-laws, before drawing up the budget, and before the acknowledgment that there is indeed going to be rain on the wedding day, there was my then-boyfriend, down on one knee.

Actually, the cast on that day was bigger than just my husband.

On a particular Saturday night I come home from church after an evening of youth group.  I am exhausted, so I do what I usually do when the kids drive me nuts--I lie down and rest for a bit.  Suddenly I hear my door unlock and then I see two guys break in, politely (is there such a thing as breaking in politely?), with a key.  Before they shut off the lights I can see that they're my friends, and then I hear a clashing of the dishes as one of them trips over glass bowls that I put on the floor as booby traps should someone break in.  A fishing pole's on the floor too, and I hear someone say something like Put your hands up!!  or Surrender! 

I am calm now. 

-Egan, is that you?

-Man, we never do things right, says Egan.

The lights are on now.

-Here!  Just put on the blindfold, says Ben, now in the tone of a friend rather than the raving lunatic terrorist he's supposed to be, like on 24.  He gives me a bandana because now it's self-serve, and they tie my hands together and lead me downstairs.  I hear a minivan door open and I hear foreign music and Ethan screaming Where is the bomb!??!?!? while braking suddenly from time to time.  I think I am going to throw up, I tell them, and if we get pulled over by the cops this will be interesting.

We get to Manhattan Beach and they untie the blindfold.  One of my youth group kids, Benita, hands me a large bouquet of flowers and along with another one of my youth group kids, Kathy, they both lead me down a walkway onto the beach.  At one point they tell me to keep going, and I am walking in the sand, clothed in darkness.  I hear my boyfriend's voice.  Eventually I see him because there is my paparazzi friend Jason (who means well) lingering his stay, his camera flashing like hell as he takes pictures of us.  So now it is just romantic and funny at the same time.  My boyfriend is wearing a suit and my third wheel friend is standing there waiting for my boyfriend to proceed.

After my boyfriend asks Jason to please leave he then proceeds to tell me many things.  I wish I remember what he says, but the truth is I am bawling my eyes out.  You are thinking how sweet, but usually when I cry it is not pretty.  It's a snot-coming out, face scrunched up like a prune type of crying.  Good thing it's dark, because he's still talking and not backing up and running out of there.

At that moment I understand that deep down inside everyone longs to be known, accepted, and loved for who they are.  On that night my then-boyfriend--by placing one knee in the sand and offering me a ring--communicated to me that he loves me for who I am, enough to want to spend the rest of his life with me.

This is what I think of when I see my engagement ring.  Things are simple back then.  It's the beach, the wind blowing at my back, the adjusting of my eyes to the darkness and seeing a man who wanted to love me further by asking a simple question.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Love
November 23, 2009
ring.jpg


A few months ago I re-branded C Weddings.  My friend Byron designed a few logos for me and I knew I had found the right logo when I saw an engagement ring incorporated into the C Weddings brand.

More than anything else, I find getting engaged to be the most exciting moment in the process of getting married.  Before all of the busywork that goes into organizing a wedding, before the awkward meeting of parents and in-laws, before drawing up the budget, and before the acknowledgment that there is indeed going to be rain on the wedding day, there was my then-boyfriend, down on one knee.

Actually, the cast on that day was bigger than just my husband.

On a particular Saturday night I come home from church after an evening of youth group.  I am exhausted, so I do what I usually do when the kids drive me nuts--I lie down and rest for a bit.  Suddenly I hear my door unlock and then I see two guys break in, politely (is there such a thing as breaking in politely?), with a key.  Before they shut off the lights I can see that they're my friends, and then I hear a clashing of the dishes as one of them trips over glass bowls that I put on the floor as booby traps should someone break in.  A fishing pole's on the floor too, and I hear someone say something like Put your hands up!!  or Surrender! 

I am calm now. 

-Egan, is that you?

-Man, we never do things right, says Egan.

The lights are on now.

-Here!  Just put on the blindfold, says Ben, now in the tone of a friend rather than the raving lunatic terrorist he's supposed to be, like on 24.  He gives me a bandana because now it's self-serve, and they tie my hands together and lead me downstairs.  I hear a minivan door open and I hear foreign music and Ethan screaming Where is the bomb!??!?!? while braking suddenly from time to time.  I think I am going to throw up, I tell them, and if we get pulled over by the cops this will be interesting.

We get to Manhattan Beach and they untie the blindfold.  One of my youth group kids, Benita, hands me a large bouquet of flowers and along with another one of my youth group kids, Kathy, they both lead me down a walkway onto the beach.  At one point they tell me to keep going, and I am walking in the sand, clothed in darkness.  I hear my boyfriend's voice.  Eventually I see him because there is my paparazzi friend Jason (who means well) lingering his stay, his camera flashing like hell as he takes pictures of us.  So now it is just romantic and funny at the same time.  My boyfriend is wearing a suit and my third wheel friend is standing there waiting for my boyfriend to proceed.

After my boyfriend asks Jason to please leave he then proceeds to tell me many things.  I wish I remember what he says, but the truth is I am bawling my eyes out.  You are thinking how sweet, but usually when I cry it is not pretty.  It's a snot-coming out, face scrunched up like a prune type of crying.  Good thing it's dark, because he's still talking and not backing up and running out of there.

At that moment I understand that deep down inside everyone longs to be known, accepted, and loved for who they are.  On that night my then-boyfriend--by placing one knee in the sand and offering me a ring--communicated to me that he loves me for who I am, enough to want to spend the rest of his life with me.

This is what I think of when I see my engagement ring.  Things are simple back then.  It's the beach, the wind blowing at my back, the adjusting of my eyes to the darkness and seeing a man who wanted to love me further by asking a simple question.


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