This brought on the topic of "IF I were to by to buy you a ring, what would you want?" conversation. I of course followed with my usual response to every other thing in life-"I don't care." So, one day while we were out shopping around, we drove past a jewelry shop. I was jokingly asked if I wanted to go in. I jokingly said sure back-thinking we'd continue on driving. Somehow we ended up actually going in and looking around to "get an idea for what you like." I had originally walked into that store thinking I wanted a plain band with a single diamond on it.
Hm. Throw a couple hundred different rings in front of one girl-see what happens. It'll entertain you I'm sure.
We slowly made our way around the room looking at the various styles. I had come across one or two that I liked-including one that looked just like a twisty-tie :). It wasn't until we were almost completely around the room that I was shown a ring that completely caught my eye. It was unique. I loved it. Tony quickly asked-"If I come in-say six months from now-and that ring isn't here, how do I get it?" the response wasn't what I wanted to hear. "If it's gone, it's gone."-I mean great! that means not every one and their sister will have that ring, but at that moment-I wanted to be gone. I was done looking because I didn't want to fall in love with a ring I wouldn't be able to have. And those were my exact words as we walked out the store a few minutes later. Along with "I don't want to do that again."
Fast forward a few months...10 to be exact...
After much deliberation we decided on taking a trip. This my friends, was our first official vacation as a couple. Believe it or not, over the 5 years we had been together we hadn't really taken a vacation together. A weekend away up north doesn't count, in my eyes at least. We both had taken our separate vacations with our friends, but we had never done it together. One step at a time.
We booked our trip to Cozumel and started the countdown til we left. Actually, Tony started the countdown. For some odd reason, this trip didn't seem real to me. Honestly, I really didn't get excited for it until we were sitting in the airport. And for some strange reason, Tony was a little too excited for it if you ask me. The ten e-mails a day with "are you excited??", "__ days til we're on the beach!" "What do you want to do this day?" where a little excessive. But I let it slide.
Fast forward again to the day we leave. It's 4 am. I'm going through the last minute packing and double checked our paper work. Pause. I forgot to mention something. Awhile back in conversation I had mentioned to Tony I had never had an ocean front room. It was never brought up again. Until I accidentally ruined my surprise when I was looking for our transfer information.
Haley: In a confused tone..."why on earth does this say we have an ocean view room"
Tony: "YOU RUINED IT!"
H: "ruined what?!"
T: "You weren't supposed to see that!"
H: "WHAT!? See what?!"
T: " I kept that a secret all these months and the DAY OF you find it!"
H: still in a confused/half asleep tone "I'm sorry?"
Oops.
Momma Mari walks in, Tony explains in disappointment that I found the room information. (hint) Momma Mari, who is way too excited for 4am, asks me if I'm "EXCITED!!??" As I'm standing in the hallway I reply with a yes but I can't be excited when my little boy Axel is starring back at me with a "what are we doing mom?" look...I didn't want to leave him :( So I quickly changed my answer.
While Tony gathered the luggage, I headed out to the car so I didn’t have to say goodbye to Axel. It's 4 am. On a Thursday. In October. It's dark out. I walk towards the car to get in the back seat, leaving the front for Tony. I get to the door to find Diane and Brent sitting in the back. Again, it's Thursday, Diane should be in school...or at least still sleeping in order to get up for school...she should not be sitting in the back seat! (hint) But not thinking anything of it I jump in excited that I get to see them before we leave. We head to the airport. One thing I've learned, Tony is not an ...easy...traveler. He was so frazzled that it was starting to make me uneasy. But we got through just fine and we were on the plane to Mexico in no time. Even on the plan he was still uneasy. He kept checking his jacket and pockets. (hint) I of course thought it was because of his change of money handling, he had his wallet plus a money clip. Again, I didn't think much of it...just that he needed to take a chill pill and relax.
We make it to Cozumel. Had a minor hiccup with our hotel, but we got it all worked out-more in our favor actually. We settled into our room and decided to walk around. At this point it was probably 7 pm. Let me remind you we had left our house at 4:30-5 maybe, so it was a long day of travel. As we are walking around we are debating about what we are going to do for dinner. Eat at a restaurant or order in. We head to the beach to watch the sunset while we are discussing. After sitting down for a few minutes I ask if we can just order in food and go to bed, I was too tired to sit at a restaurant. Tony agreed. After a few more minutes went by, Tony got up to use the restroom. When he came back out I got up from my chair, I was ready to head back to the room. Tony gave me a hug and made a comment about how he could do this the rest of his life. (hint) Silly me replied with a quick "me too" and turned to walk away. Tony held on to my hand but wasn't moving. When I turned around he was down on one knee.
Haley : In a serious tone..."Is this a joke?"
T: "No"
H: looking around for someone to jump out at me and say "haha gotcha!" but no one is jumping out..."Are you serious?"
T: "Yes"
H: "This is a joke"
T: pulls ring out of pocket
H: "That's fake" still not believing that this is really happening "This is a joke"
T: in a slightly irritated/unsure of what was happening voice "It's not fake" starts to pull my hand and turn the ring to put on my hand
H: noticing the turned ring and seeing the side of it "It's my ring!!!"
T: waiting patiently for an answer "Will you marry me?"
H: "Yes!"
Turns out the day after our little ring shopping adventure, Tony went back and got my ring. He must have heard my heart break when the girl told us that it could be gone if/when he came back. Those of you who know Tony, know how big of a P.I.A he can be when he is about to buy something. He'll research something for hours on end, every day, for months if needed until he finds what he's looking for.
I apologized to the sales lady when I went in to have it re sized.
Oh which reminds me, funny side story.
When we were in the store on our little adventure 10 months prior, our lovely sales lady wrote down the ring information and my ring size. Ya know, just in case. Silly me who still didn't think it would happen for some time, threw it on top of the shelf in the living room. It probably sat there for a month before I moved it one night. We were having friends over, so I moved it in between a couple books on the book shelf so people wouldn't see it and ask questions. Little did I know, Tony was searching the house top to bottom for that little sheet not long after our house guests. He never did find it. So when he did propose in Mexico I unfortunately couldn't wear it completely on my finger. Oh well. Adds to the story :)
But back to Tony's adventure. The boy knows everything about diamonds now. It's crazy. Apparently I picked such a different ring that he had a hard time finding a diamond to go with it. Round doesn't look right and princess doesn't look right. Luckily Katherine was in love with cushion cuts and brought one out for Tony. Perfect. Now came the "important" details, the details that I needed to apologize for. Katherine told me he's what they train for. Poor thing. After searching the limited number of diamonds and many random trips to "petsmart" Tony was able to find the right one. It may have been shipped in from Maine but it was the one. Again, I apologize to the girls at Shane. I love him. And every time I look at my finger I'm reminded of how much he loves me, the love we share for each other and the life we are about to start together.
