Friday, December 26, 2008

I'm Engaged! Part One: Story

Just over 48 hours ago, Dahvede and I took off to go hike a favorite spot of ours. There’s a local mountain near us, called Mt Maunganui. In truth, it’s not much of a mountain, but all the same we love it.

For a few days leading up to our date/picnic on the mount, I was wondering if Dahvede would propose. I was convinced it wasn’t going to happen that soon, until someone let it out of the bag that a ring existed. From what I knew, a ring did not exist yet. Anyways, back to the story. I didn’t think it would happen on our date, and then I did, and then I didn’t. I was rather tense and a little depressed leading up to the day because I felt like the surprise was ruined.

The day of our hike (Christmas Eve here), we woke up to POURING rain. Both Dahvede and I were not particularly happy about that but (little did I know) he was praying up his own storm, with the help of his Dad back in Arizona. Right around lunch time, the weather began to ease and all of the sudden, it had completely cleared up. We took our time getting ready, and headed out to my sister’s house to drop my little brother for the afternoon. Stopping at the grocery store (and the liquor store) for some picnic makings, we finally made it to the mount, parked, and headed up the mount. After a few stops, we made it up to a look out we like stopping at. We made it to the top and Dahvede took me over to a new spot he had found last time he was there. We broke out our picnic stuff and enjoyed a relaxed lunch/snack as we looked out through the foliage at Tauranga. A little while after we had finished, Dahvede got up and said he needed to go to the bathroom. He picked up the backpack to take with him, making a comment about “being possessive”. He then dropped an envelope into my lap as he quickly walked away. I asked him if I could read it as he left and he said “look at it!”

Turning it over, it said simply, “Read Me.” Increasingly curious, I opened it and began to read a letter, written that morning from Dahvede. It sent me on an adventure, around the mount, with directions to go to certain places where I could look out at various places that had meant a lot to us both.

I followed the letters instructions and then quickly, headed back to the picnic spot.

As I approached our picnic spot, Dahvede appeared and came to meet me. I wondered if he was going to get down on his knee and ask me there, but always being full of surprises, he led me instead, back to the rock where we had been before. As I came around the corner, something caught my eye. A guitar, and a pohutakawa flower (NZ Christmas tree flower). He had me sit down, and pulled out the guitar. As he began singing, my heart caught in my throat. He began to sing “Grow Old With You” from the Wedding Singer. One of my favorite songs. Not sure what to do with myself, I sat and tried to not just stare at the ground. I was so nervous. As he finished the song and set the guitar aside, I really flipped out. Intermittently smiling, nervously giggling and staring at my toes, I didn’t know what was coming next and it was killing me!

He shifted and I realized he was on his knee now. I honestly can’t tell you what he said to me, I was kinda in a daze, but it ended with “Havalah Moriah Faith Mears, would you do me the honor and the privilege, of being my wife?” As he said this, he pulled a ring box from his pocket. He opened it to reveal the most beautiful ring I could have hoped for. My hands flew to my mouth and in shock I just stared for a moment. We have differing opinions as to what exactly happened next, but the important part is, I said “yes!”

I stood up and pulled him up to embrace me. We stood for a long time, simply holding each other. For the first time, Dahvede told me he loved me, and of course, I returned the sentiment. We had made a commitment before meeting one another that we would save those precious words for our spouses, so it was an incredibly special moment for both of us.

We celebrated our engagement over bottles of Smirnoff Ice, and shared things we had been holding back until we were engaged. It was a beautiful engagement and we are so happy to be together and are so excited for what the future holds!

For those of you who stuck with me and read this whole things, THANKS! I couldn't be happier right now!

~~~~~~~~


For Dahvede's version of the story, click here.

*Pictures to follow*

6 comments:

Ashlie said...

Congratulations!!!! This is such an exciting time!

Stacey Werly said...

Havalah,
That's so exciting! I'm so happy for you guys!
~Stace

d.e.randlett said...

I am so happy for both of you!!! I talked to mum today about looking for tickets! And she was cool with it. I. Am. Freaking. Out. This will be really really kind weird if my first experience flying anywhere will be an 18+ hour flight overseas by myself. But it is soooo worth it! I miss you bunches and bunches. And I'm working on getting a headset so we can Skype. <3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

d.e.randlett said...

Oh yeah...pictures? :-)

Anonymous said...

Congrats guys. What an awesome romantic day it was. Woohoo that is great news.

Anonymous said...

YAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! I am sitting here and i have tears in my eyes.. sooo beautiful.... Bryce is gonna FLIP when i tell him.... wowy, soooooo thrilllled!!!!!! CAnt wait for the photos! Love to you both!!!!!!! CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!