You know those days when you fall asleep and your dreams are
better than your reality? Or when you look around and realize that your reality
IS your dream. I have been blissfully floating the last (nearly) three weeks as
the reality of my dream come true slowly begins to sink in. Darin and I are
ENGAGED! Wait, let me say that again to help that sink in for you and I…DARIN
AND I ARE ENGAGED! Oh my goodness. I can hardly contain myself as I am so
overwhelmed by the reality of this dream come true and the culmination of so
many prayers answered.
I have tried to start this blog post several times since we
got engaged and just haven’t managed to find the right words. How do you even
begin to accurately describe and capture the joy and wonder of a day you have dreamed
about your whole life? I mean, seriously! From the time I was old enough to
watch Disney Princess movies and read fairytales, I have dreamed of the day my
“Prince Charming,” would get down on one knee and ask me to marry him.
Now before I get into the wonderfully gushy and lovey parts
of the story, I want to take a minute to talk about my journey leading up to
this day. The Lord was so faithful in leading my heart to that perfect moment
that I would be remise not to share my heart in the weeks (and months) leading
up to March 10.
Darin and I started dating on August 1, 2012 and I think by
August 2, 2012 I was ready to marry him. Ha! SO to say that waiting for 19
months (not that I was counting) was a struggle is an understatement. Add to
that the almost daily questions of when we were going to get engaged and I was
about ready to pop the question myself. Ha! Oh my goodness, it was a struggle.
My daily prayer was this-
Father please give me a content heart. I know your timing is perfect
but I am struggling with being impatient. Give me the patience and peace to
know that you are leading his heart so that he can lead mine. You are the
author of our story, so I pray for patience to let you continue to write the
details, even when my heart grows weary. Lead our hearts closer to your heart
as we fall more in love.
Oh my goodness, I prayed this prayer every day and sometimes
multiple times a day. Ha! With my impatience came serious insecurity as well. I
can’t even tell you how many times I would cry and say, “I don’t want you to
marry me just because I want to marry you” or “Are you sure you want to marry
me, because I am really excited and I want you to be excited too.” How
embarrassing now, right? Actually, just two days before he “popped the question,”
I had another one of my insecurity driven emotional meltdowns and cried and
cried asking him why he never talked about getting married and that I just
seemed so much more excited and ready to marry him. Ha! I’m seriously laughing
out loud as I type this because it’s so hilarious. My poor guy was probably
thinking, “Oh my goodness Emilee, please just let us get to Monday. You have no
idea what’s coming.” Poor fella. Now, in my defense, we had been making wedding
plans and had even decided on a date sooooo, it was a little tough to talk
about those things without getting super impatient about getting engaged. Am I
right?
Phew, it was a journey. BUT, I wouldn’t trade it for
anything. During those months of anguish waiting, my relationship with
Darin and with the Lord grew in such a sweet and rich way. The act of having to
lay down and pray away my impatience each day and intentionally trust that God
was working in and through Darin’s heart stretched me and grew me in really
neat ways. While I was Pinteresting one day, I came across a scripture that
spoke to my heart. After doing further research, I realized it was taken out of
context (Ha!) but I loved what it said and absolutely believe in the truth
behind it, whether or not it is scripturally accurate. The verse was Hebrews
6:15, “And so it was, that [she] having waited long and endured patiently,
realized and obtained what God had promised.” The truth in that verse
absolutely resonated with me, as I was reminded that my patience and efforts to
seek and pursue the Lord would be rewarded and His promises would be fulfilled.
How silly am I to ever question the Lord’s faithfulness or His perfect timing?
Okay, okay…I know the real reason why you’re reading this
post. You want the details, right? Well, without further adieu, I present to
you our engagement story…AKA the story of the BEST DAY EVER!
Our story technically begins on Valentine’s Day of this
year. After spending a sweet and snowy day together, we ended the evening with
a delicious dinner. Just before we ate, Darin gave me a card and told me that
this was the best present of the night. As I opened the card, I saw a homemade
coupon telling me to save March 10 (my first official day of Spring Break) for
an all day Fun Day of new adventures. Now, because I am writing with full
disclosure, I admit that at that moment, I totally thought that was going to be
THE day. Needless to say, I was psyched for the day to come! I tried not to get
my hopes up too high, but my mind may have wandered a little and I may or may
not have called one of my best friends giddy with the new clue. Ha! Well…March
got here and I had received absolutely ZERO hints about the impending “Monday
Fun Day.” I mean, nothing! My parents, Rachel, Darin…no one was acting “weird”
or overly excited or emotional about the day. So the week before March 10th
came and I began taking some self-preservation measures convincing myself that
March 10th wasn’t the day…I even went so far as to call Lydia back
and let her know to take the date off her calendar. Ha! (We are SUCH girls)
Geesh.
By Sunday, I had pretty well convinced myself that our
“Monday Fun Day” was going to be a glorified version of our weekly “Friday Fun
Day.’” I had mentally and emotionally prepared myself for the day and attempted
to fight off any thoughts that dared creep in my mind. On Sunday morning after
church, Darin asked if I wanted to sleep in the next day or wake up early. I
figured since we weren’t going to be engaged, we might as well make the most of
the day and start early. After we decided that, he went home and “changed the
plans” for the following day. Strike 1.
If you know Darin, you know he is a purposeful and meticulous planner. I knew
that if he was going to propose, there was no way he would have been so willing
to change his plans. Bummer. That night, he came over and told me that he had
found a spot that would take about 4 hours to get to but that we would have to
wake up early to make the most of our day. He also made a comment to my parents
(who were pretending like they were clueless- Strike 2) saying something along the lines of, “oh yeah, I’m not
going to take her any further north.” So I had 2 clues: we were going south and
it would take about 4 hours to get to. Being the geographically brilliant
person that I am, I decided that the only option that fit those two criteria
was Nashville-strike 3 and we’re OUT. As much as I love Tennessee, I
knew Nashville was too busy and crazy and not the scene either of us would want
for a proposal. Shoot.
Before Darin left on Sunday, he told me to pack two things:
my camera and a nicer outfit to wear to dinner. Well, even though I KNEW we
weren’t going to get engaged, I still wanted to find the perfect outfit to
wear. That only took about an hour. Ha! Geesh, try finding a cute dress for the
beginning of March with appropriate shoes when all of your spring and summer
clothes are in storage. I seriously think I tried on every dress in my closet
and was so frustrated by the end of it, I about told him to just forget the
nice restaurant. After my entire closet had been ransacked, I decided on an
outfit, journaled, and went to bed. My prayer that night was this-
Lord please bless Darin and my day tomorrow. I'm kind of disappointed
that we aren’t getting engaged. Please clear any expectations from my mind
tonight and tomorrow. Jesus please lead us and keep us safe
as we travel. Help me not be disappointed but just take every
moment as it comes. Lord thank you for blessing me with a man who loves me so
much. Thank you for showing me your love through him. Lord thank you for being
who you say you are.
7:15 on Monday morning definitely sounded better when we
were making plans the day before. My clothing fiasco had kept me up late and I
was definitely tired waking up for our grand adventure…little did I know what
was to come! At 7:15 on the dot, Sweet Love knocked on the door and we began
our journey. After veering onto I-71 South toward Louisville, my guess that we
were going to Nashville was confirmed. Or so I thought. After driving for about
an hour and a half, we came to the Downtown Louisville and Louisville Airport
split. Darin veered left into the airport. My heart instantly sank, knowing
that we had just missed the exit and that this would put a damper on our day
(since it would frustrate Darin so much). We drove for about 3 minutes on a
one-way road leading to the airport and Darin didn’t say a word. Which meant he
was REALLY mad. He pulled into the parking lot, took a ticket, parked, and got
out of the car. I stayed sitting in the car, thinking he had to have been
getting a map or something from the trunk. After sitting in the car for at
least 2 minutes, I hesitantly got out of the car to see what was taking so
long…after all, we only had a 9-minute grace period before it would cost to
park. Once I was out of the car, Darin looked up at me and said, “We’re going
to catch a plane, is there anything you don’t want to take with us.” Umm…what? In
a state of shock and thinking this had to have been a joke, I haphazardly threw
my hand sanitizer in the car and followed Darin into the airport.
When we were just outside of security, Darin asked if I
wanted to know where we were flying. Umm, yes!! He said I had given him a clue
on Friday after we had looked through our Bucket List Book and thought he would
make my spring break memorable by checking one of those things off the list. We
were flying to Charlotte, North Carolina! I kept looking at him in disbelief
and kept saying, “This is so crazy. You are so crazy!” I asked Darin how in the
world he managed to get tickets just the day before, to which he responded
without hesitation, “oh you know, lastminutetickets.com.” Yes, people I am
gullible. We made it through security without any issues, got Starbucks, went to
the bathroom, and boarded the plane…the very back of the plane. Once we were
seated, Darin started getting a little antsy as he realized that we were in the
back of the plane with a 43-minute layover in Atlanta that would require us to
change terminals. Oh boy! Being completely oblivious and just excited to be
flying somewhere, I kept assuring him that if we didn’t make the flight, we
would still find something fun to do in Atlanta. He didn’t like that answer and
assured me that if we had to, we would rent a car and drive to North Carolina.
We made the connecting flight without any trouble and landed
in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was SO excited and informed Darin that
Charlotte was super historical and that North Carolina was where all of
Nicholas Sparks books and movies took place. As we walked out of the airport,
we saw our rental car bus drive away…so we waited at the airport for 20
minutes. Once again, in my state of ignorant bliss, I assured Darin that it was
just amazing to be in North Carolina and to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.
Again, he wasn’t too thrilled with my optimism. Ha! Finally, we got the rental
car (which was a fancy Buick I renamed Buford) and began our journey…to South
Carolina.
When we pulled out of the airport, I started taking pictures
like crazy of anything North Carolina because I had never been and was just so
excited to be in a totally different and new state…especially since I started
the day thinking we were going to Nashville. We entered into South Carolina in
about 15 minutes and just kept on driving. We had the best time just driving
and talking and listening to music. I am a serious quality time kinda girl, so
having that uninterrupted time together was so wonderful. I kept saying, “this
is the best day ever!” and all we had done was travel…it doesn’t take much to
make me happy, people! It really was so wonderful and we just had the best time
exploring and enjoying the 82 (!!) degree weather. Goodness, it was great!
After we had traveled for nearly 4 hours, we stopped at a
Belk’s Department Store to change for “dinner.” When we got back in the car,
Darin said, “Okay, full disclosure…we’re going to the beach in Charleston, SC!”
Oh my goodness, the day just kept getting better and better. He said several
times, “We’ll always remember the day we traveled all day just to watch the
sunset on the beach.” All day I had been saying how much I felt like we were in
a movie, but when he told me that I REALLY felt like we were living in one of
my favorite chick-flick movies. Ha!
I was totally giddy at this point because I LOVE Darin and I
LOVE the beach and was so excited to experience them together. Oh my word.
Now, for those of you who are thinking, come on girl, you had to have known it was coming…I seriously
didn’t! Of course I had thought about it at different parts of the day, but I
had diligently prayed away those hopes and repeatedly pray for a content heart
and for the opportunity to rest in and enjoy the day that my Sweet Love had
worked so hard to plan. SO, while I had hoped and thought about it, by the end
of the day, I had done a great job of convincing myself that it was not going
to happen.
As we started seeing signs for Folly Beach, we came to
nearly standstill traffic. Yeah, that was a bummer. My poor guy had some serious
roadblocks, but he kept his cool all day. While we were sitting in traffic, I
checked my app on my phone to see when the sun was setting. 7:23. I saw that
and attempted to convince Darin that everything was fine and we had loads of
time and even if we got there after dark, we still would have gotten to hear
the ocean and be on the beach! After waiting in traffic for nearly 45 minutes,
we saw the source of the problem- a woman had run out of gas and had totally
stopped traffic. Didn’t she know Darin had big plans for the night? ;)
After a couple turns, we finally saw the ocean. Oh my
goodness! That was so exciting. I kept pointing and saying, “The ocean is
there! It’s right there Oh my goodness, this is so nuts.” We drove down a road
and parked…phew, my stomach gets butterflies as I type this, knowing how my
life was about to be forever changed. I jumped out of the car and grabbed my
camera and waited for Darin. Then he surprised me yet again- he had brought our
picnic blanket along for the journey! Being the helpful girlfriend that I am, I
reached in the trunk to carry it…little did I know the RING was wrapped IN the
blanket! Darin quickly redirected my attention and assured me that he could
carry it. Now I did think he had something hidden in the blanket, but I thought
it was just a book he had brought to read to me as we watched the sunset. Oh
how naïve I am.
As we started walking away from the car, we saw two paths to
take- a sand path and a roped off concrete path. Which one would you have
taken? Us too…we started walking down the sand path and there it was- the
beautiful beach at sunset. Ahhh. Again, full disclosure, at this point I DID
steal a glance at Darin’s pockets and didn’t see any signs of a ring. That was
the last time I thought about the possibility of getting engaged. We hugged and
looked around at the scenery but Darin wasn’t satisfied. He told me in the
picture he had seen, there was a lighthouse so this had to have been the wrong
beach. He contemplated what to do (and seriously considered asking then and
there) as he frantically texted the hidden photographer. She didn’t see us
anywhere. We were on the wrong beach. SO, Darin convinced me that the beach he
had seen was really cool and that we should try the other path to see if that
one took us to the beach with the lighthouse.
We took the other path and I actually suggested running
because I didn’t want to miss the sunset and was so excited to be at the beach.
Ha! As we got closer, we saw the lighthouse- sweet relief (for Darin). Walking
up the path, we saw yet another decision- go left toward a desolate and rocky
cove or right toward the beach. Darin led the way to the left and secretly
searched for a marking the photographer had made…but he didn’t see anything (even though that WAS where she was).
Panic mode once again! At this point, the sun was officially setting and Darin
was officially sweating. Ha! With no other option but to explore the other
side, he all but dragged be across the sharp, wet, and huge rocks to save time
to get to the other side of the beach where he was certain the photographer
was. Again I will say, poor fella.
This would be us walking AWAY from the photographer
Lucky for him, I was completely oblivious to his stress and
was too busy taking pictures of the sunset and lighthouse…because it was
BEAUTIFUL! As I was taking pictures, Darin was frantically texting the
photographer. Well, I thought he was taking pictures and at one point he even
told me to turn around and smile so that he could “take my picture.” Ha!
Hilarious. He was so smooth. I was all about capturing the moment and went a
little self-timer picture happy. Ha! This went on for at least 10 minutes.
After going back and forth with the photographer several times, he finally got
the go-ahead! It was go time!
Darin "Taking Pictures"
Seconds Before the Proposal
Darin had told me that he had brought our Bucket List book
with him for me to sign and date as we watched the sunset together. He handed
me the book and told me that he had already found and bookmarked the page. As I
read what he wrote, he quickly grabbed the blanket…and the ring(!) and brought
it closer to where we were standing. What I thought
I had read was, “watch the sunset on the beach with the one I love who I wish
would propose to me right now.” I looked up at Darin a little frustrated since
he had joked about proposing multiple times and thought DUH, I want you to
propose right now. Ha! I guess my reaction wasn’t what Darin was expecting so
he asked if I had read what he wrote. I read it again and this time saw that it
said, “Beach Sunset with the one who wants to love me for a lifetime…and
propose to me NOW!” When I looked up the second time, Darin was on his knee!
(phew, I tear up instantly picturing that visual)
OH MY GOODNESS!!
I immediately went into a state of shock, trying to process
that THIS was the moment I had been longing and waiting for. I was in so much
shock I continued to grip the book until Darin told me to put it down. Ha! After
I laid the book down, I covered my face with my hands and just shook my head
saying, “This isn’t real. Oh my goodness, this can’t be real.” After convincing
me that it was, I took my hands down and he began saying the sweetest words I
have ever heard…which for the life of me I can’t remember. Ha! All I know is
that it ended with “Emilee, will you marry me?” GULP. Insert another wave of
shock. I looked down and saw the most beautiful ring I have ever seen
shimmering in a light up box…yes, you read that correctly. The box literally
lit up. It was hilarious and amazing. At this point, I couldn’t contain myself
anymore and hugged the man I had dreamed of marrying for so long. We hugged as
he kneeled and then he stood up and hugged me. After hugging for quite some
time, he pulled me back and said, “Wait? Did you say yes?” I honestly can’t
remember if I had or hadn’t. He got back down on one knee and I officially said
YES YES YES!! Then he put that gorgeous ring on my finger. I haven’t stopped
staring at it yet! I actually keep taking a break from typing to stare at it.
Ha! Seriously.
After hugging, squealing, and staring at my ring for several
minutes, Darin surprised me yet again by saying, “Oh by the way, the
photographer is over there.” Again I will say…OH MY GOODNESS. Ridiculous. She
came over and we took some post-proposal pictures during the last few minutes
of the sunset.
As we walked back to the car and when I climbed into the car
and stole another look at my ring, I lost it. Phew, after that my tears came
easily. I was so overwhelmed and could not (I still cannot) wrap my head around
the reality of what had just happened. It was so amazing!
From the beach, we drove a few minutes into Downtown
Charleston and started calling our immediate family…who had been nervous and
excited wrecks all day long. Ha! Those were super sweet conversations as we
tried to put our excitement into words. That was impossible. After calling our
parents and siblings, we enjoyed a super yummy Italian meal at a restaurant
called Pane E Vino. I loved that time with Darin! I kept shaking my head in
bewilderment and asking all kinds of logistical questions. It was awesome.
At dinner he shared yet ANOTHER surprise…we were going to
get to stay a night in Charleston. Phew, that was icing on the cake. Throughout
the day I kept thinking, boy we are traveling an awful lot to turn around and
leave, so I was SO excited that we weren’t going to have to do that. That was
seriously such irreplaceable time for Darin and I to be away from the rest of
the world and enjoy the first few hours of being fiancé and fiancée. My Dad had
generously given us some of his Marriot Points to let us stay in two separate
rooms (on separate floors). We went back to the hotel, read some cards my
parents and sister had given Darin, and parted ways. Darin was EXHAUSTED after
all of the planning and stressful logistics and was so relieved that it has
been such a success and that it was over. I on the other hand was still trying to catch up to reality
and was waaaay too excited to sleep. I think I was up until at least 3:30 that
night.
The next morning, Darin came down at 8 on the dot and we
started our morning exploring Downtown Charleston. It was SO beautiful and I officially
want to move there. Seriously. We visited Battery Park and saw a dolphin (is
this real life?) and then drove for about an hour to Kiawah Island. Hellllllo
gorgeous! The morning could not have been more perfect! The sky was crystal
blue, the sun was shining bright, the waves crashing sounded so wonderful, and
we were engaged! Eeep! We spread our picnic blanket out on the beach and Darin
read some scripture and a passage he had brought and we soaked up that sweet
South Carolina sunshine. Oh it was heavenly…and was far too fleeting. After
only about an hour of beaching it up, we had to get back in the car and start
our journey home. Kiawah Island, we WILL be back!
Battery Park
During our four-hour drive back to Charlotte, we made phone
calls to family and friends and I continued to ask questions and gush about our
journey. We were both so excited that we found ourselves going a little too
fast on the highway annnnd ended our trip with a visit from a nice man in a
uniform. Dang it. As soon as the police officer walked back to his car, I
started crying and looked at Darin and said, “but you didn’t tell him we just
got engaged!” Thankfully the officer was (somewhat) gracious and cut the speed
down on the ticket. That darn ticket tried to rain on our parade, but Darin
assured me that it only added to our story. Geesh.
We made it to the airport in plenty of time, checked in, and
went to our gate. Darin was MUCH less stressed on the way home, so we enjoyed
resting on the plane and staring at my ring. Ha! On our final flight, Darin
told me the last surprise- my family was waiting for us in Louisville. When we
landed, we walked out of the terminal and were greeted by a whole lot of
screaming, hugging, balloons, and posters. It was awesome! Linda, Mom, Dad,
Rachel, Jeremy, and my Aunt Kathy had come to celebrate us coming home. We
laughed and said the people coming out must have thought we had gone and eloped
(if only ;) Haha!). After celebrating for a little bit at the airport, we drove
to my Nanny’s house and gave the full lowdown…at 10pm. We were EXHAUSTED after
traveling all day, so we were relieved to finally crash in our beds at the end
of the day.
Wow. If only words could describe all that I was feeling in
those precious moments. I neglected writing the story out for quite some time
because I knew I just wouldn’t be able to do it justice. The emotional, mental,
and spiritual shift that immediately happened when we got engaged was something
I can hardly describe in words. In that moment, I had such peace and was SO excited
to know that I was looking into the eyes of my future husband. It is
indescribable and absolutely humbling and amazing. I still can’t believe it. I
am SO overwhelmed by the opportunity to love and get married to Darin! Oh my
word, I can’t wait to be his wife!
We are also completely humbled and overwhelmed by the CRAZY
amount of love and celebration that came following our engagement. Seriously,
y’all are crazy. We seriously just cracked up laughing several times at your humbling response! It was so much fun and we loved reading through
every comment and text and appreciated all of the congratulatory hugs and well
wishes. You all love us well and we are so thankful!
We ended our engagement week by having the first official family gathering, where both of our families came together to eat, catch up, and hear our story. That was a highlight for sure! It was so fun to look around and see everyone together. Darin and I laughed and said we felt like we were in the show Parenthood. Ha! I love Darin's family and am excited to be an official Mirante!
Well, I’m sure there is more I COULD say, but chances are
this has already taken you forever to read. Ha! You know what, as a reward for
reading this post, you’re invited to the wedding! Mark your calendar for
January 1, 2015. But seriously, we’re inviting everyone so go ahead and mark
your calendar for a New Year Celebration like none other!
Oh and not that I'm counting but our wedding is in 276 days! Cannot. Wait.
