About Us (Maybe More than you wanted to know)

Come November, Mike and I will have officially been together for seven years. Yet, it was the spring before that when we met. We never spoke more than the occasional hello to each other; I was busy being invincible and he was just out of a long-term relationship.

When we finally did start talking, we realized we had more in common than we realized. Things moved pretty slowly for awhile; we'd meet for Chinese food and an old movie at his parents' house, hang out in the pool, or drive into the "big city" for a special night. The last three months of the year flew by and I was preparing to head away to college in January. We swore we would continue to see each other, but in my mind I knew it would never work. I've never been in a long-distance relationship that worked.

But our relationship worked; we spent nights on the phone, days instant messaging each other and weekends cherishing our few hours together. By the time I finished that first year away (technically my Sophomore year), I knew I loved him. Really.

I didn't say anything, though. Mike was the guy who swore he didn't believe in love. He also swore that talking about marriage was a sure way to end a relationship (and I had felt this way until those last long months). I had a feeling it would work out; all I had to do was wait. And I was good at waiting. So, I wrapped up my junior and senior year and began making plans for Graduate School. I ended up staying in the same city for Grad school and Mike and I moved in together just after he graduated with his Bachelor's in August.

So we had made it to year four and still not uttered the "L" word to each other. I had come to realize that I was happy just being with him; the "status" of the relationship was much less important. The two years it took to finish my Masters' degree flew by and, before I knew it, I was making plans for a PhD.

I decided on a school near Dallas and Mike was thrilled to finally be moving home. Unfortunately, he couldn't get to Texas just yet; he had job obligations to fulfill before he could get down. So he came down in October for a weekend. I went up in November for a weekend. The month trudged by so slow by the time I headed back to see him that time. But that was the trip that ended in the birth of our new beginning.

We had visited my parents and were on the way back to his parents' lake house for a quiet night of fishing when it happened. As we hit the county line and the last few miles to the house, he looked at me and said, "We should probably start talking about getting engaged." I was floored. My English major heart couldn't take the distraction at the time and so I said "okay." Soon, though, I began to analyze it. How does one talk about getting engaged? What does that mean? Will it be soon?

I couldn't get the sentence out of my head and had to consult several close friends about the meaning of his words. We were all befuddled; six English degrees could not determine one man's statement. It was a sad situation. By January, still with no idea as to the meaning of the sentence, I got sidetracked. Mike was officially in Dallas, I was back in school and life was back to "normal." The months flew by so fast that my birthday snuck up on me. The weather was warm, it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon (which was actually the day before my birthday) and I had not thought much about the diamond I knew he had bought. He, like the tease that he can be, had told me he bought it, but never told me when it came in.

I can't say the day was uneventful by any stretch of the imagination. I woke up to a friend confused about the results of her pregnancy test. We spent the morning with two close friends helping one prepare to tell her fiance they were having a baby, and the hours flew by. Then, in the early hours of the afternoon when life had settled itself into a peaceful cadence, he handed me my phone and said I had a text message from my best friend. The message read:

My dearest kitten time to begin the treasure quest. The first stop is an empty living room. Seek the neighbor who lacks furniture and enables addictions.

So off I went to the home of my good friend, Jen, who presented me with a card. The card read

So here you stand at your first stop. The next clue should lead you to a sweet chill. Head to the nearest source of ice and open the door below it. Inside there is a box and something blue gree atop it. If you open her front door you've been led astray.

So here I am, knowing that I'm paying penance for a scavenger hunt I sent him on the first year we were together for his birthday. But I play along. Jen's fridge contains a small box of Whitman's SoHo chocolate. If you've never had these then let me say that they are the most beautiful chocolates you will ever eat. They're so beautiful they're hard to eat, actually. For a moment. But, I digress. The card with the chocolates reads:

See, I told you something sweet. Now offer a piece to the home owner and take one for yourself. Since it is better to give, it is time to share with another. Give your thanks and head out the door. Now seek out the neighbor who shares your chocolate addiction. She has another card and a butter knife bump Exchange a piece of chocolate for the gift she has to offer.

So away I go to Lisa's house. We share a chocolate and she hands me another card. Now, Mike has gone for the more ridiculous riddle approach. It reads:

Standing in your home away from home there is another happy hiding. Garlic is oft called the smelly ___, so poke about in the kitchen and seek out the ___es. Hint: They only like it cold after they've been cut.

To fill in the blanks (which took me a few minutes), garlic is oft called the smelly rose! I didn't get this without raiding all of Lisa's cupboards and finally deciding the fridge was a good place to check out. There in the bottom of the fridge were six beautiful roses. And another card.

Well let's see…Megan, Jen, Lisa…whom have we left out? Here is your hint. Text the person whom we've bid for half. You could ask her about IBS, PhDs, or even when we can claim 1 arm, 2 legs and 1 ass cheek. I suggest you ask her where to go next.

So I text Simone. And wait. I had simply asked her where to go next. As I'm standing in Lisa's front yard waiting, I think to myself maybe there's an order to the messages. So I text her back and ask about IBS. I wait. Finally, I decide to send Lisa over to ask Mike what the next step is and as soon as she knocks, I get a message from Simone that reads:

What the hell are you doing? Get the hell home!

So away I go. I open the door to my apartment and Mike meets me there with two glasses of champagne. We drink and then he pulls a small box out of his pocket and asks me if I'm ready to start working on my tan line. (I should explain that when I asked him about my ring in March, he said I would have it in time to get a tan line before we went to see my parents in May.) He opens the box and there is the most beautiful diamond I have ever seen. And it's MINE!