Timeline of Life

So Chris has brought to my attention that we need to follow the academic year because we both need to be living where our jobs are which means it needs to happen before August. That's 15 months. Eeek. Hope I don't screw it up.

On a less happy, more stressful note, my mom is not doing good. Everyone is saying it's a matter of time--days even. I think that this just pretty much sucks.

And it begins...

Oh my... it actually happened. I am engaged. He proposed. It happened. Half of me is past it and ready to plan. The other half is completely shocked and overwhelmed. Everyone is so full of questions and I just don't feel like I have the answers. Allow me to take a step back and explain yesterday and all its craziness...

We had plans to take my dog Lucy to the dog park and then to try walking along this path that weaves through the park district's land. Lucy swam and enjoyed the beautiful weather to her little hearts content and she was acting so good so we left the leash off and let her run and roll and do what dogs do. After she swam we decided to go for a walk and let her go. Ironically we were walking through this area that has this beautiful pavilion that is surrounded by tall wavy grass in the late summer/fall and I had mentioned how if we ever did get married outside I would want to do it there because it is so serene. So we walked past it into the wooded area and was just enjoying eachother and the weather, Lucy was exploring and being a good dog (when she wasn't trying to find dead things to roll in).

And we found ourselves at this scenic lookout with a bench and Chris sat down and re-hydrated ourselves. There was this loud honking bird looking for its mate, a woodpecker in the tree near us and this huge bumblebee that was really interested in my head. We're just sitting there and Chris pulls out this little bag that he calls his "survival kit" and shows it to me. I tell him that I saw it last time I was in Carbondale (it was newly aquired) and he insisted that I open it because it has new stuff in it. A little info on Chris, he always has something new to show off so it is not unusal for him to randomly pull out something new and share it with me. I just didn't understand why he wanted me to look at something new in his survival kit, band aids? a new knife? Nope. It was this huge blue box. Now I kind of glanced at him and he had this big goofy grin on his face and told me to open it. I did and suddenly became very nervous. Inside was this big beautiful sapphire in a white gold tension setting. He asked me to marry him and I said, well shouted a little, YES and hugged him. He took it out of the box and put it on my finger and I kissed him (we took the above picture). It was all so surreal and I'm sure that I have left out all kinds of details because I was just in a state of shock, Chris had yet to successfully keep a secret from me. I can remember everything in clear detail up till that moment and once he handed me that kit everything is hazy and vague. Eventually we left and walked out of the wooded area and back to the car as Chris tells me all about his planning and plotting.

We then arrive at my house (which I go to for dinner every Sunday) to find my entire family assembled with champagne waiting. Of course my awkward-against-my-will self just stands there quietly dodging questions and queries from my family about details, dates and futurey things. As far as I see it, I preformed all wrong because I was supposed to have all of this stuff already planned out and ready to jump around excitedly as I answered their questions. For the record I was and am excited but it just takes a bit to sink in. And there is this whole side thing called most simply my dying mother who during all of this conjoling is sitting by herself in a hospital bed upstairs staring at a droning tv. Is it okay to be so excited and happy when your mother mostly likely won't be at your wedding. How is one to plan a party when you never know when you might be planning a funeral? Needless to say it was a very emotional day and night. Once I got home I told my 02 family and thats when it really started to sink in, this is real.

So all day today I have been making my rounds around campus to tell the rest of my IMSA family before it became what I call "Facebook official", which it is now, and I even got on some wedding-y websites to start looking around. I have no idea what to do and it has only been a little over 24 hours and I have no clue where in the world to start.