Mental Perambulations

This morning, I woke up with this thought: 

I am the future Mrs. Vincent Howland.

Last night, my love asked me to marry him.  Truth be told, we’ve been planning on getting married for a little while now.  He asked me father’s permission a few weeks ago, and we had even set a date of when we’d like to get married.  But he hadn’t formally proposed to me yet.  Last night, he did.

Last week, Vince told me that he made dinner reservations and to “wear a nice dress.”  He wouldn’t tell me where we were going, and he also told me that I needed to wear “shoes that could easily be slipped on and off — that’s very important.”  I was so curious about that! I didn’t know what he was up to!

We went to dinner in downtown South Bend at Siam Thai, a very nice restaurant that is small and elegant with classy Thai and fusion cuisine.  Vince bought a bottle of one of my favorite wines for us to enjoy, and we had a lot of fun chatting as we normally do about our daily life, ideas that we have, some future dreams, etc. 

After dinner, Vince suggested that we take a walk and get some dessert because he was craving chocolate.  The South Bend Chocolate Cafe was a few blocks over, and it’s a special place for us, so we decided to go there.  I was wearing new black high heels (I made sure they were easy to slip on and off, like he said!), and walking those blocks, my feet began to HURT.  They were new and not broken in and I’m a novice with heels anyway.  So in true Scout fashion, I took off my heels and walked barefoot down the city sidewalk!  But I put them back on before going into the chocolate cafe, don’t worry!

The South Bend Chocolate Cafe is where we first met and where we had our first date.  That day in December, it was beautiful and snowy, and we talked for over two hours effortlessly over Mexican Hot Chocolate.  When we walked into the cafe, the same table we’d sat at was available — actually, the chairs were set up on the table, so Vince asked the manager if we could sit there, and the manager said, “Oh yes, of course.  Sorry, we’ve had some bussing issues lately.”  He took the chairs down for us, and we sat.  Little did I know, Vince had reserved this table and this was all done on purpose!

I sat at the table, and Vince went to order us some Mexican Hot Chocolate, just like on our first date.  When he came back, he had a shoe bag in his hands.  He got down on one knee and started taking off my black heels.  As we he was doing this, he told me the story of Cinderella — that she needed the perfect shoes to go to the ball, but she lost a slipper, and the prince went looking for his princess, but needed to make sure that the shoes fit.  He put these gorgeous silver slippers on my feet that just sparkled!

After he put the shoes on my feet, he pulled our a small ring box and opened it up and said to me

”Will you be my princess?”

Of course I said yes!  We were both smiling so big as he put the ring on my hand.  The ring is an antique heirloom in my family — it belonged to my great grandmother on my father’s side.  It’s over 100 years old, and it’s the only family heirloom we have from my father’s family.  Vince had the ring resized and cleaned.  Before, the diamonds and gold looked worn and old from its age, but when he put the ring on my finger, it shone and sparkled with radiance.  It was absolutely beautiful, and I took my fiance’s face in my hands and kissed him as I told him “yes” again.

Some of the nearby people at other tables told us congratulations, and the manager of the Chocolate Cafe also came over and gave us his congratulations.  Apparently, Vince orchestrated a lot of this with the employees ahead of time.  He’d had the table reserved, and he’d dropped my shoes off ahead of time.  Two of the girls behind the chocolate counter even video taped the proposal for us! 

He asked me to be his princess.  To be his bride.  I am so honored and so blessed that God gave me such a wonderful man who tells me on a daily basis that he treasures me and that I am precious to him.  I hope and pray that God blesses our relationship and that God gives me the grace to grow into the kind of wife that He would want me to be and that my future husband deserves.  We are SO excited to begin the rest of our lives together!

Our wedding date is November 12, 2011 — two months from now!