Another Happy Story

It happened again.

Last Wednesday was a busy day, but nothing terribly notable. I babysat in the morning, had a wonderful lunch with a sweet friend, came home and talked with Mom and Eric about different plans, went Christmas shopping with Mom, came home to potato soup and muffins, spent time with the family including Stephen, and watched Elf.

Half of Elf, that is. I think the scene when he breaks a poptart over his spaghetti will always make me think of this evening. The door opened, and Eric and Ruthie came back from going to the lights at the zoo. I got up and stood by the fire. Eric said, "You're watching Elf without us?" Deanna looked at Ruthie, and Ruthie was laughing.

This way they're coming in, smiling, with all of us here, kind of feels like...something familiar....

It couldn't be. She had told him he had to wait until after she graduated...I looked for the ring. She had on three. One on the left hand's ring finger.

Ruthie was laughing: "Deanna is staring at me like she thinks something happened."

Someone asked if Eric had asked her a question.

Ruthie laughed. "Maybe."

(Note: to avoid repetitive, boring "someone said something like this," statements, I am writing as if this were exactly how it happened, but some is paraphrase and could easily have been remembered incorrectly.)

"He asked you if you liked the lights?" Mom asked.

"Yes," Ruthie chuckled.

I went and stood by her and hugged her.

"What did you say?" someone asked.

"I might have said yes."

"You did like the lights?" Mom asked.

I looked more closely at the ring. Eric showed it to me online a few weeks ago, and I immediately thought it was perfect for her, with a twist around a little flower. It looked a little different than it had online.

We hugged them both and told Eric good job. Then we made them come in and sit. "You guys both have to tell us the story!" we cried. "You know how this goes."

"I know," Ruthie agreed. "I was here last time."

This time, Deanna and Stephen had already been sitting on the love seat. "You guys don't have to move," Ruthie said. "We don't have to sit there."












We all objected. Remembering how I had refused to let Eric sit there last time, I said, "We made you guys move last time," smiling at the amusing irony. "It's your turn now." So they took their seats and we gathered around.

Ruthie went first, telling their awesome, pretty adorable story. He had brought her flowers, ostensibly because he was late. After dinner, they went to the Lights before Christmas at the Zoo.

At the synchronized lighted trees, they stopped when a Transiberian orchestra song came on. They had just gone to see them in Grand Rapids the previous Sunday. Eric decided it was time. He asked if she wanted to sit down in a more secluded spot. She objected to the cold seats, so he just asked her. She had no suspicions and was completely surprised. "Wait..is this for real?" she asked.

"I guess I should kneel," Eric said, kneeling, and asking again if she would marry him. Having time to process a bit, she said yes immediately. Then she suggested they sit down.

Before Eric even had a chance to put the ring on her, a man came up. "Excuse me, but my nosy wife informed me that you just got engaged. Do you have a camera and would you like me to take your picture?"

They didn't, so he pulled out his smart phone, took it, and emailed it to Eric. A message said it was using data. "This is totally worth it!" he said, pushing send. They had two kids with them and were the first to tell them congratulations.

The picture isn't of great quality, but the story is adorable and it's fun to have.

Eric had been unusually quiet as Ruthie told her side of the story. Then he told his side. He had been so nervous, but managed to act normal. He was late because the people at the store couldn't find the ring at first.

It was delightful and amusing. (It was also much more involved and special than I made it sound, but if you want their whole story, you'll have to ask to hear it unless I later feel like telling the whole thing properly.)

"Now we can't tell anyone," Kristen said seriously when they had finished the story.

We all laughed. "She knows how this goes!" I said. "She'll be an expert by the time it gets to her."

 Paulie had made some mint chocolate chip cookies.

At one point, Eric said something about how he wanted to do it that day. "Wait..." I said, suddenly realizing, "today is the 18th, isn't it?" Eric smiled and nodded. It was exactly five months after their first date. I smiled. He had done a good job.

Conversation died down for a minute. "We should watch the movie now," Kristen said.

"More important things are going on right now," Stephen said.

"All right, that's done. Back to the movie!" Dad teased.

After we had discussed the proposal story, there was a pause in conversation, and Dad spoke from the couch. "Jeannette..."

Everyone laughed.

"I can only handle two at a time."

I laughed. "What, you don't want three weddings at once?"

"No more engagements this year," Mom joked, and Amy and Ruthie noted that there were only two weeks left in the year.

Conversation turned to Melody, and this time Dad put a number on it: "You're not liking anyone until you're 30."

"Every time the number keeps going up! When Jeannette gets engaged I won't be allowed to like anyone until I'm 40!" Melody exclaimed.

"Melody, if you come live with us, we'll let you like someone whenever you want," Stephen offered generously. Melody is going to live with them and be their slave. However, he went on to say only if she chose the person he wants her to...

Eric gave a counter-offer: "If you come live with us, you don't have to wait and you can like whoever you want. Well, almost."

There were lots of phone calls to be made. Conveniently, Ruthie and I were already planning on meeting the next morning. It was sweet to be able to spend that time with her, and she said it was nice to be able to talk to someone who had been there so she didn't have to explain what had happened with her and Eric.

As usual, I was struck by the everydayness of things. As I told Ruthie, it's sort of weird-your sibling just got engaged!-and yet the world goes on as usual.

Ruthie says, "Truth!"

On Thursday, I saw some people and it was so hard not to tell anyone. In the evening we went to the Armentrouts'. We weren't sure if Eric and Ruthie could come or not, but then Lalita came in, saying, "Everyone calm down - Eric and Ruthie are here!"

They came in and greeted everyone, and while Ruthie hugged Merri, Audrey noticed her ring. "Wait...does everyone know this?!" Audrey asked.

"No!" cried Merri. "Know what?!"

Eric announced to everyone that they were engaged. After much excitement, once again, they sat on the couch, everyone gathered around, and they told their story.

It's kind of funny that a lot of the people who were well-acquainted with the state of their relationship were not expecting it to happen now, while others who were less informed were. I didn't expect it yet, since Ruthie had told him to wait until after she graduates in May, but I wasn't surprised.

In my last post about Ruthie, I would have been more direct about Eric and being part of our family if they had been engaged. I love having it official, to be able to talk about it freely, to say "Eric's fiancee" rather than his girlfriend, to not worry about saying too much to anyone who asks about their relationship. And it makes me smile.

Late Wednesday night when I went to bed with Kristen, she wanted to pray as usual, and she added a prayer to her list. "Pray what everyone will be excited what Eric and Ruthie got engaged." That is one prayer that will certainly be fulfilled.

Some of mine already have been. A few people have told me, "Congratulations!" Then they're unsure if they should. I say that I accept congratulations, as I did for Deanna and Stephen. I'm getting a sister, after all. I think that's worthy of congratulations. I've been considering how unpleasant it would be if your siblings married someone you didn't approve of or didn't like, and then feeling very blessed. I've always wanted to have a sister-in-law that wasn't a friend just because she's part of the family, but that I would have been friends with anyway. My other brothers will (hopefully!) marry someone significantly younger than I, so whoever Eric chose would be a unique relationship.

And I cannot imagine anyone better. As we've said, everyone loves Eric, and everyone loves Ruthie, so everyone loves them together. We feel quite blessed.