The Proposal: Part Three

JIM'S STORY

This was my big idea from the beginning was to surprise the heck out of Hayley. The original plan was way back in June involving Whitney and Tayler with a baseball game and to get the proposal in before we went to Kelly and Angie’s (and Oscar’s too) wedding. That didn’t work as planned as we have learned to find out. Basically the jeweler wouldn’t finance the entire ring so I saved all my money within a 60-day period that was allowed to keep the original offer on the table. I knew it would be crunch to get the cash but I knew I could do it, even trying to fit in money for Kaua’i. During Kelly’s wedding weekend is essentially when the surprise began. I informed her of what was going on and I was trying to get the money in time and it might not happen but just to ease her a little bit that I was in the works of getting it done. So when the 60 days was about up was the weekend a big sale was going on and I actually had the money I needed to buy it. Hayley calls me to inform me of the sale (after she tried it on again, #34 to be exact), I went down and got the ring. I conjured up this story about something went wrong with the dates of my application and the offer was no longer valid. Therefore they had to re-run a credit application and the offer was lowered which meant more time was going to be needed. I also told her that I was told that with the new catalog coming out soon that the ring might go back up again and it might take me longer to get the ring than anticipated. During the next month while I had the ring I kept bringing up various ways I was going to get the money by selling my guitars, or stuff I had around that I could go without just to make sure Hayley got the ring that she wanted. Hayley was losing hope, which was my plan all along. She even starting shopping for a cheaper ring if that would have meant getting engaged sooner. We had numerous conversations about it, getting a little bit tense at times. During this time I asked Tayler to step in and help by calming her down so nothing bad would happen in the heat of discussions. It also didn’t help that when she was at her mom’s reception in Pacwood that everyone was asking her when if/when we were going to get engaged. Hayley was almost at her bottom now. Kaua’i came and went about 3 weeks after I’ve already had the ring and four-day holiday weekend was upon us. I was supposed to go pick it up on Friday but Hayley showed up early and wanted to go on a ferry ride for the day. Opportunity #1 just received a roundhouse kick from Chuck Norris circa 1985. Saturday we went to the mall where I needed to pick it up. I wanted to go to Target first where I would have a bag to use to put it in until I got home. Got the ring when she went in to buy the last bottles of her favorite hand soap or whatever. Got the ring, went to Macy’s to get a different bag and wrapped so no she couldn’t know what it was. Sunday was going to be the day but we ended up doing something else instead. Opportunity #2 gets crushed to a pulp. It worked out as well because Monday I was not with her so I drove to Yakima to talk to Mat in person to get his blessing. He obliged as well as showing me his newly acquired coin collection. After his blessing, I wanted to take Hayley out on Tuesday but she informed me that Wednesday worked for her better. Opportunity #3 just lost to Jason Bourne in a knife fight. Opportunity #4 came on Wednesday 09/09/09 and we all know it was a winner. You might think all of this was mean, but it was merely a payback to the last 8 months of Hayley constant reminders of what her friends were saying and asking, and all of the people she knows who were getting married or engaged. All in all, the point was to lower her hope, which got to a point that Wal-Mart became an option for an engagement ring, and create the element of surprise which she can attest I did. A surprise so big that when the question was asked, there was utter silence for at least 5 seconds. This was not the reaction I was expecting. I expected a throwing of the arms around followed by high pitched words. I even doubted for a quick second that did I just not do it right, I thought she wanted to get engaged. After those 5 seconds, then a nodding of the head, covering of the face, and some form of sobbing. With that relief, I put the ring on her finger. It was a perfect fit because I had it sized when I bought the ring. I'm finally glad the wait is over, and now we get to look forward to planning this wedding....oh dear. Hayley is the one for me, she provides constant entertainment and a bright future for our 2-3 kids. I love you Hayley!!