My Best Friend’s Wedding - Part 1: The Engagement

Y’all know my best friend, right? But do you like...KNOW her, know her? If you do then this is all gonna make perfect sense to you. If not, read anyway.

So, my best friend has been dating the man of her dreams for 3 years, as of the beginning of this month. And for 2 of those years, every big occasion/holiday has gone a little something like this:

A month or so before: I feel like I’m getting a ring for Thanksgiving. I don’t know why but I feel like I am. A week or so before: If I don’t get a ring for Thanksgiving, I’m gonna knock all this shit over! A day before: I better get a ring tomorrow, I deserve it. The day: I didn’t get a fucking ring. I’m never going to get one. I’m done worrying about it.

And then....

A month or so before: I feel like I’m getting a ring for Christmas. I don’t know why but I feel like I am.

You get it. Over & over. Every occasion. Every holiday. For two. whole. years.

Now, being her polar opposite, I couldn’t care less about a ring. I’m coming up on the backside of 40, been in 3 different close to 5-year relationships, never been proposed to. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have said “yes” even if the dude had asked! So, I tried my best to cool her jets - for her sake and Jason’s. I’ve explained to her several times that she should just appreciate the awesome man that she has, the life that they live, the love that they share. I’ve explained to her how a ring doesn’t really change anything since the commitment is already there...yada yada. But you now what? The next occasion/holiday would roll around right on time, and...

“I feel like I’m getting a ring on New Year’s. I don’t know why but I feel like I am.”

So, August 3rd marked their 3-year anniversary. And of course, y’all know what she felt like. She gets him an awesome gift the day before (that she couldn’t wait to give him because she is TERRIBLE at gifts). She goes to work on their anniversary, comes home, waits for him to arrive home from work - which ended up being later than she would have liked. She’d already caught a small attitude, ate dinner without him because of it. And then the man walks in the door seemingly empty-handed...I can hear her thoughts right now, y’all...“I’ll knock all this shit over!”

He asks her to go out to eat with him, she refuses. She’s already ate. He tries to conversate with her, she won’t talk. She’s got nothing to say. They go to bed, wake up the next morning. She’s still mad.

Now, here’s what she didn’t know. Although his hands were “empty” when he walked in the door, he had big plans for her that night. He wanted to take her to the place where they went on their first date. He wanted to walk across the big fancy bridge, because they did that on their first date too. He had a ring. He planned to propose to her, on the bridge. He’d spent all day planning and getting himself all riled up to finally give her that damn ring.

Ooooh, but my best friend, in all her ridiculous glory...she had already jumped the gun and was prematurely in the “I’m done worrying about it.” stage.

It was the moment she’d been waiting for, and because she has absolutely no patience, she ruined her own damn surprise by being a total brat. (Dammit, Dale! Can’t tell your ass nothing!)

But y’all, she still got the ring. In the more intimate setting of their own kitchen, a day late, after she had pouted for a solid 24 hours.... he still hit his knee and asked her punk ass to marry him.

Of course, she said yes...and then immediately felt like an asshole for being an asshole, as she absolutely should have. ♥

This is the first installment of what I’m sure is going to be a hell of a series. As I am her Maid of Honor, I will be in charge of, and coordinating, a LOT of shit from now until the wedding. I’m sure there will be many more Dale tantrums to come - especially judging by how the proposal went. I’m gonna make sure to document and share each and every one of them with you fine folks, so that when it’s over - she will have them as memories to look back on. Her bumpy road to becoming a Whitaker. ♥