small life, slow life

I’ve been meaning to come back here for a long time! (Can’t believe the last time I posted was April.)

You guys have been with me through a lot, and though I’ve been gone, the traffic to this little corner of the internet has been really, amazing, actually (I guess people are really into making colored mason jars), and I wanted to thank you for that.

Last week, I was thinking of mimicking Sara Quinn’s SKQ Reads posts and coming to talk about books that have made a difference to me lately. Anything to get me writing again!

But before I could get to that, I got engaged!

You guys remember C. Back in the day, we went on a date without our phones. Then, we broke up and I wrote here as a way to try to get through it. Finally, I let him go. And now, this.

He took me to a little restaurant we love (Venice Beach Wines) and we had a long, leisurely breakfast. The guy wasn’t nervous or anything! After we finished eating, he said, “I think I’m gonna have the waiter take our picture in that little nook.” I thought that was kinda weird, since I’m definitely the picture-taker in our relationship, but he had just gotten the new iPhone (which can take a gazillion photos a second if you just hold the button down), so he asked the unsuspecting waiter to please take our picture and hold the button down.

He bent down as if to tie his shoe, but he was wearing sandals, and before I knew it, the daintiest, most beautiful ring he’d had custom-made was before my eyes and I started crying before he could even ask, “Will you marry me?” Shocked, I only could nod my head yes. I couldn’t talk!

I did, however, managed to gently smack him in the face with my hair.

The waiter brought us champagne and I loved hearing C tell me the story of all the ways he’d planned to ask (one included leading me to the top of a mountain) and how long he’d had the ring (since June!) but mostly I was so moved by just the way he did it, just the two of us, in a way I’d never suspect.

The ring is a take on the infinity symbol, which has come to mean a lot to us. Since we didn’t want diamonds, C chose perfect pink sapphires set in white gold. It is perfect and so very us. 

I’m totally over the moon, and our families and friends are so happy. C and I met when we were 14, tried dating several times that ended in disaster, but always ended up right back in each other’s arms. My best friend married his brother, and so she and I will become true sisters, and our children will be cousins – something we always dreamed of but never imagined would actually happen.

C inspires me and truly gets me, and I get him. We really do make one another better. During the time we were apart, I despaired that I would never be so strongly rooted in my sense of self as I was when we were together (it sounds counter-intuitive, I know).

We’re very lucky, and hope you’ll be happy for us.

And I WILL be back here to share things with you guys!

Love you so much, Jen