The Engagement

So, you may be asking, "Why haven't they told us how they got engaged?" A lot of people have asked that question and the answer always was, "He hasn't asked me yet?" So, how did we get to planning a wedding before there was a "real" proposal. That answer is easy. Eugene is in the Guard. He has already been overseas once and his name went back in the big pot of deployable in January. Around August, we talked about marriage and when we wanted to do it. He said he would propose officially soon. However, once we found out that he could be deployed at anytime during the year, we decided that we didn't want to rush and get married if that happened. He picked that date, I picked the time and we started the planning. However, he didn't propose until February 23rd. That's right, just a week before most of you will get your invites.

Monday afternoon, Eugene told me that his sister was going to see a movie and wanted to know if we wanted to go with her. I was cool with that. The odd thing was, was that he had been on the phone all day and I thought something may be up, but wasn't sure. I was getting dressed and was so sick of wearing jeans and sweaters that I threw on a skirt. Eugene asked me why I was wearing a skirt and told me to put on some jeans. I figured nothing was going on since he wanted me to wear jeans. We got to the theater and I saw a truck like his dad's and I said, "Look, that's just like your Daddy's truck" he didn't respond. We pulled in behind a truck that looked like my dad's and I only got a quick glance at the license plate before Eugene realized that he couldn't fit with the truck parked the way it was. I got a little suspicious, but I knew my parents wouldn't be out on a school night with my nephews. I pushed it aside.

We get inside and I go and get the a drink while Eugene gets the tickets. We get to the door and the usher goes in ahead and just disappears (I still don't know where he went). I was looking for his sister and spotted her beside his parents. I said, "Oh, that was your parents. There here." He corrected me by saying, "No, honey, the whole family is here" I looked up, as the lights came on, and my parents, my youngest sister, my nieces and nephews were smiling back at me. I looked back at Eugene to find him down on one knee, ring in hand. I couldn't look at him, I was so overwhelmed at the planning it took to pull this off, I just couldn't do anything but tear up. He said to me, "Tabitha, will you officially make me the luckiest man in the world?" I eventually chocked back the tears to say yes! He put the ring on the wrong hand and I called him a dork, but he got it right in the end.

This is something that I will remember forever.