Sarah's Life: March - Engagement and Proposal

At the end of spring break (Sat Mar 20), Danny and I left Allen and drove back to College Station, leaving early enough to be back in time for his nephew's 5th birthday party that afternoon. But right before the party, Danny made a surprise stop and proposed! But of course, this has some great back story.

So, more Story Time! - Getting engaged and Danny's Proposal (*warning* this is even longer than our dating story, lol): When we first started dating, probably the first time we started even thinking about the possibility of getting married was a few weeks later, when he took me to meet his sister Elena and her family, who happen to live in College Station as well. I was pretty apprehensive at first, the whole "meeting the family" thing, plus Danny kept dropping hints of worry too that his sister might scare me off. Once we arrived for dinner, though, everyone seemed so nice and we had a really nice time talking and getting to know one another. Elena definitely showered me, and sometimes Danny, with questions, but really it was just nice conversation. I don't even really remember what most of the questions were, but I guess they gave her the idea that we had discussed everything we might possibly need to discuss before considering marriage. So here we were, just chatting, when near the end of the night, Elena just up and said, "so, when's the date then?" ... Danny and I were speechless. Sure, maybe in our conversations we'd discussed what we want to do with our lives and some of our values and beliefs on things like politics and families and stuff, but we'd only been dating a few weeks. Could she really think we'd discussed marriage?! ... I guess our surprised reaction surprised her back. We kinda deflected the question with a "not really" and "we just started dating", and the evening ended without too much more excitement. But, the ride home definitely was interesting ... should we be contemplating marriage?

So, the next couple weeks, our conversations were more serious as we truly delved into the idea. We discussed and prayed a lot, and fasted, and eventually both received our answer that, crazy as it might sound, this was what we needed to do. ... after only four or so weeks of dating. Anyway, we decided we wanted to keep it on the down low until we informed our parents and such, and since I'd already invited Danny to meet my parents over spring break, I figured that'd be a good time as any. ... though, as anyone who knows me knows, I'm terrible at secrets... I ended up slipping it to my sister shortly before spring break, and kinda told my mom right before I left for St. Louis. ... so, needless to say, the first conversation of spring break was a bit awkward. But all this time, nothing was official, just discussion of engagement. I just kept telling Danny, it's not official yet, not until a ring is on my finger.

Anyway, I figured it'd be a little while before he saved up enough money to get a ring and finally propose, so I wasn't really expecting anything any time soon. All during spring break, though, I did notice he was getting a ton more phone calls, but whatever, why shouldn't he get calls? (I'd find out later that they were mostly from Elena who was helping plan the proposal). I had hinted that I'd like him to actually ask my dad for my hand in marriage, you know, the traditional thing to do. We figured it'd be easy for him to ask while we were in town. Before he arrived, I kind of hinted to my dad that Danny would ask, and, discovering that Danny plays chess (my dad is really into chess), he sort of half-joked that Danny could ask for my hand during a game of chess. I relayed the info to Danny, so of course, not long after he first met my parents, my mom took me to the grocery store so Danny and my dad could play a game of chess (ie, have a private conversation and discuss our engagement). When my mom and I got back, the house was quiet. Danny and my dad were still playing. Tenatively, we asked, "how's the game going?" My dad's reply: "He won the first game, we're in the middle of the second." They continued to play the second game in silence, then my dad won, and they played a third game which my dad also won. They seemed pretty friendly afterwards, discussing the games and plays and just having fun. Afterwards, I asked Danny, "so, how'd it go?" Danny answered, "... with what?" "Asking my dad for my hand in marriage!" "... uh..." "... you didn't ask?!" Danny retorted, "You don't talk during chess!" lol.

Fortunately, right before we left my parents house and they'd gotten to know Danny some more, I finally got Danny to talk to my dad (he was kinda scared of what he might say, I suppose). The conversation was unexpectedly short but I suppose that doesn't really matter. I was in the next room and heard it; it was something along the lines of: "Mr. Crookston, I'd like to take the hand of your daughter in marriage." "... you'll take care of her?" "Yes sir, of course." "... okay." "... um, that's it? That was a lot easier than I expected." (laughter) "Welcome to the family."

Our parents knew now, but it still wasn't offical - no ring. Little did I realize, though, Danny had already bought the ring before he came for spring break and had been planning the whole thing. He had previously asked me what I'd want in a proposal, and my answer had been a surprise with no audience (aka no asking at a sporting event or something), and if he really wanted brownie points, under the Century Tree. So, Texas A&M side note: there are a lot of traditions at Texas A&M, some older than others, some sillier than others, and many I think are even a bit too much. But one tradition that the inner-romantic in me has always liked is the legend of the century tree. The campus is covered in live oak trees, most planted in the early days of the school's founding, and the oldest and largest tree is the century tree (older than 100 years, hence the name). Tradition has it that if a couple walks under the tree together, they will be together forever. If they are proposed to under the tree, then the marriage will be happy forever. But, if anyone walks under the tree alone, that person will be alone forever. So, given that, the tree is highly popular for proposals and wedding photo shoots, but otherwise, people tend to avoid walking under it so they won't be alone, haha. So, of course, I'd love to be proposed to under the Century Tree, I mean, how fitting for a romantic and an Aggie? But, Danny wasn't going to A&M; he went to the local community college, looking to transfer later, and he went to Texas State for a year before his mission, so he knew nothing about A&M's traditions or campus at all. But, hey, the location didn't really matter, right?

Anyway, as we were driving back and nearly in College Station, ready to go to Elena's son's birthday party, I get a seemingly desperate call from Elena. Apparently, a friend of hers who was going supposed to be bringing some supplies for the party could no longer make it. The friend's husband was an RA on campus and they lived in one of the dorms. Elena asked if we could stop by their dorm and pick up the supplies, since she couldn't come because she was prepping for the party. She said she thought of me because I used to live on campus and would know where to find the dorm more easily. Of course I said we would, no problem. I knew where the dorm was. (And, while I generally feel I'm pretty astute, I was so completely and utterly clueless during this whole thing, and of course, Danny totally acted totally ignorant so I had no idea what was really going on.) So, Danny and I stopped by the room number but no one was there. There was a note on the door addressed to Danny Garcia. It said that she and her husband were having a dorm activity at another dorm, so we should just meet her there and call her so she could get us the stuff. No problem, I thought. I know that dorm (and of course, it just happened to be the dorm building right next to the century tree) and dorms have group events all the time, nothing fishy here (uh, riiiight). So I drag Danny along to the next dorm, because he's totally and honestly lost, and of course, there's no one there. We're about to call Elena's friend, when I see the century tree. And then, perfectly fitting in his plan without knowing it, I tell him "look, that's the century tree. now you know where it is". Then Danny looks at it and says "what's that? I wonder what that is..." I look and notice a blue ribbon on the ground under the tree, and honestly think to myself, 'I bet it's leftover from some bridal photo shoot or something.' Danny drags me there to get a closer look when we notice a big manilla envelope next to the ribbon. [I found out later that the ribbon was supposed to be tied to the tree with the envelope, so that Danny would know which tree was the right one, haha, but the wind was crazy that day... luckily it just fell off instead of blew away]. He innocently says, "I wonder what this is." He picks it up (... and yes, I'm still completely clueless at this point), flips it over, and then I start flipping out. My name is on the envelope. He hands it to me "I think this is for you." As I open it, I just keep thinking, 'this can't be what I think it is, no way, when would he have possibly done all this? we just barely got into town?' Inside was a piece of paper that said "Authorized Notice, Important! Please consider this OFFICIAL NOTICE ... that it's OFFICIAL." I turn around just as Danny gets on one knee with a ring in his hand. He then proceeds to ask, "Sarah, will you marry m--" and I totally cut him off with a loud "YES!" and throw my arms around him to kiss him. He looks a bit flustered and then says, "aren't you going to at least put it on first?" haha.

With that, he gave me my diamond engagement ring and we left for the party... it wasn't until we were back at the car that I realized, "there wasn't really any party supplies that we needed to pick up, was there?" haha. Once we got to Elena's house, I got filled in. The friend was already at the party. Elena had helped Danny plan the whole thing, with her friend's help for the excuse to be on campus. And so, five and a half weeks after our first date, it was official - we were engaged!

The Century Tree at Texas A&M

At the party, I was pretty much glowing the whole time. Elena even announced to the party that we just got engaged. I also ended up meeting more of Danny's family that day. We stopped and visited his middle older brother Tommy and his family on the way to College Station. I met his youngest older brother Nick and his wife Kay at the birthday party. And I saw his oldest brother's wife at the party (oddly enough, I already knew her from church a couple years prior to this. I was her visiting teacher before she married Danny's brother David... small world.) and somehow ended up "meeting" David over the phone - everyone wanted me to tell the story of the proposal around the same time David called his wife (he's in the Marines and was overseas at the time), and somehow, right as I was about to tell the story, the phone was handed to me and I was told, "wait, tell the story so David can hear too", and so I did... they're a quirky but loving family, my soon-to-be in-laws. :)