Ryan and Jessica
How I proposed
So we go to watch Big Fish on Friday Jan 16th. Which is way good, bye the way, you should go and see it! So we went to the show, and afterward we just drove around until we decided to stop. We ended up on a dead end road on the North side of a church parking lot down in Riverton somewhere. The road was barricaded off in anticipation of the development that would some day take place on the huge 100 acre field on the other side of it. So we just parked in front of the barricade and looked out over the field.
Now at this point I was still didn't know what I was going to do to propose, and Jessica didn't know I had the ring yet. So as we sat there looking out over the field we started talking about Lehi's dream and how he saw a field that represented the world and how he followed a man for many hours until he prayed to the Lord and was then able to find the fruit of the tree of life. We talked about how our relationship paralleled the gospel in so many ways, how our relationship was like a journey of faith, just like we would have to walk to cross that field, only seeing a little in front of us at a time. The spirit was there very strong as we talked.
I then suddenly felt like I should pull out the ring. I was distraught. I hadn't planned anything. I procrastinated the feeling for a while and then it came back, so I found a time while she was talking about something to reach back into the back seat and dig into my backpack to get the ring. She just thought I was grabbing my scriptures to share something in terms of our conversation. I finally found the ring in my bag and put it on the back seat right behind her so I could grab it at the right moment.
We continued to talk for a while about a few more things, and we were just enjoying the spirit of the moment and the time together. Finally I felt like I should express my feelings for her. I said something along these lines: "Jessica, you are amazing. You are everything I never knew I always wanted. I need you more than I have ever needed anyone, and I can't imagine living life without you as my wife." I then turned on the light, grabbed the ring box, opened it up and said, "Will you marry me?" She then said something like, “Oh my gosh,” and gave me a hug. I then put the ring on her finger and we admired it for a while. No tears where shed, it was more of a "Ah, finally its official" feeling.
After I gave her the ring, I put in the CD with For the Love of a Woman by Jericho Road, opened the car door, and danced outside the car. It was way romantic, even though it was bitter cold, but we didn't mind.
She reminded me afterwards that, what she was hoping for more than anything, was a proposal that was spiritual and a surprise. Well, she got both. We both realized afterwards, because we are on the same wavelength and read each other so well, that if I would have planned anything, she would have seen it coming and it wouldn't have been as big of a surprise. We really are that close. So I think in order for the Lord to give Jessica the kind of proposal that she wanted, it had to be a surprise for me too, and it was.
And that’s the story.
Nothing fancy, but good none the less.
