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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

It's Official!

Yes, family and friends, it is officially official! Santiago asked me to marry him on Friday, April 25, at approximately 9:30pm at Pastis Restaurant in Roswell, GA. It was very romantic. We smooched a lot!

He knew that I pretty much knew what was going on, so he tried to convince me we were just going out to dinner to celebrate his "real" birthday (that's an entirely different story). But I knew what was up from the first. He made reservations for Pastis in the Old Town Square of Roswell, Ga. It's a cute little french place in an old converted storefront. When he came to my house already dressed in his suit (jacket and all!), it made me more sure. I had spent the previous evening on the phone with a friend picking out my outfit, so I was ready to go when he got to my house. Our reservations were for 7:15, and we left my place right at 7pm. The day had been misty, so there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky. I told Santiago that God was showing his approval for the night, and he agreed. I didn't want to let on too much that I had my suspicions, but Santiago had a good idea what was going on in my head. When a girl thinks she's about to be proposed to, she can't help but be all glowy!

We arrived at the restaurant and they seated us upstairs, which is the main dining room. Pastis is a quaint little place, it has wood floors, a big fireplace, and quirky but beautiful modern art on the walls. We had a delicious meal (I had the duck, he had the pork roast), and talked about our upcoming plans. We've been unofficially engaged for several weeks, so talking about the preliminary plans for our wedding was not uncommon for us. After dinner, we paid our tab and moved downstairs to where the action was.

Downstairs was a much more intimate space, with lower lighting, the bar, and the little jazz ensemble was swinging. We ordered dessert, and Santiago was feeding it to me. It was all very romantic and sensual; he had me close my eyes and imagine as if that dessert was the last food I was ever going to eat, to savor it and get every last bit of pleasure from it. When I opened my eyes, the ring box was in front of me, open, and he had a big, impish grin on his face. He was radiating light, really, I will never forget the look on his face, or the love in his eyes at that moment.

He said, "Holly, will you marry me?"

I squealed a tiny bit and said, "Yes! oh my gosh, it's so beautiful!"

He took the ring out of the box and put it on my finger. Really, wow. That's all I can say!


We leaned over the table and kissed, and although it was a tiny table, it was still difficult to reach, so I scooted my chair to the side, so I could be near him. We smooched and spoke sweet words of love softly to each other for the next half hour or so. I guess we were making a scene, because our server came to ask us "if we needed anything else". I then flashed her the international sign of "I just got engaged!", and she quickly backed off to give us some privacy.

At about 10:15pm, we floated out of the restaurant to the car. The night was so beautiful, so we took the long route home with the windows rolled down, enjoying the fresh air tinged with rain. I couldn't resist taking a picture of my important finger immediatly, so I pulled out my camera phone and took a picture in the car.


When we got home, the first thing we did, of course, was to take pictures of the ring, and ourselves!

The first phone call was to my mom (of course!) She was very happy, and gave us her blessing. The camera phone picture I sent her hadn't yet arrived, so she said she would call us as soon as it came in. While waiting for her call, I called a couple of friends, who were already asleep.

Lauren, who had guessed what was going to happen that night, changed her voicemail message. It said, "This is Lauren and I'm asleep right now. If this is Holly calling to tell me she engaged, Congratulations! Yay! Otherwise leave me a message".

Santiago loved that message so much, he had me call six or seven times to listen to it. He even recorded it on his digital recorder so he could listen to it again. We did leave her a message.

My mom called back to say she recieved the picture of the ring. She thought it was beautiful as well. But really, how could she not?! Earlier in the week, she sent Santiago a birthday card, and he thanked her for it.

She replied, "What I wanted to write in it, but didn't, was that I didn't send you a present because I'm already giving you the most precious thing I have!". That made me a little teary, but I hadn't yet cried that night, so I powered through and held it in. :)

By now it was just past midnight and no one else was up, we decided it was time to declare victory and call it a night. Santiago said a very reluctant and smoochy "goodbye" at my door and drove home. I managed to stay awake until he called to say he was home safe, and then I collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep.

The next morning, when I woke up and felt an unfamiliar weight on my left ring finger, I put my hand to my face to look, and squealed all over again, falling back into bed laughing from pure joy. I was officially engaged to the man I loved most in the world.