Did you guys know that Valentine's Day has been around since 496 AD? Originally it was established to celebrate Saint Valentinus, but there is little known about him and it was uncertain whether it was a day to commemorate just him or multiple saints with the same name. In 1969 Valentine's Day was taken out of the Catholic calendar of saints. However, Martyr Valentinus the Presbyter does remain in the list of saints to be proposed for veneration by Catholics.
Okay, I totally clicked on the the google link for Valentine's Day to get that information, haha. I love anything to do with the saints though. Their lives were all so fascinating!
Anyway...Happy Valentine's Day! I don't have a cute outfit picture for today because I'm busy working on my paintings all day. However...I realized I promised my wedding proposal story back in September and never did a post about it!
First....here's some background information about how Jon and I met....
I just started a new job at an art theatre in Chicago. I was working at the usher stand that day tearing tickets. One of the employees came up to me to get the keys for the employee room. We introduced ourselves. I was a little overwhelmed by his tall, dark, and handsomeness.
Once the first round of movies had gone in and there was some down time he came back up to talk to me. He asked me where I was from and I said Michigan. He told me he was from Michigan too! I asked where he grew up and he was like...."oh....just some small town, you probably haven't heard of it, it's called, 'grosse pointe'". "REALLY? I'M FROM GROSSE POINTE TOO!!!," was my response. It turned out that we had both gone to the same middle school at the same time. Isn't that nuts?
Here's a list of some other crazy coincidences:
He was friends with my best friend's brother (meaning we were hanging out in the same house together)
He was in the same boy scout troop as my step-brother
He briefly went to the same elementary school as me
He went to the Scooby Doo movie the day it opened at the theatre where I was working and I tore his ticket
There are more, but I can't think of them all right now. Just think of all of the times that we could have met!
Okay, so let me jump ahead now to our wedding proposal story...
At the time Jon and I were living in a two story apartment building. He lived upstairs and I lived downstairs. So I was sound asleep in my bedroom when all of the sudden I'm awoken by my dapper boyfriend all dressed up in a suit. While romantic it was also about 5 in the morning and I had class that day at 9 AM. He handed me a flower petal and read me a poem about how he was going to take me on a journey through our past. Now, this flower petal was very significant. It wasn't just any old flower petal...it was a sunflower petal! Sunflowers are my favorite flowers and I always told Jon that I wanted him to get me a 30 foot sunflower. I knew something was up, something good. So I got ready and we set off on our adventure. An adventure that became known as "proposal week". That week he took me around to all of the places that were significant to our relationship. For each romantic place I was given one more flower petal. I knew all of the flower petals were adding up to a really big sunflower...
This brings us to....
Thanksgiving weekend 2007. I was going home for the holiday and Jon was staying behind because he
forgot to take the weekend off from work. (This is a very typical Jon move.) So I had a lonely train ride home, but I had a nice Thanksgiving with my family and enjoyed seeing everyone. I was really sad that Jon wasn't able to come though especially following proposal week (with no proposal yet.) I had bought a special dress that I wanted to be proposed in and I packed it because I thought that he was going to pick me up from the train station when I got back to Chicago and propose there. I was certain of it. Well, I still had to get through the weekend, so I tried to make the most of it. That weekend the Detroit Institute of Arts was having an opening party because they had just remodeled the museum. It was suppose to be a huge event and my step mom said that she would take me. I was so excited. I got dressed up, but I didn't wear the proposal dress because that was suppose to be saved for Sunday when I went back to Chicago.
So we left for the museum. On the way there my step-mom mentioned that they were remodeling my old middle school. It was on the way towards Detroit, so we decided to go take a look at what they were doing. She drove me to the back of the building where the field was. There were a trail of flowers of the ground...daisies...I figured the school had just had a dance and someone had left them there. She told me to get out of the car and take a picture of them. So I did, then she handed me my purse and said, "here you might need this". I laughed and was like, "why, are you going to drive away on me?". Sure enough that's exactly what she did. So there I am, all alone stranded at my old middle school. My first reaction was to call Jon to tell him what just happened, but he didn't answer his phone. I stood there for a few minutes not really knowing what to do. I decided to go look at the trail of flowers...when out from behind the building...comes a handsome gentleman in a suit....holding a bouquet of sunflowers....it's Jon...who is in Chicago...but he's not...he's in Grosse Pointe! I asked him how on earth he got there...he told me that he jumped. Well...he does have long legs...
So he took my hand and guided me along the path of daisies to the middle of the field....where there was a huge circle of sunflowers. He said he figured if he couldn't get me a 30 foot sunflower he would have to get me 30 sunflowers instead. He read me a speech that he had prepared about that moment. About how even though we first met in Chicago our journey began there in middle school. Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes and I was crying my eyes out! He had designed my engagement ring himself. It was made up of yellow gold and three sunflowers. The big one in the middle had a clear diamond and the two on the sides each had brown diamonds. In the ring box he had placed little green leaves to go with the theme. (I still have the ring box with the leaves inside...they are dried up now, but still preserved.)
We stayed out in the field for a little while...just enjoying the moment. Finally when the cold started getting to us (it was November and Jon had been outside for hours in nothing but a suit coat!) we went back to the car where my stepmom was waiting. It turned out she was in on the whole plan. She had picked him up at the airport that morning and everything.
We went back home so that I could change into my proposal dress. I had to wear it!!! Then my step-mom took us out to Greek Town in Detroit for a celebratory dinner.
It was the best day of my life. Jon and I have been married together for just over two years now and our love continues to grow each day that we're together. I love him with all of my heart - Happy Valentine's Day love!
---------------------------------------------------------
