How We Met
Jeb and I met during our first semester in college at Bridgewater State University in MA, as we both lived on the same floor in the residence hall called Woodward! My roommates and I very quickly became friends with Jeb and his friends down the hall, and before we knew it we were calling ourselves the Room 11 Crew. As our crews friendships grew closer, so did Jeb and I’s relationship. All the late night movie sessions with just Jeb and I were more of a “developing a relationship” for him, while I had internally friend zoned this poor kid- assuming no guy this nice could be into girls. I couldn’t help but also friend zone him because this guy was willingly watching “Say Yes to The Dress” with me basically ever day we were together! Now six years later it was made clear that he hated that show, and was only watching it because he assumed it was the only way I would stay in his room watching something!
how they asked
Currently living apart from Jeb while I work in North Carolina has been #lonely. But in an effort to keep me excited for the approaching Christmas/holiday season, Jeb told me that he got me the “best gift ever”, and I wouldn’t be able to top it. Hyped up on these words, I couldn’t help but imagine all the crazy possibilities it could be with my best friends over text, and with my co-workers at work. Was it a proposal? A French bulldog puppy? A new computer? Nathan Scott? I would have been happy with any of these, clearly. Through talking over the phone one night, he accidentally slipped that what he got me was “in the vein of an engagement, but it wasn’t an engagement”. I’m sorry what? My co-workers and I joked over the fact that he’s never been able to keep a secret from me in the past six years, and his statement made no sense. In the vein of an engagement….so what…. Engagement pictures? An engagement party? A wedding? Like what does his weird statement even mean?
Fast forward when i’m finally home for the week and it’s time for presents. You see Jeb and I spend Christmas Eve with his family down the Cape, and back at my house on the main land for Christmas. Like every year, we open presents with his parents and my parents on both days- and this year would be no different. As we grab all the presents we’re going to give others, Jeb hands me a small box the size of a ring box, but it’s wrapped in wrapping paper. Was this kid about to propose by throwing me a wrapped ring box at me? I open this box unsure of what the heck is happening in my life, that my boyfriend thinks this is an appropriate why of proposing- and I open it to see a beautiful pair of STUNNING diamond earrings. Now don’t get my wrong, this earrings were amazing- but I’m the type of girl who wears $2 earrings from Claire’s because i’m nervous I’m going to lose them (because I often do).
Later that night Jeb held up one of the ratings to my finger and asked if that was the size I would want a ring. Now I wasn’t upset in this moment because he hadn’t proposed, like I love this guy, it’ll happen eventually and I get to be with him either way; but the reason I was upset was thinking this guy assumed I wasn’t a small diamond in my chunky sausage fingers. Of course any ring would be perfect, but I’m not the tiniest girl in the gym, and a smaller ring would look like a small Starbucks straw in a venti cup- it just doesn’t work. Fast forward after lots of love and food with both his family and mind during those two days, to the 26th of December in 2017 when Jeb was bringing me to an “unknown getaway”. As a 6th year anniversary present, Jeb scores us a night at an incredible spa suite of the Chatham Bars Inn down in Chatham, MA! While posting 300 videos of this extravagant suite on my Snapchat story for the whopping 5 people that would actually watch it, Jeb quickly said “I have another gift for you”.
Was this real life? Did he bring me some Cape Cod Jalapeño potato chips, because I really could go for some after Christmas snacking. After this internal OMFG moment, I fell into the bed and did what any cool calm and collected person would do- read the piece of paper that tells you to hang up the towels you’d like to keep, and leave the ones on the floor you want exchanged. I was literally reading this statement out loud friends, I was reading about damn towels out of happy panic. To the right of me was the man of my dreams sweating out of nerves (like usual), down on both knees (probably also because of nerves), and then opens a box with an engagement ring upside down (100% because of nerves). You know all those girls on Pinterest that have that hidden photographer in the bushes, and your best friend is around the corner, well throughout those six years all of those Pinterest photos made me want that.
But in this moment, this absolutely horrendous ugly cry that went on for at least 30 mins, I couldn’t have been happier to have only shared it with the guy who just asked me to spend the rest of our lives together. Now a few weeks later, I still feel like i’m in some weird dream- because for the first time in six years Jeb actually kept a secret from me….well kind of. Did I mention that Jebs a jeweler, and made both my engagement ring and the earrings that perfectly match it?!? And for those of you asking, yes the engagement ring is indeed bigger and a perfect fit for these sausage fingers!
