Part 5--Engagement stories

Our engagement photo

You probably noticed that I skipped over the mushy first kiss and first I love you moments because well, I think I would gag just trying to write it. Don't get me wrong I love me some good romance, but those stories are personal and I want them to stay that way. Besides there isn't anything funny about them and I prefer to make y'all (some Texas talk for you) laugh.

The proposal happened pretty quick, but when you know--you know, ya know? We had brought it up in casual conversations and both of us knew our relationship was heading in that direction. And since German's mom had decided way back before we started dating that the family was going to move to Georgia, time was limited. She was planning to move July 1st with ALL of her children. When she found a house to live in, she decided to show me pictures of the interior and said, "And look Sara, that is going to be German's room." Yeah, she wasn't very fond of me, to say the least.

On June 18th, 2001, after dinner German and I went outside to chat and be alone. We were sitting in the back patio chairs, holding hands and saying all sorts of mushy ooey gooey stuff to each other. And then quite suddenly he says, "I love you Sara and want to be with you forever. Will you marry me?"

"Huh?" what the heck...

"Will you marry me?"

Silence...Is he really asking me right here on his mom's patio, right now? Isn't he supposed to kneel or something? And where's the ring? Hmmm.

"Um yeah I will."

"Really?"

Smiles, big hug and kiss and I love yous exchanged, "Sorry I can't give you a ring yet."

"Ohh. That's ok...soooo, when you do have the ring you're going to ask me again for real then right?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

It really was such a sweet and memorable experience, we were both so happy.

We had one of his younger siblings take these pictures of us that night. Such happy goofballs.

Two weeks later, I moved to another cheaper apartment, so I could save money. I quit my job at the paper store because my boss wouldn't give me more than 30 hrs/week and I got a job at a call center. German helped his mom pack up the truck and drove across the country to Georgia. He planned to stay for two weeks to help her get moved in and then fly back to live with a family from the Spanish branch until we got married. We talked on the phone everyday except one (it was a sad day). I also quit the call center job after a week. Call center work wasn't my thing.

Then German and I had our first argument over the phone. I have no recollection of what we argued about, but I remember crying and thinking German was so mad at me and that he didn't want to marry me anymore and wouldn't come back to California and feeling like the world was crumbling to pieces around me and more drama drama drama. (Why are we girls so dramatic?) Since I had no job and no other obligations, the best thing for me to do, obviously, was buy a next day plane ticket to Georgia for $600. I mean when you are already in debt, isn't it wise to get into more debt? Besides, I missed my fiancee WAY too much to go out and look for another job. Although, I'll admit that it was not too smart at the time to spend so much money on a plane ticket, the memory I have of seeing him in the Atlanta airport is one I'll always cherish. We'd only been apart a week or so, but it felt like FOREVER. Let's just say when people saw us in the baggage claim area they were either smiling or disgusted and I'm pretty sure I overheard someone say "Get a room."

German special ordered my ring while he was in Georgia. He drew a picture of what I'd been describing and had it custom made. The day after I arrived German and I went to the mall to do a bridal registry at Williams-Sonoma. I used to work there and LOVE that place. So as I was clicking away, he turns to me and says, "Hey, I'll be right back ok." I figured he was just going to the bathroom or something, so I continued registering. After 30 minutes or so I started getting annoyed, where the heck did he go? I wanted to do this together. He finally returned and was acting all weird and nervous.

"Where did you go?" I asked.

"Uh nowhere, I just had to go check something."

"What?" I inquired.

"Oh nothing. Are you done here? Should we go back home?"

"Well, I did want to do this registering thing together and I thought we could walk around the mall some more, but whatever."

"Oh yeah, sorry. Well, ok. Uh, let's go then." Weird, what is wrong with him?

It was around 11am and as we walked to the car, I noticed he had his hand in his pocket and he looked like his mind was a million miles away.

"Are you ok? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Um, I want to show you something." When we arrived to his mom's minivan, he opened the trunk and told me to sit down. He took the velvet ringbox out of his pant pocket and sat down next to me.

"Here, tell me if you like it." He opened the box and handed it to me.

Silence again...Is he really giving me this right here in the mall parking lot, right now? And again no kneeling down on one knee. Oh well, forget it, I give up. Doesn't really matter anyway, right?

"Yes, I love it! It's perfect. Thank you."

A makeout session ensued in the back of his mom's minivan. I know sooo romantic, huh. I still tease German about his two proposals, but to his credit he had no one to offer him advice or suggestions on how to propose. He was also super stressed dealing with his family, none of them were very happy or supportive of us getting married. He really is such a romantic guy.

We flew back to California together and started discussing a date for the wedding. We thought about setting it for November 16th, since we both returned from our missions that day. Then reality hit. It was late July, he had no job and no money. I had no job and negative money. We decided sometime in February would be a bit more reasonable. German worked full-time at The Home Depot and also got a job a few days a week cleaning swimming pools in the mornings at 5am. I got two jobs as well. I worked M-F from 8am-5pm as a receptionist at an insurance company then 6pm-10pm at Sportmart (now Sports Authority) as a cashier four nights a week. We hardly ever saw each other and when we did we were always so tired.

Then in October I moved out of my cheaper apartment into somewhere even cheaper and much more ghetto. A family in German's ward had an old RV parked in their backyard and they offered to let me stay in it. They lived just a few blocks away from the family German was living with, so I was excited about us living closer to each other. They plugged in the electricity for me and I used a bathroom in the house AND it only cost me $100 a month. Eventually, by mid-November it was getting too cold for me at night, so they let me sleep in the house as well. Looking back I must have been deliriously happy and foolishly in love because it should have been a nightmare. (Ok, so some nights I did cry myself to sleep wishing we were just married already.) The spiders that lived with me in that RV were huge and there were a ton of them, too. (Darlene you would have died of fright.)

My RV home for three months. Oh, how I love the ghetto life.

But after three months I got out of debt and was able to move into our first apartment on January 1st (a little less ghetto than an RV, but still quite ghetto). And now I'll be able to tell my daughters, "Hey, if you want a big fancy wedding with ice sculptures, caviar and pony rides then you'll have to get two jobs and live in an RV to pay for it yourself!" They'll hate hearing it...muwha ha ha!

German's aunt kept us pretty well fed with her amazing cooking. Mate, pastafrola and panettone, yum yum yum!

Thank you, tia! And isn't abuelo the most darling old man you've ever seen?

And for your laughing pleasure, you get to enjoy more silly photos of us. Which engagement photo would you consider the MOST awkward? I think the middle one is the absolute worst, although the bottom right is a close second. They are all pretty bad, huh?

*Our photographer is an awesome family friend. He takes photos as a hobby and he took our engagement and wedding pictures all for free. German and I just didn't know how to pose properly. AND he even flew down to San Diego with his wife for our wedding and did such an amazing job! Thanks Bill.

Part 6 will contain a few stories about the days prior to the wedding and our wedding day. We had a very small budget and so many people helped us out. Luckily, I wasn't one of those girls who had envisioned the details of my wedding day since I was 12, so when things went haywire I was fine. As long as I was marrying German I was happy.