This is quite lengthy but I wanted to make sure I didn't forget any details. It all began on Thursday, June 21st. It was a seemingly normal day for both Josh and myself. Josh was at work like usual and I, being on summer vacation, was going to spend the afternoon swimming with my friend Amanda. As the morning crept on, it became darker and cloudier and we decided not to go swimming afterall, but still wanted to meet up for lunch. The lunch went on as planned and I decided to go back to Amanda's house to continue hanging out for a bit. As I got to Amanda's house, my phone rang and it was Josh. He told me he had a lead on a lawn mower for my dad and wanted my mom's phone number to pass that info along. That should have been my first clue; however, throughout this you'll see how clueless I really was! So I gave him my mom's cell number, thinking my dad would be thrilled to possibly get a new mower. Around that time I left Amanda's house and had a little time to get ready to go to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, which we always go to on Thursday nights. As a last minute decision, I decided to run into Target to look for a dress to wear to my birthday dinner on Sunday. While I was there, my mom called me and mentioned Josh had called her about a lawn mower. She immediately went into how she was going to be shopping for my birthday the next day and was thinking about getting some costume jewelry for me, such as bangles and rings. She then proceeded to ask me about my various ring sizes and again I was clueless! Since I was in Target, I was able to go look at the ring section and give her exact sizes for my different fingers. She had to have been laughing at me the entire time and I was just excited about getting some new jewelry for my birthday.
I left Target and went home to get ready for dinner. Josh had come home from work but had left again because his truck was gone and his friend Tom's car was in the driveway. He called me a little before I was ready to go and me, getting slightly annoyed because he was supposed to be home, asked him where he was and what he was doing. He said Tom was with him helping him and he had to go on an emergency call to his friend's house because he had a water main break. Things like that do happen and in this heat, it was believable. I was annoyed and asked him if he even wanted to go to dinner still. He said yes, but I should go on ahead and meet his mom up there and he'd be up there later. I went on ahead to dinner and waited with his mom until he and Tom showed up together. He said everything was fixed and I didn't question it further, not have any idea he had just been with Tom to buy my engagement ring. The next day I had a birthday lunch with my mom, her friend Connie, and my grandma. Toward the end of the meal, Connie began asking me when I was going to be engaged. I later found out she was as clueless as I was and it was just a coincidence she was asking. I answered her about how I knew Josh wasn't the type to propose out in a big crowd or on a holiday like Christmas or Valentine's day and that he would do it when it was just us most likely. During this conversation, my mom pipes in with "I think he has something up his sleeve" and I just rolled my eyes at her and kept talking. Again, no idea!
That night we went to see Styx and REO Speedwagon on a party bus with Josh's co-workers for Kenny's birthday. It was such a blast but turned out to be a late night for everyone and it sort of ruined our plans to go to Six Flags the next day, June 23, as part of my birthday festivities. I was sort of bummed but he said we could go another time soon for my birthday and I was fine with that. With Six Flags out of the way, we didn't have any plans so we just hung around the house. We talked about going riding but that didn't pan out either. I said I would like to go shopping again to look for a dress since I didn't find one when I was at Target and so we planned to go shop in Edwardsville and then go to dinner for my birthday. Around 3:30 pm, Josh began pacing around the house and claiming he was bored. This was not out of the ordinary as Josh typically has a hard time relaxing and always needs something to do so I didn't question this behavior. Finally, I was tired of him pacing and said I would go get ready and we could go on the earlier side. He got ready as well and was done well before I was.
I was still in the bathroom getting ready but had the door open and I could see him walking around in the house still pacing. I was trying to hurry so I was still in the bathroom when finally Josh said "Babe, Jack has something he wants to show you." I was irritated because I was trying to hurry to get ready so he would stop whining and this was just another distraction I didn't need. I walk out into the hallway and I see Jack in the kitchen with a ring box in his mouth. I immediately freeze in my place and say "what the heck is that?" even though I know exactly what it is. I almost started hyperventilating and looked at Josh who looked incredibly nervous. He has this gorgeous ring in his hand already and dropped to his knee very fast and said "Julie, I love you will you marry me?" He popped right back up and I just kept looking at him saying "Oh my God, Oh my God." I hadn't even said anything other than that and he scooped me into the biggest and best hug from him ever. I was still in shock and my legs felt numb and then the tears just came in gushes. I finally was able to look at him and say "Yes, I'll absolutely marry you!" and hugged him about a hundred more times. The ring was beautiful and of course, fit perfectly, thanks to my mom being a detective! We went to dinner and had champaign afterwards to celebrate and it was beyond perfect. So that's the story of how Josh proposed! He couldn't have done it any better way and now everytime we walk by that spot, we can be reminded of how he proposed. Thank you to everyone for all of your well-wishes and support and sorry to anyone who didn't get a call or text! It was crazy hectic right afterwards and we tried to get everyone we could. Can't wait to see all of you on our big day next year!!
