(Un)Romantics

Not many people can say they got engaged over the phone.
But it was February already, and if we wanted a summer wedding,
My parents wanted an official proposal before planning.

I knew he was meeting with my parents,
But somehow still was completely surprised when,
In a brief conversation in the five minutes before I led a Bible study,
“The meeting went well. Will you marry me?”
An astonished chuckle, a yes, and then my girls were arriving.

I didn’t tell them until study was over. We were in Hebrews,
And I wanted them to focus.
All of this is so very us.

For the next month, I was engaged without any visual symbol.
I flew to meet his parents for spring break, and expected a ring
At any moment. This lasted from Friday through the whole next week.

He tried to show me a favorite spot he’d had ten years before,
But new owners had put up fences, blocked it off.
We went then to Sutter’s Mill, where gold was first discovered.
He pulled out something unexpected, a slip-cased,
Hardcover set of The Lord of the Rings.
I’d had my eye on it a year.

Behind The Fellowship of the Ring was my ring.
All of this, too, is so very us.

We aren’t romantic, but we like what we like
And we like one another. It’s more than enough.