"As a bunch of big girly dreams." she answered evenly.
"May I make one of those dreams come true tonight?" I asked.
It had been a great lump of crazy excitement getting up to this point, and my mind was in a whirlwind; only the two nights before I had decided to get the Promise Ring and make things official. I was so done with undefined relationships.
Tuesday evening I had gone to Fred Meyer jewelers to pick out the prize I would hand to her, only a few hurdles remained. When I got home, I called Steve, her step-dad, and asked his permission to give the ring to her.
I had text-messaged Steve requesting permission to call and have a private conversation with him, he said yes.
"Took you long enough." he said, answering the call moments after I had received permission to make it.
"Hello sir," I began, "I bought a promise ring and would like to ask your permission, as the man she considers her dad, to give it to her. It is my sign that I have found the girl in whom I see the character of a wife and would heretofore like to focus on building up my relationship with her. May I give it to her with these intentions?"
His response was simple. "Ok."
I could barely believe my ears. He trusted me that much already? No grilling or twenty questions? Shocked, I thanked him profusely and began to plan how I would present it to her. It would be at Olive Garden, but how to get her there in this already-packed week. The only day I could see working was the next day - Wednesday.
I messaged her and asked if she would join me for dinner that next evening. She responded with an emphatic. "Yes!" I refused to tell her where we would go. This was likely her first clue to what was happening.
The next day I sent constant count-downs to the minute I would see her, and she began to play along, likely not knowing the significance of the day just yet. As the time got closer, I became giddy, but refused to show it. When I arrived to get her I was as calm and collected as I could manage to be.
I found out later that, as I walked up past the front window, her mom told her I was wearing a "nicer" shirt and Tiffany went running up to change into something nicer herself.
When we pulled up into the parking lot for Olive Garden, she admitted that, from an earlier comment I had made, that she should be hungry, she had suspected this was the place to which we were headed.
I had set up a ruse in order to get not only the ring in its box into the restaurant, but the entire bag. It worked and she had no idea.
As she grinned at my hopes, she said that yes, I could make a dream come true tonight. I pulled out the bag, admitting my ruse, and set it before her. Near disbelief covered her face as she began to pull the small box out and a tangible glow spread across her countenance as she opened it; I explained what the ring was and what it meant. She grinned a grin that would not leave her face for at least a month.
After dinner, we drove down to Mukilteo beach and sat on a dock until long after dark, watching the boats and the water together, hearts full of unspoken dreams and excitement enough to make us both glow in the dark.
Here begins a new journey, and here closes an old tattered chapter of my life. I welcome this new adventure God has set before me wholeheartedly, it's so good to be in His will for once.
And I couldn't be happier.
