His Story: You're A Work of Art Baby

So by now... I’m sure that you heard... She said Yes! Well she took the ring, so I’m assuming that means yes. Lol.

I’m just going to pick up right where I left off… So after my run, I showered and got dressed. I put on a button up shirt, some khakis, and some oxfords made in Italy (Shameless, yeah I know). Jaime was still at the gym and I had to take my son to karate. I told her on Thursday that she needed to be ready by 11 AM for our make-up date. So I took my son to karate, revised my blog, wrote my proposal speech, and came up with a plan to steal her phone. My hope was that she would be in the bathroom, still getting ready when I returned, and I would just grab her phone and turn it off. I wanted to do this because I had planned to post the blog, share it on Twitter, and create an Instagram post right before we left the house. I wanted to alert everyone about what was about to happen in the next hour. I knew that she would be somewhat frantic with worry about losing her phone but I would get her out of the house because I would tell her that I didn’t want to be late. She would just have to find it later.

So after karate I walked in the house and sure enough- she was still halfway getting ready. I had planned with the museum staff and the photographer to get to the museum around 11:30. I walked upstairs and saw her phone on the bed attached to charger. She was in and out of the bathroom, finishing up. In my head, I was like "As soon as she goes back in the bathroom, I am going to grab the phone and walk out". I sat on the bed and waited patiently for my moment. As she was doing her hair, she looked me up and down and said, “Why are you so dressed up?” I was confused and somewhat irritated, because in my head- I always look good, I always dress nice. Lol. I snapped back at her, “All I got on is a button up and some pants on, what you mean?” She seemed to be turned off by my attitude, huffed and puffed, and replied, “All I did was ask you why you were dressed up”. She went back in the bathroom and focused on her hair. This proved to be a great opportunity for me. Slick, yeah I know. I grabbed her phone and walked out as if I had an attitude. I am high strung and easily irritated at times so this was normal. Lol. Yeah it's a character flaw but I'm working on getting better every day. I have come a long way. Lol. I made sure the phone was on silent/vibrate and put it in my coat pocket.

Moments later, I heard her shuffling around things and mumbling about her phone. She even came to the top of the steps and asked me- “Did you see my phone? It was just on the charger.” I replied “Nah”. Lol. She had Jordan (her son) call her phone multiple times but to no avail. Around 11:10, I yelled up “Jaime, we got to go. The show is over at 12.” I told her that one of my friends was having an art show and I wanted to go support him. This story worked well because this was not the first time that I have taken her to a gallery to check out the work of somebody I knew. She responded with haste “You didn’t tell me a time; I didn’t know we had to leave at a certain time.” I know that I did. I told her on Thursday that we needed to leave by 11. She either forgot or wasn’t really listening. I told her that I did and left it alone. She finally got to the point, where she was like “Oh well, I’ll find it later.” She came down the steps and before we walked out the door, I posted the blog and shared it on social media, and sent it directly to close friends and family.

The ride to the museum was quiet. She seemed to be halfway upset about my attitude and the loss of her phone. Nevertheless, I knew that once my plan came together, she would be full of joy. We pulled up to the museum and the parking lot was empty. I had to play it off and started saying stuff like “Damn, nobody here yet. He told me that it started at 10.” We parked and walked into the museum. I saw the photographer waiting in the cut as soon as we walked in but I did not acknowledge him. I didn’t want to give any signs that there was a production going on. Same for museum staff, I said good morning and kept walking. We walked through the museum checking out different works of art. I tried to steer her out of the room where her photo was for a while. I wanted her to see it, but not just yet. So I walked around the museum in a weird maze. I knew that she was wondering why I was taking this complex path through the building. Lol. But I had to build up the moment, the rising action before the climax. I noticed the photographer taking shots of us as we walked through the different galleries, but she didn’t even notice him. After about 15 minutes, we finally walked into the room where her photo was. I was taking a few videos on Snapchat of random stuff but I also wanted to capture the moment when she saw her photo hanging in on the walls. When we finally reached her photo, she looked puzzled, shocked, and full of joy all at the same time.

She kept asking, “Wait, what? How did you get this in here? Wow. What? This is so cool. You got my photo in a real museum. You tricked me.” She read the description label and gave me a hug and a kiss. She was so happy. The moment was right, she was ecstatic, it was time. I tried to give my speech, the pre- Will You Marry Me speech, but she couldn’t even focus. She was stuck on the fact that her photo was hanging in a museum. A work of art.

SPEECH!

You are a work of Art.

I've told you. I've wrote it to you. Now I'm showing you.

Sometimes I think about how we got to this point and it seems unfathomable. From meeting in 2003 and you not really caring for me to us developing a friendship and hanging out a little bit in college to losing touch for a couple years to a text message inquiring about your sister for my man, which led to Kam and ultimately to where we are today.

We both have grown a lot but most importantly, we have grown together. There are still some areas in our relationship that we need to work on- we both know that. But there is no one that I would rather go through this process and journey with then you.

I love you. I care for you. I appreciate you. I admire you.

And I want to continue to make you the luckiest woman in the world.

She was in awe. She couldn’t figure out how I was able to pull this off. (Side note- I was cool as ice until it was time to pop the question) I got some of what I wanted to say out (the speech above) but it was out of order and what not. But she wasn’t really paying attention anyway, she was too caught up in the moment and I had not even pulled out the ring yet. I really don't think she remembers anything that I said in those moments. Meanwhile the photographer came out from hiding and began taking pictures, capturing these precious moments. She still did not notice him. I took her phone out of my pocket first, admitted to stealing it, and gave it back to her. She called me a liar with a smile multiple times. She was still in shock. Finally, I pulled the ring box out of my coat pocket, held it in my hand, and looked at her. She couldn’t stop putting her face in her palm and crying. Crying and giggling. Giggling and crying. For like three minutes. She was like “Is this for real? Are you serious?”

I struggled with the concept of getting down on one knee in the weeks leading up to the proposal. It was old school, it was the norm, and I didn’t want to be or do that. But at that moment, it just felt right. So I did it. I got down on bended knee, said her full name, and asked her to marry me.

Jaime Kristin Murray
Will You Marry Me..?

And she might’ve said yes. But I don’t remember hearing it exactly- between the mix of tears, smiles, and nervous laughs. She stuck her hand out, I took the ring out of the box and I put it on her finger. We took a few more staged pictures in the museum and a few outside. The photographer wanted to take more but Jaime was ready to go. She wanted to go celebrate. She was hype, full of bliss, glowing. And I was happy that she was happy. She couldn’t stop staring at and playing with the ring.

We got in the car to leave; she was still in shock and disbelief. She couldn’t really process what had just happened. We pulled off and we were talking about what just happened, when I remembered that I had a gift for her. I'm like an infomercial- But wait there's more! I pulled over and took the gift bag out of the trunk. I gave it to her and pulled off. She took out the card first and read it. The card said I FUCKING LOVE YOU on the front and inside I put a sweet message and at the bottom, I wrote, “Enjoy, No more presents until 2020.” Lol. Also inside the bag was a mug that said, “Does this ring make me look engaged?” and a t-shirt that had the word girlfriend crossed out with the word fiancĂ©e under it.

She is still on Cloud 9, literally 9 hours later. And I’m excited for her and I. Everything came together perfectly, just the way that I imagined it. Even the ring was perfect. She loved it. It fit great, I guessed on the sizing. I also had it engraved- Make It Last Forever.

Damn I'm good! And possibly a little cocky. Lol.

Now on to the next… The Wedding. But don’t ask me anything about it until February 1st. I’m on break until then. Lol.


Now the important part- pictures and a video. So check them out below.

https://youtu.be/3q4OzaVSzeg

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