Texas Trip - Day 3

...hang in there, it will take awhile to get through this one...

Monday morning woke me somewhat early.... I want to say 6, but admit I could be mistaken as I was up off and on throughout the night. I could hear Richard coming down the stairs, but he went outside to sit on the front porch rather than come into the family room where I was sleeping and disturb me. I had no idea of that at the time, so I ended up laying there for awhile, until I heard him come back into the house. At that point I got up and went into the kitchen to meet him.

We sat around the kitchen table and chatted for a half an hour or so before Kim and Merce got up. It was nice being able to have some quiet time again with one another. I admit my mind wandered into thinking about being able to have breakfast with this man every morning...and I really liked the feeling.

We got ready for the day and then went to a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We had fun and took our time, just laughing and talking... and then we decided to go to a local museum. Turns out the museum was closed Mondays, so we went miniature golfing instead. Turns out that a couple of schools was having some sort of field trip at the course, so it was a bit of a zoo, but we finally got our clubs and made it out to the course. I admit I haven't been mini golfing in awhile, but I wasn't overly bad. We got in about 12 holes before the heat defeated us and we went inside to cool off.

By the time we got our drinks and had cooled down a bit, it was time to head back to the house to load up my suitcase and get back on the road. We had a plan to leave town by 1:30 so we could meet his parents for dinner at 6. We got back to the house, loaded up and hit the road. Sadly, this is the first that my camera came out since I'd hit Texas, as I took a few shots of Kim and Merce before we left.

Richard and I left town and headed north. We were leaving a little later than we had planned, so I didn't get any shots of the scenery (again, I'll have to get shots the next time we're in Texas). As before, had no problem filling the time with talking, and even sang along with a bunch of 80s and 90s music on my mp3 player (lots of Roxette... yes, he's as dweeby as I am!)

We were already running late, so Richard took a moment to drive me past his old school and a few other spots from his childhood, before he called his parents to let them know we were nearly there. Since we were running late I didn't have a chance to check into the motel and change, so I was stuck meeting his parents in my jeans...but at least I had a nice blouse on, so it wasn't too bad...from the front. Being me, I had sat down on a dirty bench at the golf course so I had a big dirt splotch down one leg that I couldn't wipe off.... so I just made sure I didn't turn my back on his parents. Man there are times I go nuts being me... one day without a stain of some sort would be great.

His parents were sweet...his mom, Dixie, is darling (I felt bad that she still wanted to meet me even though she was starting to get a migraine), and his stepfather, Don knows more jokes than anyone I've met. We had dinner at a cute mom-and-pop Tex-Mex place, where I went with the Carne Guisada again (hey, I really loved the stuff!) and I think we had a nice time before they headed home. Richard is insisting that his mother liked me (at least he says she said so), but apparently I kissed Richard a time or two too many while in their company.... which made me feel bad because I don't remember giving him more than a couple of light pecks. I really do need to think more sometimes....

So we left the restaurant and headed back into San Antonio, passing China Grove (from the song...how cool is that?!) and while Richard insists it was a dog, I am still claiming it was a Chupacabra that I saw along the roadside. It had large ears and was tall and lean, and doing some kind of running bounce... it was dark though, so maybe he was right.... but maybe I was.... who knows. We did, however, pass a cowboy in full regalia riding his horse down the sidewalk just down the street from my hotel, which was freaking amazing!

We decided to go see a movie, so we checked me back into my hotel, and then we went to see the late show of "Thor". We'd just settled into the movie when I dumped about a third of my sprite down my front in the dark, and tried to brush it off like nothing happened (yeah, right.... he totally noticed but was nice enough not to say anything about it, other than to ask if I was alright). The movie was great... and it was nearly midnight by the time we headed back to the hotel. Being as geeky as I am, Richard drove us past a huge cemetery that stretched on for blocks... (yes, I love cemeteries...deal with it...turns out he does too). It was a beautiful cemetery...but its a bummer that it was in an unsafe part of town. The area was freaky enough that I was happy that Richard had securely locked my door when he closed my door at the theater (I love how he does that, just makes sure its locked before he shuts the door for me...it makes me feel so safe).

We arrived back to my hotel... he escorted me back to my room (me in my dirty bum pants and, thankfully, now dry shirt) when he kissed me... or I kissed him. At this point that part is a bit fuzzy. It was serious kissing, but he broke it off and started talking about how much he loved and respected me. He was holding my hands at this time, and then said how he'd planned to do this the next day, but that he just knew that he had to do this now. He then got down on one knee, pulled out my ring and asked me to marry him.

Oh. My. Holy. Heck. I mean, I knew at some point during this trip that he was going to officially propose, but I didn't expect this... with me all tired and in my stained pants and citrus soaked blouse.

All I could do was cry and say yes.

I hated to have to break the mood by asking if I could have my engagement ring, because he'd actually pulled out the wedding band and had put THAT on my finger. Sorry, but I wanted the pretty ring (forgive my moment of girly-ness, but I knew what the ring looked like and dang, I wanted it). We were both laughing by this point anyway, so I figured it was safe to tease him about how he'd put my ring on the wrong hand... so we laughed some more and he switched the ring over to the right finger.

He was all serious when he sat down and then began telling me things he hoped and planned for the two of us, and the life we would build together... re-iterating again how much he loved and respected me, and how he was honored to have me be his. He is the kindest, dearest man, and I look forward to having him be the Priesthood holder of our home. I loved seeing this very serious side of him, and the things he had to say had me crying even more.

He gave me another sweet (and completely chaste) kiss and then excused himself for the night... leaving me completely dumbfounded, and giggling to myself (though I blame that on how tired I was by this point).

This was so not what I expected from this night... but it didn't make it any less special, and it will certainly be a night to remember.