Wedding Blog

… Mr. Ducky proposed!! I can’t believe that Mr. Ducky and I have been engaged for a year. This sounds so cliche, but time has flown by. There has been so much that has happened in the last year, aside from just wedding planning, that has made it a blur.

I realized I never told the hive about our engagement story, and thought that maybe this would be the appropriate time to have a little storytelling session. Mr. Ducky and I had been together for a few years and we both had talked about wanting to get married sometime after I finished grad school. The question was, just when would the engagement happen? Mr. Ducky wanted to pick out the ring himself and surprise me, so I really had no idea when the proposal was going to come.

Whenever I tell this story, I have to go back a week before the engagement to Mother’s Day weekend of 2008. For Mother’s Day, I decided to go down to San Diego to spend the weekend with my mom, and Mr. Ducky stayed up in Orange County with his mom. On that Sunday, Mother’s Day, I got a panicked call from one of Mr. Ducky’s best friends. He had been on the phone with Mr. Ducky and all the sudden heard a loud crash and metal crunching, when the phone went dead. The phone was going to voicemail when he tried calling back. Of course, my heart started pounding and I immediately called Mr. Ducky, but there was no answer. I tried calling his mom, and again there was no answer. Minutes later, Mr. Ducky’s mom called letting me know that Mr. Ducky was okay, but he had been in car accident. It was one of those moments where your heart just drops and all you can do is stay focused on keeping it together to do what needs to be done. I jumped in my car and drove straight to the hospital to meet Mr. Ducky.

As I drove, I was able to talk to Mr. Ducky and get the story of what happened. He had been driving on his way to pick up supplies to make dinner for his mom. As he was driving down the street, a driver on the other side of the road started swerving towards him head on. Luckily, Mr. Ducky swerved, avoiding a head-on collision, but was still hit on the side, causing his truck to flip and land on its side. After he got out of the car, he found out he was hit by a 16-year-old kid who was on ecstasy and had blacked out from being at a rave the night before. Mr. Ducky was able to walk away from the accident with a few scratches and a sore back, which was basically a miracle if you’d have seen his totaled truck. The kid who hit him was also okay.

When I finally arrived at the hospital and hugged Mr. Ducky, it was one of those moments that I experienced so much relief, love, and thankfulness that he was okay. What I did not know was that Mr. Ducky had bought the ring the day before the accident and had been in the process of trying to plan the proposal. That moment was, in a way, more emotional for him, as he was preparing to ask me to marry him, and almost had that taken away. In fact, everything from the jewelry store was out on the table, since he wasn’t expecting me until late that night, so while I went out to get dinner for everyone, he and his mom had to hide the evidence. Later, he told me that at the scene of the accident, he kept telling the fireman and police that he had just bought a ring to propose to his girlfriend. I think it was some of the adrenaline still running through his body after being in the accident.

The following weekend, we headed down to San Diego to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mom, since I had basically run out of the house in a panic to get to the hospital. On our way to dinner in Del Mar with my family, Mr. Ducky asked me if I wanted to take a walk down to the beach. I thought it was a little strange, but we had experienced many emotional moments that week, so I thought maybe he just needed a breather. As we walked along the cliffs in Powerhouse Park overlooking the ocean, we stopped at a bench. Before I knew it, Mr. Ducky was reflecting on our relationship history, how thankful he was he had me, and how the week we had just experienced had cemented more than ever that we were going to be together forever. And then he proposed!

My reaction? Pure shock. Mr. Ducky still laughs when he tries to explain the look on my face. Of course, I said yes, and experienced so much joy, happiness, and excitement. I didn’t cry because I think I had cried out my emotions earlier in the week and I was way too surprised. It was the last thing I expected after the week of pure craziness. I still say that I experienced every possible emotion that week, from terror, to sadness, anger, happiness, thankfulness, and the week ended in pure joy and surprise. It was the perfect simple and romantic proposal. We were able to celebrate after by having dinner with my family, who was waiting for us at a restaurant up the street. The following weekend we flew to Seattle for his brother’s graduation and to celebrate with his whole family. It was seriously a whirlwind month.

When I think about our engagement and Mr. Ducky’s proposal, I’m reminded of all the joy and excitement in those first moments, days, and weeks. I also think about how blessed I am that Mr. Ducky was safe after the accident, and how easily it could have been a different story. However, despite a scary situation, we grew so much from the accident, and I think it took our level of trust, love, and appreciation for one another to a new level.

Here is a picture of us a day after the proposal.

And here is the beautiful ring that Mr. Ducky picked out all by himself! The picture was taken using some tips from Anne Ruthmann.

Want to know a weird and kind of freaky thing? For Mother’s Day weekend last week, we just so happened to go back to the same jewelry store the day before Mother’s Day to pick our wedding bands. Not that we are very superstitious, but I still didn’t let Mr. Ducky go to the store the following day for Mother’s Day dinner. We got him the supplies, and he cooked.

Did anyone have a proposal go a little differently than originally planned? What was your first reaction?