It's been almost a week, and I'm still pinching myself thinking this can't be real. I don't know what sort of good karma I put out into the world to be the recipient of all this happiness, all at once, but I am just embracing it and enjoying this amazing feeling for as long as I can.
We're getting married! I'm going to be Mrs. Brianne Elizabeth Stuchberry, my signature just got 10x longer and my smile got 10x wider.
So the weekend we were set to move in, we had spent the whole week painting - we being my dad, mom, Jake's dad & Uncle Den and myself, because Jake was pulling 13 hour days to be able to take some time off, all while dealing with a pulled groin.. #thankshockey - so that we could get everything moved in on Saturday. Jake & I took Friday off to do most of the moving of boxes and things so that the heavy stuff was left for our helpers the next day. Excited to sleep in on a "work day", we of course both promptly woke up at 6:30 AM, as you do. We went for breakfast close to our new 'hood, and got crackin'. It was raining and I really hate moving boxes to begin with, but we felt like a little team and the excitement of setting up the new house with our things that we hadn't seen in MONTHS (some of it since July! It was like Christmas with our own stuff) was enough to cancel out any "my hair is getting wet and I'm over this", at least for most of the day ;)
So we spent the entire day moving boxes and unloading our priority pieces, for Jake it was setting up the television area and for me it was unloading the coffeemaker ;). Peppered in there were trips to Wal-Mart and other places, picking up things homeowners need - like a garbage can & dustpan, all so glamorous. By 5pm on Friday we were wiped, feeling accomplished and excited seeing everything coming together so great. Since we signed the papers for the house, I knew that I really wanted to "camp" in our house the first night, with no furniture except our bed & few odds and ends, and nothing but a DVD player & some takeout food. Jake only had DVDs from when he was 15-20, so our options very mature & diverse - you can imagine. Our choices ranged from Saw to Jackass to Date Movie, except somehow my copy of Thelma & Louise, and Serendipity snuck in there, and both were promptly vetoed. We agreed on Dodgeball, settled in to our set up of couch cushions, pillows & popcorn, and I promptly fell asleep on his shoulder 20 minutes in, as per usual.
We went to bed, exhausted but fulfilled in our productive day, and so so excited about our new home. Jake was cool as a cucumber and I was just in heaven about how perfect our new home was. I laid in bed absolutely giddy about how amazing the wall color matched our white furniture and our bedding, and we both marveled in how spacious our room was!! The bed that ate up our entire master bedroom in the condo now looked small in this room. Jake of course mentioned that we were of course going to need a bigger TV for the room now, (no, we don't) and I went to bed thinking about how perfect my life was, in this moment.
The next morning we woke up early again, like 6:15 early. None of our friends were set to start helping with the move until 10, so we were both hoping for a sleep in. Either way, Jake was extra cuddly and chatty, which is just not really like him, especially not first thing in the mornings when he didn't get to sleep in. But this morning he was, and I was loving it and soaking in this wonderful feeling of serenity & happiness, listening to the birds chirping outside as the sun started warming up the mountains. Still not able to fall back asleep, and after we both agreed, yep I'm awake now, he all of a sudden goes "don't move, stay right there just don't move". And still in my totally oblivious state, I'm thinking to myself "oh my god this morning just topped the perfection scales, he's going to go make me a coffee and bring it to bed!", so I didn't move a muscle. Jake doesn't drink coffee no matter how many time I've tried to convert him, so making me a coffee was like, woah man are you ever getting brownie points.
Instead, he just started chugging water like he was a freakin' camel, and I was laughing in my head thinking like, okay you weirdo simmer down you just woke up! And when he laid back down beside me, his heart was beating damn near out of his chest. Looking back on it now it just makes me laugh because I was SO concerned, like Babe are you okay!? Your heart is going crazy!! He tried to shrug it off and tell me he was tired, and changed the subject. I said to him after, the next 5 minutes are a blur, us talking about how happy we were, and me saying how this was just so perfect and this moment felt like one of the happiest I've ever had. Next thing I know, he's opening a box infront of my face containing my absolute dream ring, and says, will you spend the rest of your life with me? Cue the waterworks, the "are you serious!?", the uncontrollable nervous/esctatic/overjoyed giggles, and finally the "yes yes yes yes!!!" I think he may have had to ask me that first, because I was so overwhelmed I didn't even think to say yes.
After the happy FaceTimes, both sets of parents came over and more details emerged. Jake had been working with my parents for several weeks to have this ring specially made for me. The center stone is from my Grandmother's engagement ring, someone who is so special to me and so missed, I couldn't contain my emotions when he told me. My grandma & poppa were the ultimate relationship goals, they had a marriage based on fierce love, mutual respect and they were truly each other's best friends. My Grandma was my Poppa's caregiver during his last years when he was battling Alzheimer's, and she showcased what it really meant to honor your vows. The fact that I have this piece of their memory and soul in my ring & overlooking our marriage, I can't even put into words how important and special and cherished that is to me. The design is everything I've ever dreamt of, and the sentiment behind it is just, no words.
All of the love and warm wishes and happiness that has been surrounding us for the past week has been wonderful, like I said I don't know what I did to deserve all of this, but it's pretty fantastic up here on Cloud 9. I'm marrying the insanely handsome boy from Lumby who absolutely made my day when he added me to Facebook 3 1/2 years ago. The guy who gave me butterflies daily when we were first falling in love, and to this day makes me laugh and so insanely happy I just can't believe my luck. The guy who turns my frustration into laughter when he warns me to be careful and not to trip on my attitude, and who knows that when life is getting too much for my anxious little heart, he just needs to bear hug me until he hears my breathing slow down. My best friend in the entire universe, my partner in crime. Now, to work on my new signature ;).