Our Story - Part 3... (From Jenn's Point of View)

So I caught the bouquet. The funnier part is that Josh's younger brother, Jonny, caught the garter. We'll just say Jonny didn't get the garter very far up on my leg (that's if you consider the ankle to be part of the leg). They let Josh take over and put the garter on the rest of the way. So after catching the bouquet, we "joked" around about how I'd have to be the next one to get married. That was September.

October came and went quickly. I consistently wondered in the back of my mind when Josh was going to propose. I had a feeling it was going to happen, but in my mind there was no way he could have asked my dad yet. So, I just kept forcing the idea out of my head. We enjoyed spending time together. In October we went to one of the huge fairs not far from my school. We enjoyed walking the streets of the fair together and then watching the fair parade. It was a great time together.

Josh and I at the fair together

The next month was November. Each November the Marines have their annual Marine Corps Ball on or around November 10th to celebrate the Marine Corps birthday. It's a huge formal affair - everyone gets all dressed up, the Marines in their dress blues and the civilians in their nicest clothes. Josh asked me to be his date to the ball. I was honored. Josh's unit's 2007 ball was being held on the actual birthday, November 10th. However, Josh had to report to drill (reserve duty) the day before - Friday November 9th. I had thought that Josh had been acting kind of weird around that weekend, but I brushed it off. That Friday night, Josh was at drill and I was at a friend's house hanging out. I had texted him and said something about how I couldn't wait until we were engaged and he responded with something to the effect of "Not too long baby". I had a feeling he was telling the truth on that one, but I wasn't quite sure how soon he meant.

So the next day was the ball. A friend of mine did my hair in the morning and I got all ready. Then his mom came and picked me up and took me to their house. Josh was on his way back from his unit to pick me up from the ball. I felt bad for him. He had told me he hadn't slept well the night before and then had overslept that morning. I kept thinking that maybe it was "the day" but didn't want to get my hopes up. Anyways, I got my dress on and make-up done. Josh got his dress blues on and got all ready. Then his mom was like "hurry, hurry, we won't have enough time". I was wondering why she was hurrying us, as we were ahead of schedule and had plenty of time until we had to leave. So once we were ready his mom took what seemed like a million pictures. His brother, Jon, was also videotaping us. I found it rather odd that he was videotaping us and that his mom, dad, and brother were all there in the room watching us get pictures. I figured they were just excited for us going to the ball together.

Anyways, after what seemed like a million pictures, Josh told me that he had gotten me something and he had to go upstairs to get it. So he went upstairs and came down. He told me he had talked to my dad to see what kind of challenge coin I'd like and he had gotten me one for the ball. (A challenge coin is a commemorative coin that Marines get for different places they go and things they do, and notice he had "talked to my dad to see what kind I'd like" that was him telling me he had my parent's blessing on this) So he hands me the coin. The front of the coin looked exactly like this.

Then he said to turn it over. I turned it over and read the back and it said "Jennifer Lynn, will you marry me?" By the time I looked up from reading it Josh was on his knee with the most gorgeous ring and said "Jenn, will you marry me?". Of course I said yes. Then I laughed and hugged him and laughed and hugged him. (Laughter is my nervous reaction) Then I looked at the ring. It was a beautiful ring, with several small diamonds shaped as a heart. He told me, "Now wherever we are, even when we're apart, you'll always have my heart". That melted my heart.

After I realized what had happened, I got on the phone to tell everyone the good news. Josh says I was on the phone the entire drive to the ball (an hour and a half away). I was so excited! It was great for Josh to be able to introduce me as his fiance at the ball. We had a great time there that night and then drove back to his parent's house after the ball was over. I could barely sleep that night, as I was so excited to be engaged to the man of my dreams...

-Jenn