I said, "Yes!"

I’m engaged!!!! I am the future Nichole Leigh Tippin!!

I had no idea it was coming. I dreamed that it might (if you’re a girl then you get the whole crazy daydreaming thing. It normally comes when we think a guy likes us and we take every little detail and blow it out of proportion to prove to ourselves that they really do), but I knew that A.J. still had a year of grad school in Indiana, he did not yet have a job, and he got a bit spooked the one time he had said “marriage.” ;) I had daydreamed that he would ask me to marry him, but I convinced myself I was crazy and continually tried to bring myself back down to earth.

Rewind to Thanksgiving break. As we parted ways and both drove out of Pittsburgh, we made one last stop at a Starbucks to officially say goodbye. We sat for awhile. Right before we left, he played a bit with my ring finger. I imagined that he was trying to figure out my ring size by comparing his finger to mine. My heart pounded for a moment, I got excited, then I convinced myself that I was crazy and I let it go…

Fast forward. Pause at Christmas break. A.J. came to Pittsburgh on Dec 27th. We had fun seeing my friends and spending time together. One evening when we got back to my parents place, A.J. headed downstairs to drop off his coat. My dad was down there. They started talking. They continued talking longer than expected. In my mind I imagined that he was asking my dad for permission. Just in case I started talking loudly to my mom and turned the T.V. up. But surely, there’s no way he was talking to my dad now, right downstairs where you can hear every word if you listened…

Fast forward to 1-1-11. The evening started out with excitement. We had a date in New York City on New Year ’s Day. The New Year’s Eve party the night before was fun, got to sleep in and rest, got to get all dressed up for a surprise date, life was good. As we left, A.J. did his customary check of his pockets to make sure he had his phone and wallet. He checked an extra pocket twice. I thought it was weird. Girlishly I told myself he had a ring and wanted to make sure he didn’t forget it, but then I laughed at myself in my head and rationalized that he was confused with the pockets of his new coat. We headed to the train station and just missed the train, but no worries, another one would be coming soon. I had no idea what the plan was, so I wasn’t worried. Besides, we left earlier than A.J. had planned.

We sat at the station for half an hour. Laughing, chatting, taking funny pictures. I thought several times how wonderful it is to have found someone I’m comfortable being silly with.

The train finally comes, we grab our seats, we’re on our way. About 10 minutes into the train ride, the lights in the car go out. A.J. mentions something about it, but I’m sure it’ll be ok. A bit later, as we’re approaching Newark, we get the announcement that the train is having mechanical problems, so everyone needs to get out. Things started to go wrong. We waited for 30 minutes in Newark for the train that was supposed to be “immediately following.” It was cold. I was hungry, but I could see A.J. getting anxious, so I did my best to keep a positive attitude.

We get to New York Penn Station much later than planned. We rushed to the subway to get up to Columbus circle, which was near the restaurant. We jumped on the blue line… maybe the E train? Anyway, we only needed 2 stops to 59th street. At 50th I looked up and noticed that the next stop is not the one we want… I realized as the doors were about to close that the blue line splits and we were going to be headed the wrong way. Darn it. Second time we had a date in the city and were on the wrong subway. Oh well. Too late now.

A.J. started getting frustrated and anxious. We were going to miss our reservation. But hey, I enjoyed being with him and it’s not like it was a super important date. It wasn’t our first and it’s not like he was proposing, so no use getting worked up. If we ended up eating Burger King, life would not have ended.

We were 15 minutes late for our reservation at a really nice Mexican restaurant. They gave our table away, but thankfully they put us back in the line-up and we only had to wait 20 minutes. We still had time to eat before the surprise event.

Dinner was slightly awkward, the table was oddly shaped so A.J. was kind of far away, making it hard to hear each other. But again, that was ok since it wasn’t like it was a first date or a proposal or anything. The food was delicious and the service was quick so we finished in plenty of time to find our next location: The Lincoln Center to see an opera.

I was excited. I love shows and the opera is not something A.J. or I had experienced. It was fun. We discovered we aren’t opera people, but it was a great date.

The show ended. We waited a bit and then began to head out of the theatre. There was a ton of people, so A.J. suggested we take a stroll around the level we were on. There were some gorgeous chandeliers, so I was ok with that. He was acting slightly more out of character than normal. In my girlish daydreaming mind I thought, “Oohhhh it’s because he’s going to propose.” Yet in reality I reasoned that he was probably working up the courage to tell me that he loved me, which he had not done before.

We left the theatre. I wanted dessert. Instead, A.J. directed us out of the herd of people leaving to a beautiful area with a pond/fountain/sculpture thing outside of a Julliard building. We walked around and commented on the opera and the art work. He paused after we made one lap. My heart pounded a bit, still imagining that he wanted to ask me to marry him, but decided he was probably looking for a spot to say, “I love you.” He asked if I wanted to walk around a second time. I noticed an interesting sculpture off to the side of the building where there weren’t any people. Thinking that if by chance he wanted to tell me something, that would be a great place to say it. We headed in that direction. We commented on the interesting statue. Then we stopped. My heart jumped.

He looked into my eyes and told me some nice things, like I was beautiful and he really enjoyed me. I said thanks. Then we got to the good stuff ;). He told me all the things he loved about me (honestly I can’t even remember because I was so excited that he was going to tell me that he loved me). The anticipation was building. Finally those three words that I was longing to hear for the past few months were said, “I love you.”

It was so sweet. I responded that I loved him too and gave him a kiss, but my throat was a bit groggy and it came out very softly. I was unsure if he had heard. He got a weird look in his eyes and didn’t really respond to my kiss. I started to panic a bit. “What if he didn’t hear me? Does he think I don’t love him? Did I just crush his heart?”

And as these thoughts were flying through my mind, the incredible happened.
For once in my life, my silly daydream began to come true. He took a deep breath and shuddered a bit. He began to reach into his pocket. My heart was in my throat, pounding in my ears. All I could think was, “Holy crap, no way, no friggin way.”

He said, “Nichole…” and pulled out a small box from his coat. He started to lower to his knee. Things get blurry from there. I think I went into shock. The immediate thing that came out of my mouth was, “You’ve GOT to be kidding me.” Everything I had imagined, all the little details I thought I had blown out of proportion were true!!!

This amazing man, this wonderful, humble, honest man, wanted to be with me for the rest of his life. I think I stopped breathing. He was down on his knee. I don’t remember what else he said except, “Will you marry me?”

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

My jaw dropped. Everything stopped working. I was shaking. My body didn’t know whether to scream or cry or shut down. I saw the ring shining in the box. “No way, no way , NO WAY!”

He looked at me expectantly. He had a slightly humorous yet concerned look in his eyes. Only a few seconds had passed but I realized I hadn’t responded.

“Yes!”

I nodded and smiled. He rose. I can’t remember the next few moments. Was I dreaming? What was going on? There’s no way that just happened. I looked at him.

That just happened. What?!?!?!

Maybe I kissed him or hugged him or just continued to look at him with my mouth hanging open. I can’t remember. I believe I continued saying things of denial that this was actually happening. My blood pressure was definitely high.

I noticed he was still looking at me with the ring in his hand. I laughed as I realized I didn’t have any idea what just happened. He slid the ring onto my finger. My heart exploded.

After a few more fuzzy moments of shock I said I needed to sit down. We moved over to a ledge. This incredible guy who was everything I was waiting for, who was an answer to prayer, just asked me to be his wife. HOLY CRAP. While I had imagined this and daydreamed about it, I never actually thought it would happen. I looked at him. I loved him so much. God was so incredibly good to me. I kissed him, I cried, I continued to say, “No. Way.”

My mind was running through what just happened. I couldn’t remember much of it. That made me sad. This was such a milestone moment; I had to remember what happened. I looked at him, giggled and said, “Do it again.”

He just laughed. “What part?”

We stood up. He didn’t get down on his knee again, but he told me all the things he loved about me. He looked deep into my eyes like I always imagined he would, “Nichole Leigh Smith, will you marry me?”

“Yes!” (This time with zero hesitation.)

It was perfect. He has no idea how amazing this whole thing was. For years I have been imagining getting engaged. Unlike many other girls, I wanted to be completely surprised. I was. We had only mentioned marriage once. I figured it would be coming in a year, after he finished grad school, if it came at all. Surprise!

I never wanted a huge public affair, just something between us, something special. It was very perfect, even with its unplanned events.

The ring is beautiful. I always wanted something specific. I’m clumsy and never wanted a big diamond. I also love unique jewelry. He completely hit the nail on its head. I could not have picked a better ring if I tried, especially with my inability to make those kinds of decisions.

I can’t even express how it was all so much better than I could have ever imagined.

So that’s my story. Life is a bit surreal at the moment. It’s hard to focus at work. A.J. and I have begun brainstorming and dreaming of our wedding and life after. It’s becoming more and more real every minute. I am so grateful that I have fallen in love with Arthur James Tippin. I can’t wait to start our life together and see what God has in store. A.J. really is everything I’ve been waiting for. Praise God, for He and His timing is good.

[Click here to check out A.J.'s perspective]

The End.