Engagement Milestone That Is Specific To New York

On a shady bus the other night, I turned my ring around so as to appear diamond-less.

A Very Special Dinner

So last Wednesday, I was s-i-c-k. Stay-home-from-work sick. Go-to-bed-before-Top-Chef-sick (you know that's bad). Miss my first Improv 201 class sick! Really bad! Anyway, I went to bed at 9 that night and when I woke up the next day, still felt assy, but not quite assy enough to stay home. So I went to work. Where I was promptly sent back home.

"You look terrible," my boss said. I e-mailed Dan with the good news that I would be spending another day with the kittens, and that my boss had said I looked bad.

"You never look bad, my lovely!" he wrote back.

So I went home. And slept. And slept.

When I awoke, it was around 5:30, and Dan was home early. Huh, I thought.

And he was in the kitchen?

"I thought I'd make you dinner," he said. "I wanted to do it for your birthday, but I'm really busy at work next week. Plus you're sick, so I figured... um... this would be good..." and then he kind of trailed off. Honestly, all I wanted to eat was soup. But it was sweet. "Okay," I said. Then I started watching Stick It on ABC Family.

It was a very elaborate meal. Seven courses! Course one: olives. Course two: cucumber, tomato, and feta salad. Course three: English muffin pizzas. They were quite delicious. Course five: we were pretty full so we skipped course five. Course six: little warm chocolate cakes. And at this point, I had stopped counting.

"That was great!" I said. "Let's watch Top Chef."

"There's one course left," he said. Honestly, I still didn't know what was coming. Maybe it would be a microwave, because we need one, or a gift certificate for a manicure. Some kind of practical birthday present. And then he came in with flowers. And then... well, you know the rest. I didn't even look at the ring until after saying yes. Then we spent hours calling people, and then we collapsed in a sweaty mess. Here's my favorite picture from the night:

We'd had to shower from said sweaty grossness, and passed out soon after, but can't you see how delighted we are? Why wouldn't I be? People used to ask me if I thought I'd end up with Dan, and I'd kind of pause and say, "well, I hope so. I don't think I can do any better." And I didn't mean it in a self-deprecating way: I meant it, and mean it, in the sense that there could not possibly be a better person for me, or a person for whom I am better, than Dan. Why mess with such wild success? I just love him to bits.

I didn't want the engagement night to end, but the next day was even better, because I got to tell all my friends and receive their good wishes. I basked in the glow of our special Meghan-and-Dan time, receiving gifts like Tiffany toasting flutes from my parents...

And THEN...

The day of our formerly-my-birthday-party/now-it's-an-engagement thing...

I got a call from Katie.

"Semmes just gave me a ring!"

YOWZA!

To be continued.