Okay, so here's the thing about the socks. There was a mix-up with the
jewelry store, so they didn't have the ring ready when I went to get it that
morning. They said they'd try to get it sorted out as soon as possible,
but I had to get home and get ready for dinner. Then, just before I got
home, they called and said that it was ready sooner than expected! So I had
to come up with a way to go pick it up without Ali noticing. I ran through
a bunch of plans in my head… I could just propose as we headed out the door,
and say that we needed to go get the ring, I could blindfold her and say
that the restaurant was a surprise, and then make a "pit stop"… Ultimately,
I settled on the socks. In fairness, I legitimately only had one black sock
in my drawer, so it wasn't a total lie.
At that point, I hadn't quite started the ball rolling, so I had a decision
to make — propose tonight, or delay it? With the ring ending up getting
finished early, I decided that all signs pointed to yes. I had already asked
her parents' permission, so I called my parents to let them know and sent a
text to our friends to tell them and ask them out to Perkins for dessert.
The whole thing was fairly improvised. I had put together the website and my
note, but other than that, I didn't have a firm plan. I thought about asking
early on in the dinner, so that she could be excited about it, but it just
never ended up feeling right. When we overheard the table next to us talking
to their server about exploring the house/restaurant, it all clicked into place.
It's a good thing I waited, because I don't know if we could have made it
through dinner otherwise. We dashed off to Perkins, calling our parents
along the way, and we were treated to some complimentary pies — a
perfect end to the night.
