Fireworks

so what had happened was…

Sarah

Michael invited me over for New Years Eve 2021/2022 but I was already planning a teensy party with Cherrie (teensy because COVID-19 was surging again with the Delta variant, so we wanted to keep it under 5 people), so I asked if he’d like to join us at my place.

Michael

Yes. For New Year’s Eve, my favorite thing has always been to stay home, watch a really great NYE show broadcasted from Time’s Square, and watch fireworks on TV. That year, I had a NYE show that I was really interested in, but also there was one other thing that sounded good to me: hanging out with Sarah. I had learned over the years that it’s pretty common for her to have get togethers, so I asked Sarah what she was doing for NYE. She didn’t have any plans yet, so I asked her if she wanted to spend it together, watching a NYE show. I definitely said I just wanted to be able to watch a NYE show. She said she’d think about it. A few days later, she told me that she was going to have a few people over. There was no mention of the NYE show that I was interested in. I decided I could DVR the show and then spend NYE at Sarah’s, and maybe I could get a New Year’s Eve kiss!

Sarah

I figured, why not? But then it turned out to be one of those kisses that’s just everything unexpected and suddenly everything was different. I found my person and never even had to leave the house. Literally. All those years of online dating fiascos and it turns out he was right there all along ❤️

Michael

We spent almost every weekend together after that. Around August, I started noticing that I wasn’t happy on the days that I wasn’t with Sarah. I just realized, “I’m not happy because I’m not with Sarah.” Then I felt the same way the next week, and the next. I was like, well, let’s move in together then! 

That is a pretty huge step for me: I basically felt like, if I move in with her, I can never move out. LOL. So was I *really* ready for that? And I was like, yeah. I cared about Sarah immensely. I wanted to always be there for her. And probably beginning just a month after we started dating, or even a bit less, we had problems and to me, they were pretty big problems — we kind of were diametrically opposed — but in basically the same conversation that the problem came up, we had resolved it. Sarah was communicative and listened and was understanding, and she compromised. (I miss that Sarah.)

Anyway, I wanted to be with Sarah forever, and we were moving in together. Well in that case, it was a matter of when and not if I would propose to her. I already felt like I was committed to her, whether or not we were engaged or married, but she didn’t know that, and after we moved in together, I didn’t want Sarah to wonder when I would propose or if I’d ever propose or if I would just live with her forever without getting married. But I’m a “classic man” in some ways and wanted my proposal to be a surprise, and not something that she was expecting any day now or that type of thing.

But to propose, I needed a ring. And I didn’t think there was any way I could shop for a ring after we moved in together without her knowing about it. So I had to get the ring before we moved in. And then once I moved in, Sarah might start wondering if I’d ever propose, and at the same time, I didn’t see myself leaving the house for 2-3 months while I unpacked from the move and made myself feel at home after living out of boxes for weeks. So proposing before I moved in would be best, if only we ended up someplace that would be worthy of a proposal story…