Will You Marry Me?

I’ve blogged about this before, but I wanted to give more detail today. “Will you marry me?” That’s a question lots of young women want to hear. I didn’t think I would hear it at sixteen.

It all started with Tom telling me he loved after only about a month of being together. The conversations that follow would sound like this:

Tom: “I love you.”
Me: “I like you very much.”

I didn’t want to say, “I love you” if I wasn’t sure, right? What did I know about love, I was only sixteen. After I did tell him I loved him, our conversations that follow would sound like this:

Tom: “I love Nadine. Will you marry me?”
Me: “I love you too, but no.”

I wasn’t trying to be cruel or lead him on or make him chase after me. I loved him, but marriage was a big step. After I turned seventeen that question got asked more frequently (daily to be exact). One day he asked and I looked into those beautiful brown eyes and knew, yes I wanted to marry him.

At first he thought I was putting him on, but when he realized I meant it, we hugged and kissed. Now he had to ask DADDY. That part wasn’t easy. You see Tom wanted to give me the ring for my eighteenth birthday and I just graduated high school. My dad eventually gave in, but agreed to an engagement in December. That was twenty nine years ago today.

I had picked out the ring I wanted. It had the cutest little diamond in it. Tom didn’t know anything about diamonds and so my sister volunteered to take him to the diamond district in the city. Boy did she get a great deal on my ring and a bigger diamond than I was expecting. I didn’t get to see the ring until the night of the engagement party.

We slipped away to another room. Tom got down on his knee. He took my hand and asked me the question he’d asked a million times before, “Will you marry me?” Without hesitation I said, “Yes.” He took out this clear jewelry box and opened it up and slipped the ring on my finger. I had tears in my eyes. I knew at that moment no matter what life would bring us; this man would love me and honor me through it all. I was right. God gave me a precious gift that day which lead to two other precious gifts (Lisa & Tommy). You’re a good man Tom, a loving husband and father and a great friend not only to me but to so many others.

© Nadine Zawacki 2008

The picture above of Tom is when he was eighteen. The year we started dating.