The Details

One afternoon, I suddenly had this urge to look at rings via the internet.

Coincidence 1: That evening, I was on the phone with Jesse and he mentioned he had been looking at something on the internet.

I said, "That's funny. So have I."

As it turned out, our brains had been working on the same wave length. As usual. ;-)

And, as usual (again) we simply found nothing in the conventional department that fit what we were looking for. At all.

Coincidence 2: That very day, my friend E. had written a humorous post about wedding rings and had posted pictures of hers. I liked them. A lot. She said her hubby had gotten them off of Etsy.

(http://www.mildlyamusingmusings.com/2011/01/of-wedding-rings-and-er-visits.html)

So, Jesse and I went to Etsy.com and simply reveled the creativity we saw.

Coincidence 3: at the same moment in time, we both said, "Oh, you've got to look at Page 8, 3rd row from the bottom!" We saw the ring at the same time from different computers, while on the phone. :-) It was a nice ring. It wasn't terribly expensive. We both liked it. Really liked it.

Coincidence 4: The ring had just been posted that very day in the person's Etsy store.

Coincidence 5: I don't believe in coincidences. :-) (I believe in Providence. God. He has been working miracles through this entire relationship; from our first meeting to our friendship to our romance to the rest of our lives. :-))

Jesse decided to order it.

Then came the time of waiting. Jesse said that I knew about the ring but I didn't know how or when I was going to get it. I told Jesse how much I loved the element of surprise. He took me up on it.

Fast forward to January 31st, 2011. Jesse was picking me up to go spend the night at his parents' place because my bed was being occupied by musicians. I put my stuff on the table and went to quickly make use of the washroom. When I came back, I put on my scarf, my coat and my shoes. Then, I started to put on my gloves.

(I love my gloves. They were a Christmas present from one of my piano students (along with a box of chocolates! So thoughtful of her) ... they're black and really cozy. They also fit me perfectly, which is a blessing since gloves rarely fit well with my short, little fingers.)

Anyways. I'm trying to get my gloves on and my finger wouldn't go in one of the fingers. I was a little distracted because I was making Jesse wait and I don't like making Jesse wait, so I mumbled something about, "What in the world?" while pulling out this beautiful black velvet bag. I glanced at my patient boyfriend, puzzled, but he had the most innocent expression on his face. In other words, his face said that he had no more clue about the bag than I did. I think I might have set it down on the table and just continued getting dressed if I wasn't such a sucker for velvet. Lol! I love how it feels.. and this bag was so cute and pretty. I just had to feel it. It never even registered what this all might mean until I suddenly felt a ring through the velvet. Jesse said my mouth dropped open. I think I said, "Oh my goodness..."

Jesse took the bag out of my fingers and pulled out the ring that was so much more beautiful in real life than it was in the pictures... and said, "Naomi, will you marry me?"

I said, "Yes."

He put the ring on my finger and kissed my hand.

I love Jesse. I love my fiancée. I love my future husband.
(They're all the same person.) (Yay!)

(Forgive the slight insanity of this post. I get giddy when I'm reallllyyyy excited.) (I'm reallllyyyyy excited.)

I am so thankful. :-)

All About Driver's Ed, Ozzie and other things that fill my life with color

Just to give my readers fair warning, this post is long and bitter and only slightly humorous. Read with discretion.

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

The alarm clock begins ringing at 6:45 am and my benumbed brain beckons to my fingers to turn it off. Finally finding the off mode, the annoying noise ceases and my subconscious state resumes for fifteen minutes. At 7 am, I promptly come awake and get dressed. I wondered what to wear exactly, then thought that good old denim wouldn't mind keeping me warm on this chilly morning...

Points of morning: 

getting foot stuck in leg of leggings and losing my balance. Thankfully, my bed was right there for me to hit. 

making sandwich for lunch.

eating the last piece of the leftover pizza for breakfast.

saying a sleepy good morning to Michele. 

feeling nervous butterflies.

wondering if I should have studied for the in-class instruction.

enjoying the drive down to Griffin.

arriving at the old school just a half hour after dawn had arrived. 

Six hours of instruction. The instructor is quite the lady. After she welcomed us to the class, she went through a brief list of things which are the leading cause of accidents. Then, she clicked on a video and left the room, leaving the class to watch in horrified fascination as two girls in a car were distracted by their cellphones and did not notice that their car was drifting until it was too late. Seconds later, one girl was dead and the other was injured for life. And it wasn't only their lives that were touched... in the end, at least five vehicles were involved and a little child in one of them whimpers, asking her parents to wake up. 

When our instructor came back into the room to turn off the video, I think the looks on our faces were satisfactory. Lol. I have never been in a major car wreck or even seen any terribly serious accidents (other than motion picture) and even though this was a staged video, it seemed startlingly real. 

The rest of our time, we covered drinking and driving, distractions and driving, drugs and driving, sleeping and driving, skids, skids, and more skids, road rage, seat belts, snow driving conditions, gravel driving conditions, accidents, etc, etc. Six hours. Hehe. My brain hurt. The last thing that was said was this, "So, you can do all of right things and accidents still will happen. My conclusion is that it's simply by the grace of God that we're all not dead right now." I appreciate what they're trying to do. I understand. But that didn't help me from feeling pretty depressed by the end of class. ;-) 

And when Michele came and picked me up, we hadn't gotten very far at all when we decided I should drive. You can bet that I was white knuckling the steering wheel for the first fifteen minutes. Lol!! But it was good. I drove the entire distance home and by the end, I was feeling kind of okay. Almost comfortable. Thanks to the excellent work of the class however, I was still a little depressed. So when the phone rang and it was Jesse inviting me to come with them to visit his Grandma, I was delighted. 

Jesse's Grandma is 95 years old and she still lives in her own little apartment. I really appreciate listening to someone talk who is that old and still has a mind as sharp as a tack. She is a tiny little thing and pretty quiet but when she would say something, you can bet that people listened. We ate supper there and visited for a few hours. Right as we were about to leave, she looked at me and said, "You seem happy." :-) :-) Sam, Jesse's sister, is back home now and it's been fun getting to know her, as well. And, of course, the happiest thing about the entire evening was spending time with my beloved. That cured any and all depression. Hehe. 

But I still had one remaining adventure of the day: Ozzie. That cat has been trying to decide whether she is Ozzie or whether she is a cat. Ozzie is a weird, alien cat shaped creature. I am being extremely generous in my guess that The Cat might actually be slightly likable. Because Yoda was suffering, Michele decided it was time to put her down. Ozzie has never been an only cat. This is really new for her. Therefore, she has been... annoying. She interrupted one of my piano lessons last Wednesday. She was scratching at the door and I was ignoring her. Then, another student arrived (a little bit early) and she mentioned it. Without thinking, I replied, "Oh, we had to put her mum down the other day so she's been acting.." I never got to finish my sentence. Immediately, two little girls were flying to the door and jerking it open, "Ohhh!!!! Poor kitty!!!! Can we let her in!!!!!" And I was sitting there with my mouth dropped open. I could have sworn that Ozzie winked at me. My thought, "Naomi, you are a first class idiot." Well, the rest of that lesson was ruined. And she only stayed for four minutes, max. How does she do that?! [Okay. So I admit that I'm smirking. It was funny. She is clever in her own stupid annoying way.]

Last night, while I was having my wee bit of a bath, Ozzie decided that she liked water and wanted in. Of course I said who was she kidding. So, she got mad and invaded my room. I had shut the door but it must not have latched properly. When I had finished, I found her ensconced on my bed, purring like a thousand cats were residing in her sinus cavity. I gently booted her off my bed (no cats were injured in the process) and prepared for my well earned sleep. Then, came the first scratching. 

She scratched at the door. First gently, then not so gently. 

She meowed. Loudly. Well, it was more like wailing. Btw, did you know that cats can communicate rather well? She was saying stuff like, "I am lonely. I am scared. You are a nice person. I know you'll let me in if you only knew how sad I am."

I ignored her. She went away. 

I was just drifting off when suddenly, she was scratching like a maniac at the door and the wailing resumed. "I miss my mum! Yes, I know she wasn't terribly fond of me but no daughter ever deserves to lose her mother!! Please let me in! I'll be good. I promise I won't sit on your stomach and cut off your oxygen, even though it's my favorite thing to do." 

I told her to be quiet and leave. She left. 

Again, I was just asleep and quite abruptly, it sounded like she was hurtling her body against the door, all the while, wailing, "Okay! So I'm bruising my fat side here trying to alert you to the presence of evil in this house. Like, a thief that's creeping around in the dark, which you can't hear right now because I'm making too much noise... but you know that sound in the office five minutes ago? I know it sounded like me but really it was Mr. Evil. He's stealing the magnets off the fridge!" ::silence:: Then, "You mother murderer! Yes, I know Michele took her away but you were the cause! The least you could do to assuage your conscience would be to let me in!" 

By this time, I was more than a little annoyed. I had been so startled that I'd nearly hit the ceiling when she had arrived this time and was frustrated with an hour and a half of wasted rest. I debated whether I should allow myself to talk back to her or not. I decided not. By that time, she was sounding a little hoarse and once again she abruptly left. I lay and listened for awhile but by that time, I was pretty tired out and fell soundly asleep. If she came back later, I haven't a clue. 

Right now, she's laying on my bed sleeping and occasionally meowing at me. I've turned off my cat translator and am still annoyed at her. Not terribly bitter but a little malicious. After talking to Michele this morning, I was given permission to put Ozzie downstairs, where she has food, water and litter box. So, if she comes prowling around my door again tonight, I am going to calmly get up and do exactly that. ;-) 

And that, my dear readers, is the end of a long post about drunk driving not being good, nice boyfriends and their grandmothers and Ozzie, the fuzz-ball alien creature who was sent into my life to test my patience. 

Now, off to prepare supper (mexican!) and practice music after. I need to learn "Farewell to Nova Scotia". I know it a little. I need to know it a lot. The show is next sunday. Yikes!! :-) May your day have been as good as mine was.