The Proposal Pt. 1 - In Shock

I've given you the short version, but I also want to have the long version in writing as well. This story actually picks up right where the last blog ends. Immediately after I agreed to move to Singapore, I instantly made the decision that I was going to propose to Tara.

We have been dating for about two years now, and we also dated for four years while we were in grade school. After we had been together for about a year this time around, we had a discussion over dinner about what direction we each wanted our relationship to go. The conclusion was that neither one of us were in a rush to get married, but we knew that if the opportunity ever presented itself, we would want to take the relationship to the next level. Tara and I are both very driven people, and it is important to both of us that we have our own identities. For this to happen, we felt that it is crucial that we each have our own careers. Knowing this, we figured that for our relationship to get to the next level, we would have to live in the same town; something that each of our careers were years away from. So we decided to take things slow, and just see what happened.

At the time of this conversation, I was based out of Oklahoma but living in Arkansas. Then after a year, I got transferred back to Oklahoma City, and six months after that, I was transferred to Houston.  For all we knew, I could have been living in North Dakota by the end of the year (which actually turns out to be a possibility. Every time I do something stupid (often), they threaten me with N.D.). Then a week after moving to Houston, I was told about Singapore.

After I committed, we talked about what it would take to get Tara over there with me. I didn't necessarily have to marry her to bring her with me, but when I finally saw that we could live in the same place for once, I couldn't resist. There was also the option (which I honestly didn't even want to consider) of putting our relationship on hold for three years while I was in Singapore. Three years without Tara was absolutely not an option, so it was decided in my bosses office, a second after I committed to Singapore, that I was going to propose to Tra (Tara=Tra).

I really don't remember much of the day to tell you the truth. When I left Ragon's office, it was about 9:30 am, so I went back to my desk and stared at my computer screen. And stared at my computer screen. And stared at my computer screen some more. I was absolutely in shock. I couldn't just go home because I was meeting my friend, Dillon Hohertz, for lunch, and after that, I had a meeting with one of our salesmen and a customer. After a few hours of staring at my computer screen, I left to drive aimlessly around Houston until it was time to meet Hohertzy.

During that time, I decided that I needed to make a few phone calls to start getting some wheels set in motion. I first called my brother and Tra's younger sister, Blake, and told them everything that was going on. Blake is what we like to call the "runt" of the litter so turning to her for help was a last resort (Just kidding. Blake is actually a sweet girl and surprisingly intelligent...ish. Out of the four Foley siblings, she might have the highest IQ and the lowest amount of common-sense). Then, I put a call into Tra's CIA/ninja/black-ops father. Having to ask her father for his blessing to marry his daughter over the phone is not ideal, but I was kind of out of options because this was all moving so fast. Then, I called Tra's mother and informed her of everything going on as well.

I got to the restaurant before Dillon, so I called Dave and told him to drop whatever he was doing and meet me at the apartment; I had some news to share with him. He obviously wouldn't let it go, and he even ended up guessing what had happened. He immediately started pouting, then screaming, then more pouting. I vaguely remember eating lunch with Hohertzy. I know that there was a lot of yelling and a lot of high-fives thrown in the restaurant. I absolutely don't remember meeting with the customer after lunch. I know that he had a corner office in one of the top floors of a Houston high rise, and I'm pretty sure that I just stared out of his window the entire meeting. I'm not even sure I introduced myself.

I didn't return to work after the meeting. Instead, I went straight to our apartment and met up with Dave.

It was now time to go buy a ring.