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"We're the only country on earth stitched together by words and, most important, their dangerous progeny, ideas. And those ideas have had weight. They have had force, not just for us in our eternal dealings, but for the rest of the world." ~ Ken Burns

Friday, February 27, 2009

For Inquiring Minds

(I didn't have time last night to post any kind of explanation or details - so here's a bit more of a story for you all)

In the fall of 2006, I participated in the National Student Exchange. Through NES, I spent a semester at Texas State University at San Marcos. Many wonderful things came out of this trip and I was much improved by it, but that is neither here nor there.

The point is, in December of 2006, I returned to Massachusetts, and a dear friend of mine threw me a welcome home party. I was quite cross at the time, because she had invited quite a few people I did not know, and I felt incredibly awkward. I ended up playing a board game (the Game of Life) with this girl, Mandi.

Fast-forward, and as of March of this year, 2009, Mandi and I have been dating for two years. For the sake of brevity I'll avoid listing all that makes her wonderful, suffice to say that she makes me happier than I knew I could be.

But there was full-time school and full-time jobs and real life stuff going on, and it didn't seem like a good time... but sometime in January, it dawned on me that she and I are not going to change. We will always be busy, active women, and life isn't going to suddenly pause so I can find the "right" time to get married. I realized, this is the woman I want to spend the rest of my zany, wild, sometimes complicated, busy life with. A good friend of mine pointed out that, if that's the case, then what excuses are even relevant?

Okay, I'm a little commitment shy.

Suffice to say, though, that I decided it was time. I spent a long time searching for the perfect ring. I'm a traditional gal that way. I found almost exactly what I wanted, but they had to make a couple alterations to make it perfect, so I had to order the ring. And wait.

And wait.

I had hoped it would be in by Valentine's Day, but that was a long shot... and it wasn't. I thought last weekend... but no such luck. Those who were on the "short list" of people who were in on this knew that I was more anxious every day, waiting for the ring to come in. The store told me, absolutely, by February 28, it would be in.

I have a professional day on Monday, so I figured, free day, and she's got a free day. It will be perfect. I'll set up something fun and romantic for us to do...

Then last night, she proposed.

You don't get all the details here, because she never signed the contract saying, "Every romantic thing you say or do may be copied into Wikipedia," but suffice to say, she knows me. And it was perfect. And many hours followed, in which many phone calls and IMs had to be made. I have not felt the need to tell something to so many people in so short a time since 1998 when my agent called on my fourteenth birthday.

(And this is, in some ways, even cooler than that.)

So yes, I am engaged. No, this is not an April Fools joke, or any other kind of scam. Yes, the picture (previous post) is my ring; the photo doesn't do it justice, despite a dear friend of mine trying his best to teach me how to use the macro mode on my camera. Her ring should be ready on Saturday. I hope. I'll pick it up after the Toad Hall event. We don't have a date picked out, but I think we're looking at spring/early summer 2010. It has only been twenty-seven hours since she asked the question, so... still working the details.

12 comments:

  1. Congratulations!!!! That is SO great and I'm happy for you both! Gosh I only just found this site and I get to be one of the first to comment on your amazing news! Suffice it to say, I've been a fan of your books for ever and ever, since In the Forests of the Night and ever onward. We are the same age, and I remember being absolutely flabergasted when I picked up that book all those years ago that had been authored by a girl just my age. I was proud of you before I'd even opened the book, and it gave me even more pride for girls my age when I finished it and had loved it.

    Anyway, on to my main event: There were (as I'm certain you know, after all you WROTE it for crying out loud ;) ) lyrics to a lullaby in Hawksong, I believe it was. I remember reading it years ago and just immediately hearing a melody for the lullaby in my head. So I sang it, and recorded it so as not to forget it. I recently stumbled upon it in my computer files while doing so spring cleaning in My Documents, and remembered why I loved it so much. Your lullaby lyrics are beautiful! I played around with it in my new audio editing software that I have, and now have 2 and 3 part harmony versions of the song. Now, seeing as you're a big music lover yourself, I know you probably have a different melody entirely in your mind for it, which would make it the RIGHT melody since it's yours...:), but I wondered if you'd like to hear mine? I couldn't find an email address anywhere, and I assume that's private, so I'll leave mine in case you're interested. :)

    That's all, and thank you again for sharing your amazing imagination with all of us for all these years, and another big congrats to you in this exciting time!! I look forward to reading your newest release...

    -Kansas

    kansasthelynn@yahoo.com

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  2. That's so wonderful! I love how you two planned to propose around the same time. :) I'm incredibly happy for you two. Congratulations! ^^

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  3. You both planned on proposing at the same time! That just means its meant to be!! So were you like, "No you can't propose, I was going to!" lol.

    Congrats!

    ~Megan

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  4. Congrats, Oh I'm so happy for you. How wonderful...
    I'm sorry for asking something you've already wrote in your blog. I've had some problems with my computer, it's scrolling to fast and I'm sometimes loosing control over the screenreader. I'm blind and a use JAWS. A program that makes it accessable for me to read, write and such. I'm so happy for you, I just had to say it once mor.
    You're fantastic, and deserve everything that's beautyful and fantastic.
    I know it can be busy at times. But don't forget to give each other the prior atension.
    My computer problems have been ssolved.
    Take care!

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  5. I'm not sure where to put this because it definitely doesn't belong here, but the new WIKI blog does allow comments not from team members. So this questions about the new Blog Wiki:

    All this is amazing, almost like having the old tdos.org back... Any chance we could get some of those essays back? I particularly miss the ones on the Ebony series. I know seeing the actual novels is a long shot, but I still like reading about them.

    I copied and pasted. lol. But any chance you still have all of those old essays? Any way we could see those again?

    Congrats again on your engagement.

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  6. CONGRATULATIONS!! It sounds like you two are going to be very happy together. Good luck on the start of a your new life together!

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  7. oooh, congrats!!!! im so excited for you!

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  8. Aww, that's so romantic. I hope someday I find someone who makes me as happy as Mandi makes you.

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  9. YeeeYYYYY!!!!! That is so great. I wish for you a lifetime of laughter and happiness!!!! I love your works so so so much and can't wait for upcoming releases. Congratulations and lots of joy to both of you!

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  10. Wow, that is one great story and I'm so happy for you guys! That's so exciting. I wish you all the best and I hope it's everything you want it to be and more. Hugs and happiness to you both!

    Feaad

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  11. Congrats on getting married! I'm happy you found somebody who makes you happy.

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  12. Yay for love! Was doing research on one of my last name and ran across your blog. Will have to read some of your lit! ~Faith Atwater-Cheltenham, thefayth.com

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