So, have you ever seen those wildlife videos where they shoot a sedation into an animal they want to observe and the animal is totally stunned at first and then falls into an artificial sleep and then wakes up with a tag on it's ear? That kind of happened to me on Friday night. Only I was lured someplace, trapped, stunned into shock and then tagged with a ring. But, I'm getting ahead of myself... let me go back.....
So, if you've been following this, you know that I have been fighting a really bad cold for a while now. Well, this week I developed the worst symptoms and felt like absolute crap. This was not fun for me. I had plans to go out with my friend Karen for a girls night on Friday. So, really, when I started to feel like crap on Monday night I still had a week to get better. Only, I didn't get better. I just kept getting worse. By Thursday I was coughing up green mucus and felt so sick that I texted Karen to say I might have to cancel our plans and reschedule, possibly for Saturday. She said flat out that wouldn't work and I just had to rest and get better. Curtis was also very concerned about me and brought me stuff to help make me healthy and made me promise to just stay in bed and rest no matter what. So, I did. It was incredibly boring but I did. On Friday my mom was making me berry smoothies and checking on me every few hours. Curtis also kept checking on me. I started to think that they wanted me healthy so bad because I must be annoying having been sick for 3 weeks straight.
Karen said she REALLY needed to have a night out so, I didn't want to let her down. But Curtis was also working really hard on a skit for the Improv Shmimprov show he was doing the same night I was going out with Karen and at that point I suddenly felt like I should see the musical number he had been working so hard on. See, originally Karen had asked me to go out on Friday March 12th and then when I told Curtis he said "Oh good! Because Improv Shmimprov asked me to fill in that night so, that will work out perfectly because you'll have plans" so, I wasn't supposed to be at the show. Or so I thought. :)
So, as it creeped closer to the time to go out, I was at least doing a bit better health wise and told Karen we could go out as long as it was mellow. And I told Curtis that I'd see if Karen minded stopping by Improv Shmimprov that night after she and I had dinner at Rutabagorz which is very near the theater. Huh. What a GREAT coincidence!
Over Dinner Karen asked what Curtis was up to and I told her about the show and asked if she'd like to see it. She said she'd like to go and so I texted Curtis to save us some seats.
We got to the theater and Curtis was there making sure we got front row seats as we had requested. We went to the bar and our friend Alex was there! Our other friend Jeff was there to play guitar for the opening number that Curtis and his improv team mate Amber had cooked up. This was Improv Shmimprov's March Madness competition and Curtis and Amber weren't supposed to be involved with it but since they were a team short they agreed to help out "Just this one night". But since it was March Madness they had to have an opening number. They were going to sing and Jeff would accompany them on guitar. Because Jeff was there, his wife Ami was there. And our friend Dean showed up as well which was not out of the ordinary as he often comes to Improv Shmimprov shows when Curtis is performing.
So, the show started and they announced the two competing teams. Curtis and Amber's team name was "Two People In Love... With Other People." Since Curtis and I are a couple and Amber just got engaged to her boyfriend Gabe, I found that fitting and cute! Then Jeff came on stage with them and they did their musical opening number which consisted of songs that they had changed the lyrics to a bit to include how they loved Me and Gabe and and then a dance number to Beyonce's "Put a Ring on It" this might have been a clue or give away to some people but considering how over used that song is by Curtis and I, it really made sense. :)
I still had no clue what was going on. So after the other team was announced which consisted of Drew And Patrick, the host, Jamie, said they were also going to have team captains for the teams, something they apparently used to do but haven't done in a long time. And he picked me as team captain for Curtis's team. So I went on stage to be introduced and then sat back down to watch the show.
The show went on pretty much as normal until the end when they asked the team captains to go up. I was on stage for their final improv game which ended up being a few scenes out of a marriage.
It was funy but still.... I had no clue. Then it was time for the audience to vote. Now, I knew that Curtis and Amber were supposed to lose, but I still wanted to help get the audience pumped up so I danced around stage with them and cheered them on the best I could. As they were supposed to, they lost.
So I sat back down in the audience. Then Curtis brought me back on stage. I was very confused. Now, there was a small little part of my brain were intuition lives that was screaming "He's gonna propose!" but there was another, bigger and louder voice in my brain screaming "No! He can't propose because he doesn't have enough money right now for the ring and he won't propose without the ring. So that CAN'T be what's going on." And then Curtis said "Some of you know that Rene and I have been dating for quite some time now, and tonight... I'd like to make it official." Well, I think that's what he said, the two voices in my head were yelling at each other so loudly about what may or may not be happening that I really don't know what was said or what happened. Curtis got down on one knee. He started to speak again. I don't know what he said because my head was having this conversation: Small Voice "He's proposing!" bigger voice "But that's impossible so it's not happening. This isn't happening. HOW could this possibly be happening?!" Curtis kept speaking as he pulled out a small box. Apparently, I have heard that I looked alternately confused and terrified at this point and this was the conversation that was going on in my head "But... What is happening? How? What? How... not possible..." and then he opened the box and this is what I thought "What? But how? I don't understand? I need to understand. It appears that he IS proposing bt how did he do this? I should probably be crying right now. I should cry. Cry. Damn it I can't cry. What?" And at that point I really LOOKED at the ring and I made a gaspy noise and my hands flew up to my mouth in that ever cliched way (I'm really pissed at myself for that move now in retrospect. So overdone!;-) ) and I started to finally focus on what Curtis was saying which I think was something along the lines of "Will you Marry Me?" Which he claims to have asked me 3 times before I responded but I honestly couldn't be sure to tell you the truth because I was still in a complete state of shock.
I don't think I could say anything. I just nodded. I was told this morning by a witness that the look on my face as I nodded seemed to say "Duh? Of course!" And so he stood up we hugged and kissed and he put the ring on my finger and it fit perfectly! It's a vintage ring from the mid to late 40s and it's perfect and fits like it was meant for me! Once it was on I relaxed a bit and laughed but really, I was still in shock.
The crowd cheered! They cheered very loudly! And often at the Improv Shmimprov shows when the crowds get to a certain level of cheering they start chanting "USA! USA!" I don't really know why but I think one night one of the improv teams started it as a joke to get more people to cheer and therefore vote for them and it worked and so, now they do it a lot after shows when they are at the audience voting part. Anyway they started to cheer so loud for us after he put the ring on my finger that they started to do that chant. Here's how out of it I was: I had no recollection of that until a friend showed me video of it this morning on his phone.
So we went off the stage and that was when I saw my parents! Curtis had told them about it and they had been instructed to come in right before the show started and to hide and be quiet. I had no idea they were there! They had also invited a family friend that has known me since I was 2, Kimberly, to be there as well so that was a nice surprise too! So we took some pictures, we had some champagne and I was still in total shock and still saying to people "I feel like I should be crying." But I didn't cry. I think I am one of those people that cries at the drop of a hat for a lot of things but when it comes to big events like this for myself, I just don't know how to react and I tend not to react as people think I will or as people think I should. But I think mostly it was because I was in shock.
So, Curtis pulled me aside to go into the dressing room where it was quiet to call his parents and tell them. They hadn't wanted to come for fear of tipping me off that something was going on. They were happy for us. After the phone call I asked him how he had managed this. He said that he had found the ring at an antique jewelry store a few weeks ago while he was running errands with a friend who had bought a ring in that shop and had them put it on hold. Then, out of the blue he got a residual check for a movie he had worked on years ago. It was a large check. And that was how he was able to pay for the ring. Then, once he had the ring he got my friend Karen's approval on it (she approved) and then they planned out the proposal. Doing it after Improv Shmimprov was her idea. And so they planned that he would do the show on the 12th and Karen would call me to ask me to go out on the 12th. From there they had back up plans in case I hadn't wanted to go to the show (Karen was supposed to tell me that there was a surprise belated birthday party for me there and so I had to go) but really, I walked right into their trap and made it super easy for them by suggesting we go to the show before Karen could even suggest it.
I think my subconcious knew something was up because I had been having engagement thoughts for the couple of days leading up to it and I made an effort to look cute even though I felt like crap from being sick, and I really didn't fight any of it. But while my subconcious knew... (this might sound corny but I think Curtis and I just have that "connection" between our brains as we often kinda know what the other is thinking or feeling which is neat and I think I picked up on those thought from him a bit) the rest of my brain was just floored! Beyond surprised! Seriously shocked. It just didn't make sense and until he could explain to me HOW it had happened I just couldn't wrap my head around what was going on.
This was a BIG secret for everyone to keep so, I am really impressed at how well the plan was executed.
Then it was back to our friends. We stayed there talking for a while and then we headed home. I was in shock throughout the whole night. Also, being up and out so late was bad for my health as my cough came back that night with a vengeance. I was up until 6 am partially from being totally wired and in shock about what had happened and partially because I couldn't stop coughing.
Thinking about it later, I described the night like this "I was like a little deer walking through the forest and having a great time with my other deer friends, when all of a sudden there was a bright light and I was thrown off balance and tranquilized. I was confused and frightened and then when I came to I had a ring on my finger and people were congratulating me." See? Stunned, shocked, tagged and released. :) But, in a VERY, VERY happy way of course!
I don't mean to take the romance out of this because honestly for us, this was one of the most perfect ways that Curtis could have proposed. And the effort that was put into this not only by him, but by Karen and the good people of Improv Shmimprov and the Maverick Theater and our other friends, was really, really amazingly remarkable. I am so honored that they went through the trouble and took the time to make this wonderful proposal happen! We also have many photos and multiple videos of it. I feel so special and loved and I am so happy to be engaged to Curtis! I wasn't prepared for the proposal at this point, but I was expecting to be engaged at some point in the future. So, I am happy, he is happy, our family and friends are happy- It's all happiness all the time! Thanks for reading. I know it was long. :)
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