Henry and I are ENGAGED!!!
I wanted to write about this a bit earlier than now but everything got so busy in the run up to Christmas that I didn't have time! Still I am writing it now, mainly so that I don't forget the details.
Feel free to skip this post as it may get rather long!
So last Friday- which was the 21st of December- midwinters day, I was working away in my room as normal trying to get a sketch done for a publisher by midday. Henry kept coming in asking when I was going to have lunch and I kept saying 'I just have to get this done, I just need to send it off before I eat lunch.' So Henry went and ate his lunch and I finished my sketch and sent it off and then went downstairs to eat lunch myself.
As I was eating my brother came in and asked me to come and look at this music video he was working on. So when I finished eating I went upstairs to take a look. I was sitting in front of the computer with headphones on watching the video when the phone rang. My brother ran downstairs to get it. Then he ran back up again and said 'I think it's for you Harriet.' I went downstairs to get it and the phone was sitting in the middle of the floor on top of a wrapped present and a card which said 'Harriet open this now!'
I opened the card which contained two ten pound notes and said something along the lines of 'don't bother looking for me but open this present now, you're against the clock, from Henry'
I opened the present and it was a little wooden chest that Henry had painted with black and white stripes and had a picture of us together on the top in a heart shape. It was locked so I couldn't open it but attached to the side was a bit of paper with a web address on it.
I typed the web address into the computer and a youtube video came up. It was a video that Henry had compiled of pictures with comments from all our time together. It was lovely to watch although I'll admit it did make me tear up a little bit- probably because the first half of it was set to 'the power of love.'
The second half if you're interested was to the snowman theme song which is my favourite song!
Towards the end of the video, among all the other pictures, there was a photo of a key inside a nintendo game case. I had to go upstairs and find the case the key was in and then open the stripy box with it. I actually had to force the box open with a knife in the end as the paint had jammed it all together!
When I got the box open I saw that inside there was an origami paper rose made from a map which Henry had printed out. The map was of the place where Henry and I really like to go walking. In the middle of the map/rose was one ruby heart earring. There was also a note which said 'Be ready at the end of the drive at 2.20pm with your coat and wellies and Celestine. Also there is a little present in my sock drawer for you- go and find it.' In the rush to get ready and put on some make up and Celestine etc I actually forgot to go and get the present out of the sock drawer.
(which I found out later was Henry's MP3 player with some music on it for me to listen to and some novelty reindeer earphones)
When I got outside I saw that Henry's car
(the car he had borrowed from his Gran for the week) had gone from the drive. I naturally thought 'oh he must be coming to pick me up to go somewhere at 2.20,' so imagine my surprise when a
taxi pulled up outside the house!
After a discussion with the taxi driver about whether the taxi was for me or not
(it was) and where we were going
(I had no idea and nor did he so he had to ring the taxi office and ask) we were on our way. I found out that we were going to Pegsdon hill- the place on the map. Whilst we were driving along I studied the map more closely and noticed that Henry had drawn a picture of a bench and a cross on the map. I recognized that the bench was the one that we like to sit on sometimes when we walk there. As we drove along I chatted with the taxi driver who seemed very bemused by the situation.
When we arrived at Pegsdon hill I got out and paid the taxi driver with the money from the card
(good job I remembered that!) and then began to walk up the hill, past all the sheep towards the bench. I could sort of see Henry up there though he was only a tiny speck. I walked the direct way so the hills were very steep and as I was fast I was a little puffed out by the time I got there!
(Henry thoughtfully thought to bring a camera! He took photo's of me as I got closer and closer. In some of them I am just a tiny speck.)
When I got to the bench I saw that Henry had put a white napkin on it and there were two cups of hot ginger tea from a flask.
(my favourite tea) In the middle of the napkin was Celestine's Christmas tree which Henry must have whisked from my room without me noticing. Underneath the miniature tree were five tiny miniature presents. Seriously my heart skipped a beat! You know I love anything miniature! Also on the bench was a candle in a lantern, some star fairylights and a big silver box.
Henry
(who had also changed into some smarter clothes from the ones he had been wearing earlier) told me to open the bigger silver box first. Inside there were m&ms, magic stars and lots of different hand picked chocolate truffles from the chocolate shop. Henry knows that I adore chocolate truffles- they're my favourite.
Then Celestine/I had to open the tiny presents underneath the miniature tree. Inside the first one there was a tiny silver star necklace. Inside the second there was a tiny gold chain. And inside the third one where was a miniature pair of scissors that actually open and close. These were all presents for Celestine of course.
She's done pretty well out of this proposal I must say! And then inside the fourth tiny present there was the other ruby earring. I love the fact that Celestine received miniature jewellery at the same time I relieved real life jewellery!
Then I got to the fifth, gold box which Henry had said to open last. I opened it and inside was... nothing! Ha ha very funny Henry! But then he gave me a letter which he had written back in March sometime saying how he was planning for us to both be on Pegsdon hill at this time
(well it was actually supposed to be Christmas day originally but then plans had to change as I found out I was going away for Christmas) and then a lot of other nice stuff. It was nice to know that he had been planning this for so long! Then he actually got down on one knee
(after putting a plastic bag under it as it was muddy) and proposed to me with a ruby heart ring. The ruby ring and earrings were actually ones I had seen and loved whilst we were out in Dubai in March. I always wanted to have a ruby heart engagement ring ever since I was little! I like the idea of a ruby heart.
Anyway the whole day was actually
perfect. I can't actually think of a more perfect day in my life so far. There I was just having a normal day like any other and then I was suddenly swept along on this what seemed like magical treasure hunt!
We walked back down the hill together after a while as it was getting quite cold and Henry explained to me how he had snuck off to buy the ring and earrings one day in Dubai when we were in the mall. I remember the time because it was the day we went to the aquarium. We met my mum afterwards who had been shopping but Henry said he had a stomach ache and needed the toilet so we waited for him. We were waiting ages and thought that he must have quite a stomach upset! Little did we know he had snuck off to the gold souk to get the ring and earrings!
In the evening
(of our engagemet) we went out for dinner at a Lebanese restaurant that Henry had discovered and booked. It was really good. We both love Lebanese food a lot! We plan to go back there again.
So yes that's the story! Well done if you've read this far! I just wanted to get it down on paper really so that I can remember the details and then thought I may as well share it on my blog as I think it makes quite a good story what with the treasure hunt and everything.
I am very happy :)
