Friday, August 28th, 2009 was a completely normal day.
I woke up, got ready for school, and headed to PLNU for my morning classes. After chapel I headed back to my apartment to take a much needed nap (my usual Friday routine). Jacob and I had a birthday party to go to that evening and I was already too tired to even think about making the trip to San Clemente in a few hours. So, I allowed myself to drift to sleep.
I woke up to the sound of my roommate Diana coming into our shared room. I groggily asked her how her day was and she smiled a big smile. “Ian,” (her boyfriend of 4 years) “said he wants to take me on a ‘special date’!” I was instantly excited. I wonder if they are getting engaged tonight! Probably not. She hasn’t really talked about that. But then again, they have been dating for 4 years. Maybe he’s just got a really good trick up his sleeve. But he would have told me! Maybe not. Maybe he thinks I can’t keep a secret. I can totally keep a secret! I was surprised that I wasn’t jealous and actually pretty proud of myself for truly being happy for her. After all, they had been dating 4 times longer than us. They certainly deserved to get engaged before us.
With my new “revelation” in mind, I asked her if she wanted me to do her hair. (Not to brag, but I have been known for my curling and volumizing techniques.) I spent the next hour curling her long blonde locks and chatting about their special date. When her hair officially looked like she stepped out of a Rapunzel-themed Pantene Pro-V commercial, I offered up my closet. We always shared clothes, but I had more fancy dresses so I wanted her to know she was free to wear any one she liked. She, of course, chose my favorite one, a strapless teal dress. She looked so beautiful. I couldn’t help but wish that Ian had told us he was going to propose so that we could be there to take pictures. She checked her phone and ran out the door saying, “He’s here! I’ll see you later tonight!” Just as the front door slammed shut, my phone dinged. A message from “Sweetheart” – “There’s traffic on the 5 and we are supposed to pick your sister up on the way so we need to leave ASAP.” I looked in the mirror. Wow. I definitely could have washed my hair this morning. Oh well. No one will remember what my hair looks like. I rummaged through my closet for a few minutes only to realize that I had just given away my last wearable dress to Diana. Actually, there’s this one, I thought, as I pulled out the red and blue patterned dress I rarely wore because of its loud pattern and the fact that it showed a little too much of my white legs. This will have to do.
I quickly put the dress on, teased my hair to give it a little more volume, and then headed to Jacob’s car.
As we drove up the 5 towards San Clemente I realized we had not gotten my brother and his new wife anything for their combined birthday party. I opened the glove compartment and it was my lucky day! A stack of blank cards with 3 turtles on the front of each of them. I wrote a name on top of each turtle. Matt. Ashley. Christin. I drew a fourth turtle and wrote “Jacob” above. I opened it up and asked Jacob what I should write. We went through our usual “creative process”, deciding on the most hilarious yet thoughtful thing to write. We decided on:
Matt + Ashley,
Happy Birthday to the two people with the biggest lips and rears we have ever met. :)
But seriously, we love you guys and are so thankful that we get to live by you and be friends with you. Happy Birthday.
Jacob + Christin
We were pleased with ourselves. Just as I signed our names, my phone rang. It was my sister. I answered, “We’re like 10 minutes from your place.”
“Oh, actually, Josh got home early so he is going to take me up. We will see you there!”
“Sounds great!” I said as I hung up. “Well, it looks like we will actually be a little early!” I said to Jacob. “Oh cool,” he seemed pleased. After a few minutes I told him about Diana and Ian and how I thought they might get engaged. “Oh really? That’s weird.”
“Why?” I snapped, “Were you planning on proposing?” I smiled, shocked by my joke. I took it as a sign that I really had let go of getting engaged any time soon. He smiled, “You never know.” I placed the turtle card inside and licked the envelope, ignoring his comment. We spent the rest of the drive holding hands, chatting about our days, and just enjoying one another.
At this point, it was still just a completely, totally normal day.
Come back next week to find out how our completely normal day ended.
[Oh, and I just found this photo of me doing my friend Diana’s hair a year and a half later the night before her wedding. I am wearing the same dress I was talking about and she is wearing a teal dress. WHAAAAAAT?!?! So weird.]
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