engaged.

Wow.  I don't even know how to put this into words, but I'm getting married! 

His name is David.  This weekend, he got down on one knee and asked me to be his forever.  With candles all around, a bouquet of flowers, and a beautifully vintage engagement ring.  It was perfect.

David and I met in Virginia when I was a travel nurse.  Our first few months together definitely had their challenges, as I literally moved completely across the country from him.  With the distance, though, has come a beautiful relationship and fostered some deep commitment from each of us.  

There are plenty of things that I truly appreciate about David, but I just can't look past how calm I feel around him.  I have this overwhelming sense of peace whenever we are together.  It's truly like nothing else in the world matters; I am completely able to just "be" and to be loved in that way. 

I often find myself thinking about my Mom.  I think about the woman she was and the woman that she would encourage me to be.  She would love David, love to hear the story of our engagement, and be so ecstatic to talk through wedding plans.  It's almost toxic to imagine this process without her...

But, as I think about Mom, I appreciate how she taught me to enjoy life.  I hate the times that David and I are apart, yet I covet how our relationship is fostered because of it.  I truly have learned to "be" and to enjoy each moment I am with him, and I know I learned that from her.

The calm kindness with which she lived life is exactly how I want to be.  I can only hope that I can be the wife to David that she was to my Dad.  

(more to come... including the "whole story" and more about China!)