I posted this photo on Instagram already in January, but I also want to tell you on more on my blog about how I got engaged almost four weeks ago.

My boyfriend (or fiancé – but I don’t like that word as much) and I had talked for a while that we could both envision a future together. While one of my Gemini halves has never needed a wedding to commit, the other half has always had the dream of a beautiful wedding. Then there is also the practical side: I have a visa that allows me to stay in the U.S. until summer 2021. This visa cannot be renewed anymore. My boyfriend on the other side has a profession (he is a medical doctor) whose certificates are not accepted in most other countries. This means that if he wants to continue working his normal job and I want to stay with him, we eventually will have to apply for me to get a green card. In order to do this we first have to want to get married.

In January I had a feeling that he might propose soon. When he suggested to go out to a very fancy restaurant, the NoMad Restaurant, to celebrate our second anniversary, I considered if this might be the occasion. I cast away that idea because I thought it wouldn’t be his style to propose in public and also, during that day he seemed just way too calm. But I have to admit that, just in case, I went to the hairdresser that day and polished my nails. I mean you never know, right?!

While we had our amazing dinner, we talked about anything and everything. Only once we were done with the main course was the moment were our waitress suddenly appeared with a bunch of red roses. My boyfriend started talking to me in perfect German. And it dawned on me that he was actually proposing to me when he got down on one knee. Even though I had hoped a little bit that he would just do this, it still came as a surprise. I was somewhere between laughing and crying with joy. I of course said yes. But only after he asked me what my reaction meant. Things happened so fast. Woops. The couple on the table next to ours offered to take a few photos. Then we clicked glasses or rather hot chocolates because I wanted to observe my dry January.

Contrary to the tradition, I was given a diamond and not an engagement ring. Instead we took the diamond on the following day, a Sunday, and walked to the Diamond District. This is a street with almost only jewelers. We settled for a store that discussed the different choices of rings carefully with us. I kind of knew that I wanted a halo ring (big diamond in the middle with several small ones around). And this is what I got. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any setting that I wanted so that they first had to order one according to my wishes. This has taken a little longer than I ever expected. Hopefully we can pick up my ring within the next week, it would have then taken a month to create it. (That one Gemini half thinks it is totally absurd for me to be sad that the ring isn’t here yet – the other one is silently crying and just really really wants to show off the ring a little bit.)

As for the wedding itself, we have started to make plans. But nothing is yet set in stone. For now I am just overjoyed with our decision to – hopefully – spend a lifetime together.

© janavar

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