The last few weeks my work schedule has been non-conducive
to BenjiBethie time. I’ve worked at the hospital Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday,
and nannied Friday nights. So on Monday (February 3) when Benji said “We should
go out and do something fun tomorrow night” all I thought was “Yes! Steal date
nights whenever we can!”
We began texting
date ideas back and forth. He mentioned he would like to go see the Ice Castles
in Midway. I thought that was a fun idea, but then suggested we build a bonfire
up Provo Canyon. He agreed to do that, and then remembered that neither of us
had any snow gear with us in Provo. He again suggested the Ice Castles, and
said we could visit his aunt and uncle who live in Midway. I agreed that it
would be fun since I’d never seen the castles before.
Tuesday (February
4), I was on the phone with my mom and mentioned Benji and my plans for that
night. She said “Oh my gosh. Maybe he’s going to put a ring on you!” I
emphatically denied this, explaining to her how we had just randomly come up
with the idea, and I was pretty positive he still didn’t have the ring anyway. She said "well at least charge your phone so you can take some pictures if it happens." I still thought it was impossible, but she had planted an idea in my head and I decided to go do my hair so
that IF something happened, I would at least look cute.
Benji’s classes
ended at 3:15 on Tuesday, and I knew he had planned to go back to his apartment
and shower before our date. At 4:00, I texted him. No response. At 4:30, I
texted him again and said “this is the longest shower of your life.” No
response. I started to get suspicious. Maybe
he went to pick up the ring---no no no there’s no way stop trying to convince
yourself. At 5:00 there was a knock on my door and a very handsome man on
the other side of it. I gave him a fake glare for not texting me back and he
explained that he had hit his bumper on the curb and had to unscrew a piece. See? He had to take care of his car. That’s
what took so long.
We left for
Midway around 5:45. When we got there, he said “So I’m feeling kind of hungry
now, do you care if we go eat before we see the ice castles?” If he was proposing tonight, things would be
planned out perfectly and he wouldn’t just randomly want to go eat food. I
agreed and he let me pick the restaurant. We went to the Café Galleria and all I wanted
was hot chocolate (and it was the best hot chocolate I have EVER had). Benji
has often told me that hot chocolate makes him so full that his stomach hurts,
and we had two mugs of it each. After dinner he left for the bathroom. After
about 10 minutes my thoughts started to run wild. He’s probably on the phone with people planning stuff. Maybe this is
really happening tonight. No no no he ALWAYS says that hot chocolate hurts his
stomach, that’s why he’s been gone so long.
He came back and
walked me out to the car and opened the door for me. Right then his mom called.
!!!!!! His mom is calling to confirm
plans!!!! I firmly expected him to close the door and stay outside the car
talking to her so I wouldn’t hear, but then he got right into the car next to
me while he was still on the phone. That’s
it. If he was proposing tonight, there’s no way he would talk to his mom where
I could hear. He told his mom that yes we would be happy to go pick up a
book from his aunt and uncle’s house for her.
So we went to
Theresa and Ezra’s home to pick up the book and ended up sitting and chatting
with them for about 20 minutes. At one point Benji left to use the bathroom
again and I didn’t think anything of it, I had already decided there were way
too many signs that it wasn’t happening tonight. At 8:30 he said, “Well, the
ice castles close at 9. Maybe we should get down there and see them.” We hugged
Theresa goodbye and left to see the ice castles.
We walked around
inside the beautiful castles for a while and I was very concerned about Benji
being cold because he hadn’t brought gloves. Under the guise of keeping himself
warm, he gave me a hug and WOULD NOT LET GO (which is not abnormal for us,
really, he does it all the time) but I kept trying to get him to go off in one
direction and he kept keeping me right where we were. Eventually he walked with
his arms still wrapped around me, but my vision and ability to direct myself
were very obstructed. He finally let go and said “Can I ask you a question?” OH MY WORD HE’S DOING IT. “Yes….” I said
“So, which way did you want to go?” Bethany,
you are being so hypersensitive. “That way,” I pointed and we went under an
icy arch. When we came around the other side, he started hugging me tight again
so I couldn’t move and he said, “Do you trust me?” I said yes. Then he said
again, “Can I ask you a question?” I said yes, and he said “Bethany Christine
Coleman. Will you marry me?” I gasped and smiled and gave him a kiss and said
yes (of course) and then all of a sudden his dad and brother Levi appeared out
of no where (they were behind me, hence the bear hugging and vision
obscuring) filming and taking pictures.
As it turns out, he WAS on the phone both times he had gone to the bathroom, he had planned to propose in Midway because thats where we had our first date, his mom calling to send us to get a book was to stall long enough for his dad and brother to get there ahead of us, and he HAD gone to get the ring after class, but conveniently (sort of) hit the curb so he had a perfect alibi for why he had taken so long.
Last May, I wrote a blog post titled
Threshold. A year and three days after that blog post was written, I will be in the Temple being sealed forever to Benjamin Lambson. I believe in God and in His timing, which is perfect. I'm grateful for Benji and for the person he is helping me become. I'm grateful that he is willing to make promises and covenants to me that cannot be broken by any force on this earth. I'm grateful that I have lived my life to be worthy of someone like him, and that we have so much joy.
To be continued. Forever.
