The Boys Helped Plan A Surprise 💍

We’re getting married.

Even typing those words still feels a little surreal.

I thought I’d never want to get married again

When Grant and I first started dating, I told him I might never want to get married again. The thought honestly terrified me. Losing Justin changed me in ways I never expected, and for a long time, getting married again felt impossible. It felt like if I opened my heart that much again, somehow I’d be tempting fate. Like the universe would see me happy and take it all away.

Over time, “never” slowly turned into “maybe someday.” And then someday arrived.

One thing I always knew was that if I ever got engaged again, I wanted it to be just us and the boys. No big audience. No grand production. Just our little family.

Back in February, Grant and I went ring shopping together. I wanted to design my ring and pick something that felt like me. We found the most perfect non-traditional ring, and after that, we both knew a proposal was coming eventually. The only problem was that the ring seemed to be taking forever to arrive.

Then, one day in late April, I received a text saying it was ready for pickup. I was immediately confused. Why were they texting me? Still, I kept quiet because I wanted to preserve the surprise and assumed Grant had received the same notification.

A week passed, then another, and still there was no proposal. By Mother’s Day, I was convinced that would be the moment. It felt like the perfect opportunity, but the day came and went without anything happening.

Later that evening, I overheard Grant talking to his mom on the phone. When she asked if the ring was finished yet, he casually replied that he was still waiting. I assumed he was pretending not to know so I wouldn’t suspect anything. But the next morning, he brought it up again and seemed genuinely frustrated that the ring wasn’t ready.

That’s when I realized he wasn’t pretending at all.

He Didn’t Know The Ring Was Done!

I finally told him that I had received a text saying the ring was ready. The look on his face was priceless. Apparently, he had only been checking the online portal, which still showed the ring as processing. He never received any updates, so for weeks the ring had been sitting there waiting while he had absolutely no idea.

Needless to say, we were both relieved once we figured out what had happened. After that, I had a feeling the proposal wouldn’t be far off.

The Sunday after Mother’s Day, Grant and the boys started acting suspiciously. There was whispering, secretive smiles, and frequent disappearances into other rooms. I had my suspicions.

That evening, Grant asked me to come downstairs to the basement. As soon as I walked in, Everett hit play on the TV. A slideshow began, filled with photos of Grant, the boys, and me from the past couple of years. Every adventure, every memory, and every little moment that had slowly built the life we’ve created together appeared on the screen.

Watching it all unfold was incredibly sweet and emotional.

When the slideshow ended, Grant got down on one knee. The boys immediately burst into giggles and started chanting, “Somebody’s in love!” over and over again. We were all laughing so hard that it made the moment even more special.

Grant got a little emotional during the proposal while the boys were still giggling and teasing us. It was such a funny mix of laughter, happy tears, and pure joy. Looking back, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

When it was over, we all wrapped ourselves into one giant family hug. Standing there, surrounded by the people I love most, I felt something I wasn’t sure I would ever experience again: pure joy.

Not because my story changed, but because someone stepped into it. Grant has never asked me to leave my past behind or pretend parts of my life didn’t happen. He accepted all of it from the very beginning. He loves me exactly where I am, and perhaps even more importantly, he genuinely loves my boys not out of obligation or responsibility, but because he truly cares about them.

Over the years, I’ve learned something important about myself. Because of my anxiety, I don’t handle major life changes well when they happen overnight. I need time to process, time to adjust, and time to prove to myself that I can survive the things that scare me.

That’s exactly what happened here. I didn’t need to force myself to be ready. I simply needed the time to become ready.

Now, instead of feeling afraid of the future, I feel excited about it. I’m grateful to be in a place where I can hold space for both my past and my future at the same time. I don’t have to choose one over the other, and I don’t have to hide where I’ve been in order to embrace where I’m going.

That’s a really beautiful place to be.

As for the wedding, we’ve gone back and forth on every possibility. We talked about going to the courthouse, eloping, and keeping things as simple as possible. In the end, we decided that if we’re doing this, we’re really doing it.

We’re planning a small, intimate wedding with our closest family, but we’re still including the ceremony, the celebration, and all the fun moments that come with it.

And honestly, I couldn’t be more excited.

So stay tuned. I’ll be sharing all the wedding planning, special moments, and behind-the-scenes fun along the way.