Nelly Newsflash

July 27, 2008 · Filed under The Homefront

…or perhaps it’s “Nelly has flashy news”!

Yes, the rumors are true — on Friday night, Mr. Farmer asked me to marry him. And he got me good.

So, I’ll answer the most popular questions posed in the past few days:

Q: How did it happen?

A: A bit of backstory first. In April, Mr. Farmer and I stopped in a gallery about a block from my house, and after perusing the art for quite some time, Mr. Farmer became fond of a windmill ink drawing. I considered buying it for him for his birthday in May, but ended up getting something else. So a couple Sundays ago, he went for a walk when I was taking a nap, and when he got back he told me that he stopped in the gallery and bought the drawing. But the gallery owner (who is also the artist) had sold the original, so she was making another one.

Earlier this week, Mr. Farmer said he’d come downtown on Friday after work to get the picture (and me), and then we’d head back to his house en route to a wedding in Wisconsin. Practical Nelly suggested that it was silly for him to drive 45 miles in the opposite direction of the wedding — I could pick it up and bring it to him. But he insisted.

I also told him that I was going to leave work at 3 on Friday, since it was the first Friday all summer that I didn’t have a hoard of meetings.

He called me on his way downtown to see if he could pick me up at work, and due to traffic (and a meeting that popped up), I jumped in his truck later than planned (around 4:15) and we headed for my place to park the car, drop our stuff and walk over to the gallery before it closed.

As we were walking, I mentioned that my navy pants matched his shirt. He adamantly said they didn’t. So I stuck my knee up in front of him to prove the point, and he flinched like I was going to kick him in the nards. Come to find out, he was worried that I was going to kick the family jewel in his pocket.

A few minutes later we walked through the door to the small gallery, and my eye immediately went to the place where the windmill had been hanging. And I suddenly saw a framed proposal hanging on the wall above it.

I stopped dead in my tracks, about five paces inside the door. I started laughing hysterically (because he’d “got” me). Then Mr. Farmer (who was walking ahead of me) turned around, got on his knee, asked me to marry him, and produced a ring from his pocket.  I about fell over. (Still laughing. He’s glad I said yes immediately, or he would’ve been worried.)

The gallery owner (who had apparently been quite patient with Mr. Farmer as his plans had been modified over the past two weeks) excitedly congratulated us, then pulled out a bottle of champagne. For the next hour we chatted with her, and Mr. Farmer told me of asking Dad for permission on the combine, calling Mom a few days later, and consulting with Kim on ring style. He told me about his original plan of a crop art/helicopter proposal that just got too complicated to pull off, and of how he’d deliberated over round versus square.

Q: Did you cry?

A: Only after we got home. I got a little misty when he told me Dad got a little choked up when he asked for my hand. (But I’m not really sure if Dad was really torn up with emotion, or if it was fear of how to break it to Mr. Farmer that he was probably getting into more than he bargained for by legally binding himself to a wild woman.)

Q: What does the ring look like?

A: I couldn’t have picked something more perfect myself.

Q: When and where are you getting married?

A: We’re still working on the “when,” but the where is definitely in Kansas on the farm. Most likely next summer.

As an aside, the whole thing is still very new and strange. But also fun and exciting! We’re both really happy.