Growing Payne's: The Proposal

Jeremy proposed to me two years ago today, on August 22, 2012, so I figure it is the perfect time to share our proposal story.

I guess I should preface this with some background on one of Texas A&M's traditions-- The Century Tree. There is this beautiful, big tree in the middle of campus and it is said that if you walk under it with someone, you will be together forever. If you walk under it alone, you will be alone forever. Needless to say, you barely ever find people walking under it, especially alone! It's also the tree that we used to meet by in between classes while we were there. We used to always joke about walking under it, but it never happened. I mean, it was a BIG deal if you did. Here is a picture:

So I remember that day perfectly. We moved his brother Jordan into his apartment with his mom and dad. I mentioned getting dinner later but they said that they had to head back to Tyler. I thought nothing of it. Jeremy dropped me off at my apartment to change and then I headed over to his house so we could figure out our plans. Once I got to his house, he suggested we take Maci on a walk around campus. We had been talking about doing this for awhile so I agreed and off we went.

As we were walking down Military Walk (toward the center of campus), Jeremy suggested that we walk under The Century Tree together. Knowing how serious we were, I agreed. I gave him one condition though: That we really would have to be together forever. He, of course, agreed. As we got closer to the tree I could see that something was set up on the bench under it. I started to get excited because I've always wanted to see a proposal! The thought never even crossed my mind that I would be the one getting proposed to. As we got closer, I realized it was a Benjamin Knox picture (Benjamin Knox is an awesome Aggie artist that Jeremy and I love). I started to drag Jeremy under the tree to see what it was. So romantic, right? When I got to the picture, this is what I saw:

While I was first looking at it, I STILL thought this was for someone else. It wasn't until I saw the dog in the picture, and noticed that Jeremy was no longer standing beside me, that I realized it was all for me! It took me a few seconds to turn around but when I did I saw my sweet man down on one knee holding a beautiful diamond ring. I honestly don't remember what he said. I don't even remember what I said. But after I said yes, he asked if he could pray for us. He said it was the first thing he wanted us to do as an engaged couple. He stood up and began to pray and when we were done I looked up to see this:

My family, his family and two of my best friends! What a blessing! They were hiding and watching the whole thing. Jeremy's brother was also hiding and taking pictures of it. It was amazing! We then took some more pictures and headed over to Benjamin Knox's wine gallery where we thanked him for the picture and had some champagne. I absolutely love that Jeremy had this picture done as a part of our proposal. It is something I will cherish forever.

Here are some more pictures of our memorable day: