The Dog Ringbearer

As a mom, I asked my daughter several times if Rob was "the one". They had been dating a while. Danielle assured me they hadn't had any official marriage talks, though I figured they must have been talking about "one day in the future". She promised to tell me FIRST if he proposed. I made threats of what I'd do to her if her friends learned before I did. I out-weight her by enough to squash her.

These are the details she gave me.

One fall evening she had worked and was late getting to Rob's condo. When she unlocked the door and walked into unexpected quiet, she saw him sprawled on his couch. As she neared him, she saw a tiny black bundle wearing a big red bow on his chest. The bundle and Rob awoke at the same time and both moved. OMIGOD, a puppy! He had brought home a puppy.

She babbled and cried as she took the puppy from his shoulder and hugged the squirming critter.

"Look at the note," Rob said. By now he was wide awake and she was too excited to pay attention to anything but the dog she had always wanted.

"Honey, there's a note," he said, pointing.

She managed to stop hugging long enough to see the envelope tied to the red bow around the little, furry neck. When she opened it she read "Will you marry us?"

She still cried and hugged the dog and nodded. (She thinks she nodded.)

"Look inside," he said.

She finally found a ring. (It's a boulder sized diamond.) She said a few more OMIGODs and kept crying.

"Well, will you?" he asked. He's patient but there are limits.

She said she finally said yes, but the details get sketchy there.

He had arranged for them to meet all their friends for supper at a restaurant so no one would hear the news first or last. She DID call her mama before they left, though.

Of course, the rest is history.

She didn't share many more details, but the three of them are married and are now four.

A year later "The Dog Ringbearer" got his own puppy, Reagan. My daughter got one of Gibbs' brothers from a later litter of their parents for Rob. Gibbs and Reagan, know better.