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Our Engagement Story...

 
Her Story

The first weekend of May, 2013 was a banner weekend for Ally! Ally took Friday off as her sister Bryn was flying in from Boston to help Ally celebrate her graduation from Dominican University with her Masters in Library Science. While waiting for the rest of the family to arrive to town, Ally and Bryn headed to the neighborhood bar. Unfortunately, Josh was not going to be able to join the Coans until Saturday, as he was also pursuing a Masters, but down in Champaign, and had to study for finals.  Anyway, a little while after Bryn and Ally got to the bar, a guy walked in and out of the rain. He kept the hood of his sweatshirt up and neither Ally nor Bryn recognized this mysterious (creepy?) gentleman who was now approaching their table. When he reached Ally and Bryn's table, he got down on one knee, pulled his hood off, and asked Ally to marry him.   Luckily, the creeper turned out to be Josh and, after some disbelief that this was actually happening, Ally said "yes" (or "of course" or "obviously" - it's still a bit blurry)!

His Story

My plan was to surprise Ally with a proposal while her family was in town celebrate her graduation. "Of course", I also wanted to see how annoyed with me I could make her before the "Get out of Jail" card came out. After telling her earlier that I’d be able to leave after I took a final to meet her, her parents, grandfather, and two of her sisters for dinner, I then told her that I’d be a little late due to a fictional “Study Group” I now needed to meet with. Meanwhile, I immediately left Champaign after my final exam to surprise her, calling her many times from the road to move back the time the “Study Group” was going to meet. However, she was so happy to see her family that she never got the least bit annoyed.

Finally, I called her in the rain right outside the bar where she was eating lunch with her sister Bryn, and told her I wouldn’t be able to make it back at all, which finally got her slightly exasperated. After I hung up, I walked in with my hood up and found their table. Bryn and Ally were clearly creeped out for the few seconds after I said “Hi” when they didn’t recognize me. I pulled out the ring box, and asked Ally to marry me.

 

She likes to think she said “Of course” right off the bat, but in reality she repeatedly asked me if I was kidding. After telling her I wasn't for the fourth time, I finally said with a smile "Yep, I'm just kidding" at which point, I recall her language became much bluer. "Of course" this was only due to her surprise, she is a librarian after all. Eventually, I got the affirmative I was looking for, and we had quite the celebratory weekend. I’m looking forward to our future together and all the surprises that we have in store for each other.

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