Five.

Five years ago, my life dramatically changed. I officially changed my relationship status on facebook from "being in a relationship" to "engaged." July 18, 2007 will always be a date of significance in our relationship, a day that I treasure. It is the day I said "YES!!" to marrying the love of my life!

So for those who don't know our engagement story - here it is!

It was the summer before our senior year of college. I was young, but at the time you feel old, and like you know everything. HA. We both lived in the twin cities and had summer jobs. Todd and I had been dating for over a year and we had had that "talk" so I knew a proposal was coming at some point. It was pretty ironic - I took Todd out on a date the night before our engagement. As we dined at PF Chang's, the topic of when we would get engaged came up. He said he wasn't ready and it would be sometime in the fall. I dropped the subject but many thoughts filled my head.

Todd had invited me to a "taste testing" at a hotel in his hometown on July 18. The hotel restaurant would be presenting dishes for a new menu and we would be a select few to try them out and give our opinion. It was a great ploy because I really thought we were going to test food.

I feel really bad, because the last 15 minutes of the hour or so long drive down to his hometown, I made him talk about WHY we weren't getting engaged til the fall. I wasn't upset, just really inquisitive. Earlier in the drive I had asked and he put me off, but my persistence won and he spent ten brutal minutes coming up with an excuse.

After ten minutes of torture on his part, we arrived. We were greeted at the door by his mother, who had invited us, and led to an empty ballroom with a lone table set up. It was a beautifully set table with two dozen roses, candles and eight place settings. We were the only ones in the room so I thought I would go freshen up before everyone else got there.

I tried to leave the room and Todd did not want me to go. He gave me a big hug just as a waitress was bringing a covered plate of food. I remember telling him that the food was coming out so I needed to run to the bathroom before we started. I was pretty much out of the ballroom when he lifted the lid of what I thought was food. There was a small white box. I was speechless and surprised.

It was one of those crazy moments that you have dreamed about, but then it happens and you really can't believe it is happening. I will never forget what he then said, "Obviously, we aren't here to test food. Autumn Brittney, Will you marry me?" I think he had to ask me a second time because I was so shocked. Obviously, I said a big YES!!

He then told me he had another surprise. We walked into an adjoining ballroom and there were our families. My family had traveled over two hours to be there for this moment. We celebrated by eating dinner in the restaurant and had a little engagement party. It. was. amazing.

I always thought I would kind of figure out that I was going to get engaged right before it happened. Todd isn't always the best at surprises. We usually have to exchange Christmas presents several days in advance because he is too excited to wait. I loved that I had no clue what he was up to and that he had taken the time to line everything up.

It is just so crazy to me that FIVE years has already passed. My love for him has grown so much since that amazing day I said yes.