My Big Surprise!

 
For the last four months Peppe has been telling me he had a surprise for me. I love surprises, and I bugged him constantly for hints and ideas as to what it could be. We have friends going to Egypt in September, so I thought maybe he bought us tickets to go with them. I love Hannai Morei purfume, and it is impossible to find (both here and in the states), so I thought maybe he found that for me. I kinda thought maybe it was an engagement ring, but I knew he hadn’t talked to my parents, and we had never been ring shopping together. I also knew they didn’t look at engagements the same way we do in America. To Peppe, we have been “engaged” since we first started talking about marriage three years ago.
 
This past Friday morning he told me he got the surprise and I could have it that day. He drew it out all day. First he said, you can have it after lunch. Then, after lunch he said, you can have this evening. Then, it was after dinner!!
 
So, Friday night after dinner (not a romantic dinner with just the two of us, but dinner with him, me and his family at his house) I went to my room and noticed he had lit a candle. He came in and said, well, I bought you a present this morning, do you want it now? Of course he was teasing me about it since he had told me it was hidden in a front room of the house and I could “look” for it if I wanted to. He knew I had been “looking-without-really-trying-to-find-it” all day.
 
So, he told me to sit on the bed and close my eyes. He left the room and came back holding a small bag. Inside the bag was a little box all neatly wrapped. I could tell it was a jewelry box, so I thought maybe a watch or necklace.
 
I opened it and I saw a ring!
 
I said, “What is this?”
 
“It is a ring.”
 
“For what?” My hands were shaking so much!
 
He took it out of the box and put it on my finger and he said, “Because I want us to be together always.”
 
“Well,” I said, “Before I can officially wear the ring, you have to ask me something.”
 
“I want you to be my fidanzata.” He was so cute … and so nervous!
 
I leaned in and whispered to him, “You have to say ‘will you marry me’.”
 
“Oh is that what i am supposed to say? OK. Will you marry me? ”
 
It was precious and so, of course I said yes!
 
Then I asked him if he had talked to my parents. “No. It was a surprise! You can tell them!”
 
“Oh, no, Peppe. You gotta call them. Let’s call them now.”
 
“They’ll forgive me,” he said. “I’m an Italian, I can’t keep up with you Americans and all of your rules! There are no rules, just love!”
 
Now THAT sounds like something an Italian would say, doesn’t it?
 
So he called my parents and talked to my mom, then my dad. Then, I called my sister, my grandmother, my Godmother and a friend. During the last call he wrote me a note on a napkin that said
 
Important Information for my Fidanzata…
 
Please get off the phone and spend quality time with your new fiance.
 
We are going to get married November 2007 in Beaumont, Texas. I know it seems like a long time to wait, but I really want a Fall wedding, and this Fall is too close. Also, we want to get the B&B up and running. According to Italian Law we have to close our B&B here in catanzaro for 3 months each year. We had already decided these three months would be November, December and January, so that works out perfectly!
 
Don’t you love it when it all comes together like that?