Like all good epic stories, a pause to digest what has happened thus far and to build excitement for what is to come can often be useful. Although not my intention, it can be seen as fitting. Picking up where we left off is a little harder than watching Gandolf take on the Balrog of Morgoth for the second time but let me refresh your memory of where we were… my Hollywood scream and dramatic run down the street in Boston to hug and kiss Jamie one more time before we went our separate ways in October of 2010. I needed him to KNOW I loved him, truly loved him.

When Jamie left in the airport shuttle van a part of me broke. Thank God I was in Boston traffic and I needed to focus or I would have cried for hours. By the time I got out of the city and onto a road I could relax on, the shock of being so abruptly separated from him had passed and plans for what was to come next took over.

The Plan

The next time we spoke we could tell things were different. We were finally going to be together, after 15 years as best friends, through 1000 ups and downs and broken hearts we were going to get this right and that was all there was to it. We easily and quickly decided that I was the one that needed to make the big move. Jamie had a much better job than I did and we wouldn’t have to worry about Healthcare if I moved to Scotland. Done!

We began to look into the quickest way to get me to Scotland. What Visa could I get so that we could finally begin our relationship on the same soil? I looked into a Work Visa and even with a B.A. and an M.S. I was 5 points shy of qualifying for this. I would have to look for a job and then hope for them to sponsor my move… that would take too long and could possibly not happen at all. Not the right Visa.

If I went over on a Holiday Visa I wasn’t allowed to get a job, go to school or… get Engaged! Weird that this was one of the stipulations. I would have a year to be with Jamie but we wouldn’t really be free to live life without worries. He would be supporting me and I would have nothing to do. Again, not the one for us.

The final option was the Fiancé Visa. This would give us 6 months after I moved to Scotland to get married. This sounded terrifying… for about 5 seconds. We looked at each other over the computer and agreed that we were going to be together no matter what so what did it matter if it happened in 6 months or in 2 years. We had spent so many years loving and supporting one another that there wasn’t anything that we found scary or unexpected, we just needed to live together and see if we could manage without killing each other. So our decision was made, we would get engaged and then apply for the Fiancé Visa… When? We couldn’t fathom being apart for long. We wanted to be together now if not sooner.

January 2011 looked to be good time for me to visit him in Glasgow and it wasn’t too far off. It was a few months away but that would give us time to really talk. We had always been brutally honest when we were writing but this Skype thing was still new. We could laugh together, cry together, reminisce about the past, plan the future (as if we hadn’t done this hundreds of times already) and think about a ring… The Ring!!!

The Ring

I wanted the ring to be Jamie’s choice but this was a hard pill for him to swallow. We had always picked out anything he bought for me together. He waited for the moment that I had that look on my face that said I loved something and that was the moment he wanted.

We had looked at a Tiffany ring years prior to this and that same ring still looked just as beautiful but I didn’t think it was for me. Jamie was set on Tiffany due to the romantic attachment that we had with the shop, that was what he wanted to do and I understood why, so we looked at the site together. The more I looked the more I didn’t want to.

I am probably one of the only women alive that would talk her boyfriend out of buying a Tiffany engagement ring but I did. I told him I wanted him to find a store in Scotland that made rings, I didn’t want him spending so much money on a name. I thought he could get a bigger diamond or better quality and have it be more personal and original. I told him if he really wanted to get me a Tiffany ring he could buy me a little band that I saw that said “I love you”. What he knew was that I preferred white gold or platinum, not too huge and high set and a princess cut… that was all.

Jamie finally agreed that he would look in Glasgow but he still wanted that moment when he saw me fall in love with something. I suggested that in January I would go with him and pick out 3 rings and he would make the final choice… a nice middle ground. Not traditional at all but what about us had been. This made us both happy. I loved him but didn’t need him spending the earth on a Tiffany ring. Something simple, original and ours was what I wanted.

After we settled the way the ring would be chosen, we made the plans for my trip over. Feeling nervous since we had failed miserably at this years earlier, I made Jamie promise to not propose unless it felt right. We didn’t need to rush it. We could go back and forth visiting until we were sure that we were both ready to make the leap. Also, knowing Jamie is a perfectionist and would get totally nervous about a proposal, I suggested that he didn’t plan it, that he should just go for it when and if it felt right. He agreed and my trip was set, a possible engagement was on the horizon.

One night with not much time left until my visit, we were talking and he was acting weird, all silly and smiley and I knew something was up. I asked him what was going on and he said nothing, he was full of it and I knew… he had chosen without me. I asked him if he had chosen the ring and he couldn’t contain himself. He said yes he had but he wouldn’t let me know any of the details. I threw out some wild designs just to try to get a feel for what it could be, knowing I really just wanted a simple solitaire. We had a good laugh and there was something in the air, he had the ring, he knew he was going to propose and he wanted to speak to my Dad. He actually wanted to ask my father’s permission… I loved this man! My Dad of course agreed. He and my Mom loved Jamie and had hoped and prayed for years that we would be together so giving his blessing was a no brainer, even though letting his little girl go would be hard.

As the weeks turned into days and my trip drew closer, it was quite clear that I was falling even more in love with this man. More than I ever imagined was possible. I loved his face, I loved his laugh, I hated when we weren’t talking, I packed my bag a hundred times and the butterflies were always there when I looked at the Glasgow webcam during work. I couldn’t wait to be with him again, I wanted to smell him and feel his arms around me, I couldn’t wait to be engaged to him and I ached for it to be January. I just hoped that he wouldn’t feel differently when he saw me again in person. I prayed that we wouldn’t have taken a step backwards like we normally did. I was terrified that he would take my advice and wait to propose if he didn’t feel right about giving me the ring because I knew I was ready. What would that do to us? What would that do to me? Was it even possible that he wouldn’t propose? I just didn’t know… what I did know was that I loved him. I would wait for him as he had waited for me. He is my soulmate and I would love him forever with or without a ring. x heather