Warning... this is the detailed version! You want the short version? Matt
proposed, I have pretty bling, we're getting married! Bam. Done.
Proceed at your own risk for the long version.
I should preface this story by saying I knew he was going to propose. I
honestly did not try to figure it out but it just happened. While I won't
go into all the details on why and how I knew I will say that I knew that
he had the ring and I knew that he had spoken to my dad several weeks
before. We’d already been talking about a late August wedding and about
only having a four month engagement so I had a pretty good idea Matt would pop
the question before May. It was just a matter of time. As the days in
April went by I knew when we came to Easter weekend that it would probably be
then as the next and last weekend in April was too busy for anything to
happen.
So I knew, BUT I didn’t know anything else besides it was going to happen.
This story begins with an e-mail. Really, it begins with a chain of
e-mails. Matt's recent one was a response to an e-mail I had sent him back
in March regarding a work related question he had sent my department. In
my very professional e-mail I stated, "Please let me know if there is anything...and I mean anything...else I can do for you." He eventually took me up on that offer.
From: Matt Benson
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 8:09 AM
To: Jessica Hilgenberg
Jessica,
I realize it may be
unprofessional, but I have discovered a need… a rather large need, I would
really appreciate it if you would help me out with this. Would you join me on
Saturday for a date? I would love to pick you up at 3pm.
Sincerely,
Matt Benson
From: Jessica Hilgenberg
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 1:21 PM
To: Matt Benson
Matt,
This is quite unprofessional. But you are in luck as I do not abide by the
professional rules. I believe my schedule is free on Saturday. I was supposed
to wash my hair at 4pm but I can move that up to accommodate you.
Would you please inform me of the dress code for your need?
Sincerely,
Jessica
From: Matt Benson
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 4:55 PM
To: Jessica Hilgenberg
Jessica,
I appreciate your
accommodation, and thank you for bending the “rules” slightly about
professionalism at work.
Dress code will be dressy
casual, shoes that are comfortable for some walking, but looking super fly.
Basically I will be so distracted that I will stop in mid … sentence.
Do you have any further
inquiries?
Professionally,
Matt Benson
From: Jessica Hilgenberg
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 9:00 AM
To: Matt Benson
Matthew,
Thank you for your quick
response and for your appreciation of how much I am being inconvenienced to
accommodate you.
Your comments about being
distracted by my looking “super fly” (interesting choice of words) is VERY
inappropriate and I’d prefer you to use a little more discretion. (At least
when it comes to what you say in work e-mails. These are traceable. Though what
you say in person is fair game.)
My inquiries seem to be
endless in this situation but I believe it is for the best if I keep those to myself
for the time being. I believe they will answer themselves with time.
Sincerely,
Jessica
+++++++++++++
On Saturday, April 19th at 3ish Matt picked me up from my house and the
adventure began.
First, he decided to drive around and throw me off. I gave the
appropriate “where are we going?” and “what are we doing?” questions knowing
full well that I would receive no information. We continued flirting as we
basically drove in a big circle and ended up in Old Colorado City (literally
blocks from my house) at Jives Coffee shop.
Jives is a favorite of ours and holds special memories. This was where it
all started for us, where interest was finally vocalized, where we had our
initial DTR and the phrase “...and then there is you and I don’t know what to
do with you” was coined. We grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down in the EXACT seats where we had that first conversation about us. Matt handed me a card. In this card he took me back to a “time where there seemed to be more time.”
He reminisced about some of his favorite moments in the early
days of our dating season which he referred to as the “I like you”
times or the “I’m a fan of you times.”
After coffee we started driving around and I was given another card to
read as we did. In this card he reminisced about the next season of our
dating relationship, which he called the “you are my favorite” times. He highlighted some of the most memorable moments and a few of them involved
Garden of the Gods. And that was our next destination to the Garden
of the Gods where we hung out and talked and walked around for a
while.
After we walked around for a while and got caught in a little rain, we
headed toward downtown for dinner at the Rabbit Hole which is one of our
favorite places. I also received another card at this point. This time Matt took me on a journey
through some of his favorite moments in the “I love you” times. I love that he
wrote all this down in cards that I have to keep! He knows me well knowing that
it would be special for me to be able to go back and reread them (over... and
over... and over... haha).
After dinner we went to go find some FroYo, a favorite of ours, but
the one downtown wasn't opened! So, we settled for ice cream instead.This is when I was supposed to get another card... but Matt forgot and I
didn't get it till later that evening. This card started out with Matt pointing
out that I always ask "why" to everything which has become a bit of
an inside joke. (For example, Matt will tell me I'm his favorite and I'll say
“why?” Basically, it's when I want him to expand on what he says about me or
us.) The rest of the card held the answer to the "why do you love me"
question. It was a super sweet card that I enjoyed reading at the end of the
night just as much as if he had remembered to give it to me now. Haha.
Back to the ice cream... When we were close to being done Matt’s phone rang
and it was his coworker, Chad.
I’ll stop for a minute and explain to those of you who don’t know, Matt
works for the building services department at Young Life. This means he takes
turns being “on call” if something happens to the buildings or if the alarms go
off or anything like that. Anyway… he wasn’t on call this day but he is the one
who lives closest to work so it’s not uncommon for him to get asked to check
something out.
Matt didn’t answer Chad’s call and my first though
was, "Uh oh something is going on and he’s going to have to
go check on it." I told Matt don’t worry about it, if it’s important
Chad will leave a message. Well, he didn't leave a message and when we started walking to the car Chad
called again. I, at this point, think there really must be something going on
so tell Matt to pick up the phone. He does and what I understood from the one side of the conversation I
could hear was that Chad couldn't get ahold of anyone else and there was a
“water alarm” going off in the building and Chad can’t get there.
Thus, asking if Matt could stop by and check it out. And of course since Matt is such a dedicated and hard worker he tells Chad
that he will.
Now, I was slightly annoyed because Matt didn't even tell Chad that he
was on a date or anything. I mean we were going to get engaged that night! I
thought Matt would make a little more effort to not have to go to work. But I
quickly changed my attitude telling myself that nothing was going to ruin this
night! I also could tell Matt was really annoyed so I wanted to help pull him
out of that mood. Who cares if the night we are getting engaged Matt gets called into work to
check out an alarm?! It'll put a funny twist to the story!
We drove the couple of blocks to the Young Life Service Center and I was
planning on just waiting in the car. But Matt asked if I wanted to go in
with him. I, of course, was thinking, “uhh not really” but instead asked him if
he wanted me to, and he did so I went!
As we were walking to the front door I was joking around and
trying to get Matt out of his horrible mood. I mentioned how
this will be a funny part of the story and actually how fitting it is that
we are end up stopping here because this is the PLACE it all started for
us. I was being super dramatic and flirty and Matt just continued to be
a grumpy butt. I was starting to get a little frustrated with him
about it. But, within seconds of walking into the Young Life Service Center, all
thoughts of frustration vanished. As soon as we walked into the lobby
I saw white balloons lining the front desk and leading around the corner
to the stairs.
OH! I have been SET UP! And they got me good! I look at Matt and he’s
smiling… He was acting so grumpy the whole time because he was terrified he was
going to crack up laughing!
Matt sweetly takes my hand and starts leading me up the stairs. We followed
the floating white balloons past the second floor, past the third floor, onto
the roof and then to the VERY top of the roof where the view that greets
us is a BEAUTIFUL cloudy view of Pikes Peak at sunset.
It was this roof of the building where it all started between
us, that Matthew Benson got down on one knee, and while holding the
most perfect and beautiful ring, he asked me to marry him!
I SAID YES!!!
After we hung out on the roof some and took pictures with our photographers
(aka, some of my very good friends from college) for the event, we headed back
to Matt’s house where we were greeted with a large group of our friends for a
surprise engagement party. We spent the rest of the evening telling the story
and celebrating with friends.
THE RING! I love it. It's perfect. We never went actual ring shopping just looked online at ones. The ring is extra special because it's a one of kind as Matt customized a lot of it. It's also special because the main diamond was his grandmas and the two smaller diamonds on the side were his mom's. I adore the braided band and love how only one braid is bling!
And that is my story on how I became a "future Benson."
But "Future Benson" will expire Aug 23, 2014, when I
become
Mrs. Matthew Benson.
