Surprise(s)!

Yesterday, while Jersey was at work, I told her I was planning a surprise for her and that it would be ready when she got home. She was a little nervous about what I might be up to, but she was a good sport when I told her to stop outside the bedroom door and close her eyes. I guided her into the middle of the room and told her she could look around. Around the room was a scratch post, a cat bed, and a couple of toys...she squealed when she realized I had adopted a kitten. The kitten in question was hiding under the bed when she first arrived, but I was able to take some pictures this morning:
After Jersey stopped squealing, I told her that the kitten was hiding under the bed and that I had taken the liberty of naming him already. She reached under the bed to pull him out and look at his tag...this is what she saw:Jersey thought it was a joke and started to giggle, but then she looked up at me and saw a ring in my hand. I got down on one knee and she fell backward onto the floor. I still don't remember if she actually ever said yes (she says she did, but I don't know), but there was an awful lot of shaking, crying, and kissing going on!
By the way, I went through a little bit of hell earlier in the day when I called Jersey's dad to ask for his blessing. I wasn't actually that freaked out about asking him, but I am terrified of the phone. It's irrational, but I can't stand the phone in the most normal of situations. This definitely didn't qualify as normal. Being the freak that I am, I wrote out exactly what I wanted to say, rehearsed it a number of times, vomited, stared at the phone for about 15 minutes, and then dialed. I caught her dad while he was grocery shopping with her four-year-old brother (not the best timing, but oh well) and went through my mini-speech. When I ended with "I would love your blessing because I would like to propose to Jersey tonight", he said "You got it." Wow, that was simple.

Much of last night and this morning was full of phone calls to excited friends and family. Oh, and the kitten's name is Max and he'll be four months old on Tuesday (he was born on July 4th!). He kept us up most of the night with his talking, but he's adjusting pretty well to his life outside the shelter. So, now Jersey and I have a kitten and a wedding to plan! Yay!