I am engaged to my husband!
So if you follow my blog, and really shame on you if you don’t, you know I met my husband, now my fiance, a year and a half ago while swimming in the ocean. We were friends, then we dated, then we broke up, got back together and then starting talking long term. Here is the thing. He is from France. Apparently there it is customary to live together before getting married. They even have this legal step before marriage that couples can take that give them some benefits of marriage but doesn’t completely legally bond them financially. So it’s the perfect solution for those that don’t want to talk prenup (that’s my interpretation)! While I am a totally hip, modern girl, I do have some surprisingly traditional beliefs and not living together before marriage was one of them. Thus my husband and I were at a standstill for a month or so. We were both caught up in what was expected of us and our long held beliefs. Plus really who wants to be the one that gives on this one?! It’s a major one to lose! OK, so once we got past our playground rivalry we sat down and talked about what we needed and wanted. Once we did that it was surprisingly simple to come up with a solution. The solution mind you was not simple, but the process of developing it was. So here is the 6 step process to become engaged when you are a 40 year old practical woman and in love with a Frenchman with different cultural values:
1. You look at your Grandma’s ring and fall in love with it
2. He asks your Catholic parents their permission to ask and buys the ring from them (very important that this happens prior to moving in)
3. He moves in
4. In a romantic, spur of the moment he asks you to marry him before he leaves for France but you can’t wear the ring cause you haven’t met his parents yet
5. You meet his parents and brother and everyone gets along swimmingly (never did understand that word, but given our relationship’s origin it seems appropriate)
6. You find a very romantic restaurant in a quaint neighborhood in Paris and since you are technically already engaged he says, “So should I just give it to you?”
And voila you are engaged (and see I now totally speak French)! Check back on the steps to getting married to a Frenchman!
