In March I shared A Tiny Announcement from Lina & Isha when we told everyone about the tiny house we're building, T42. Today we're excited to share a BIG announcement:
We're engaged!
Last week Isha asked me to marry him and I said "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" We're engaged! Hooray! We're so excited!
We haven't set a date yet. We're taking it one thing at a time and this year we're building our tiny house! So we'll keep you posted.
Read on for our engagement story:
I caught the bouquet at a wedding in May - yes, please!
Lina has long admired the tradition a handful of friends have created of both partners wearing engagement rings. So seven years ago, while she was traveling in Thailand, she bought a set of silver bands. Since she didn't yet know the man she was going to marry, she chose one that fit her ring finger and one that fit her thumb. The idea was that she and her future sweetie would wear these engagement rings until their wedding day when they'd trade them for wedding rings of their choosing.
Then she kept her fingers crossed that she'd find her fella someday!
Meanwhile, Isha had his fingers crossed that someday he'd find his lady. He moved to Portland from the Bay Area three and a half years ago to hoping to learn about growing and preserving food (and where better to learn the art of fermentation then Portland, OR?!) Oh, and to find the love of his life. That was a primary motivator, too.
Imbuing each other's rings with love
Isha finally found Lina a year ago when he visited Simply Home Community for a tour of the tiny houses. He was interested in creating a tiny house community and trying out tiny house living. Luckily for all of us, the tiny house next door to Lina's was for rent and Isha moved in. We hit it off and it was quickly clear that we were a great match. With our community's blessing, we started dating. We've thoroughly loved the past year together and making future plans.
As we approached the one year mark of knowing each other, Lina told Isha about the engagement rings and the idea that we'd wear them on chains around our necks (she'd wear his and he'd wear hers) until the moment was right to exchange them. He said he liked the idea, but wanted to check out the rings. When Isha tried on the ring Lina had selected for her future partner seven years ago, it fit perfectly without needing to be resized! It felt like a fairy tale!
We're going out to celebrate our engagement!
Last week Isha was planning to steal the rings from Lina's jewelry box in the middle of the night and propose to her on the anniversary of when we met. However, she didn't know that. So in her eagerness, she convinced Isha to get the rings out a day early and wear them on chains.
So for a couple days Isha wore Lina's ring on a chain around his neck and she did the same with his. Fortunately, this gave us a chance to imbue each other's ring with our love and time for us to make sure we are really ready to commit to each other.
This weekend we were headed up to see Lina's auntie and sisters, so Isha teased Lina about telling her sisters about the ring on the chain around her neck. "Or, I could tell them about the ring around my finger..." she replied. "Huh?" he asked, eyebrows shooting up. "I'm ready when you are," she told him.
So Isha asked Lina on the spot to marry him and she said yes over and over again. We relished the opportunity to tell our family in person and to share the news with a few close friends. Now we're excited to shout it from the rooftops! We're engaged!
