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February 2
Dear Scott,
Great news! Mom and Derek got engaged last night. It was really romantic. I kind of knew it was coming. Last week Derek pulled me aside, not exactly to ask for my blessing, but he told me that he valued my opinion and wanted to know if I was comfortable with the timing or if I thought he and Mom were taking things too fast. It was really respectful of him, and I admired him a lot for that.
It’s not like I know him all that well, but it’s taken my mom all this time to meet someone that she says is as godly and honorable as my dad was, and she’s the best judge of character I know. So anyway, I knew he was going to pop the question, I just didn’t know when. I figured it would be something pretty typical, you know, fancy dinner out or whatever. But he actually proposed at home. Kitty and I were both there.
Remember that picture I told you about that Kitty keeps on her nightstand, the one where she’s in mom’s old bridesmaid dress and she’s dancing with that boy from our church? Derek knows how big of a crush she’s got on him still. It’s something we all like to joke about because it makes her laugh so hard. What he did was look at the picture and asked Kitty about that night. He asked something like, “When that boy took your hand for the picture, was it like this?” And then he grabbed Mom and held her the same way.
Then he said, “And when he leaned over to kiss your hand, did he look into your eyes like this?” And that’s what he did to Mom. I’m sure you get the idea.
So we all thought he was just being funny because Derek’s always joking, especially with Kitty. The first time you hear her laugh, all you want to do from that moment on is find more funny things to tell her. You heard her giggling when we put you on speaker phone the other evening, remember that? Anyway, I thought Derek was just having fun, but then all of a sudden he was on his knee, still holding Mom’s hand, and that’s when he asked her to marry him. I wish someone had thought to get the whole thing on camera because I can’t remember a word he said. But it was really sweet and romantic, and obviously Mom told him yes. So there’s a wedding in the future!
I don’t think it’ll interfere at all with the internship this summer. They’re looking into getting married in the early spring, so by the time the Kingdom Builders program starts, everyone should be settled in. I actually feel better about leaving for the whole summer knowing that my mom will have someone else to help out with Kitty. I mean, Derek’s at work all day, so it will still be Mom doing all the regular stuff, but at least she’ll have someone to talk to at night and on the weekends.
I’d hate to think of her spending the whole summer in a big empty house taking care of Kitty all alone while I’m gone.
Anyway, they called me in for the evening shift at Winter Grove tonight, so I probably won’t be able to talk to you until tomorrow. I just wanted to tell you the good news. Hope you’re having a good day. Don’t forget to let me know if sleeping with those onion slices in your socks helped with that sore throat. Mom swears by it.
Blessings,
Susannah