My trip home with David was AMAZING!!! When we got home from the airport I couldn’t get over the fact that he was actually standing in my house. He was in my living room and in my kitchen and playing with Ginger!! It took about an hour at least for me to internalize that after almost 2 years of waiting for him to come to Houston it was actually happening! Succot started that night so we didn’t have too much d
own time before showering and heading off to shul. I’m not sure I even took a nap! It was a whole additional round of disbelieving and being happy seeing David in my shul. Obviously the men had a wonderful time picking him apart…I wonder how much opportunity David had to daven the entire Chag—my dad’s friends could win schmoozing championships, if such a ridiculous thing were to be held. The first days of Chag were really nice. We got to spend a lot of quality time with my family and we had plenty of meals with people in the community! Nathan came home to meet David so I actually got to see him for the first time since I got on the plane to make aliyah. Elana also came in that weekend and with Yael home already it was really nice to hang out with David with my friends from forever ago. Hopefully it was nice for them to get an opportunity to meet him finally!Then after Chag we officially got engaged!!! We had already picked out the date and it was just a matter of telling people. We went out for coffee with the gang and broke the news. Then we came home and spent over an hour making phone calls. It was pretty awesome. It’s funny because I didn’t then and still don’t feel any different. I am super incredibly happy but I don’t feel any different. I am still just as happy when I am with David and I still relate to everyone in my life the same (I just spend more time watching my finger sparkle). I had for some reason thought that being engaged would feel different. Fortunately it doesn’t because I don’t think I could handle 10 months of something other than my life!
Once word got out we got super super busy. We went to pick out stuff for our registry. I think I went into Crate and Barrel a total of 5 times while I was home. On the plus side, David had an opinion about almost everything. It was really nice walking around stores hearing his opinion and coming to compromise on the things we wanted to buy. I think I would have gone crazy if I had to pick out dishes by myself! It’s also really cute to know that he cares and really reassuring to know that we can survive the registry process completely unscathed.
The night before David left we had a L’Chaim, engagement party thingy at the house. It was really really nice. NuNu had flown in the week before to meet David and Grandma and Zaidy flew in and surprised us with a visit for the party! It was so wonderful to have all of my grandparents in the same place and with David and for such a happy occasion. I am very fortunate to have them!! I am also very fortunate to have Uncle Paul and Aunt Lauren! They always think of the coolest ways to give presents. Basically they went out and bought David a complete selection of hiking boots for him to try on in the house and choose one to take home! There wasn’t enough not-Chag time for David to get to a store so they brought the store to him. Seeing the look on David’s face was priceless. I don’t think he is over the shock yet! As he put it, in Israel, once you narrow down the selection to your price range, style/ type needed, and then size you are left with 1 maybe 2 options!!! David left early the next morning to get back to the army. ☹.
I spent the next 10 days hanging out with NuNu and shopping. I did so much shopping. It was great. I probably went to Target 8 or 9 times. I needed to get my fill for the next year or so!! I also went up to Tulsa to visit Grandma and Zaidy. I had already planned to visit them before they came to surprise me so this was an extra bonus. We had a lovely dinner with some of their closest friends and I got some alone time to spend with them and with mommy who was there anyway for a business trip. We spent the entire plane ride on wedding planning stuff. There is so much to think about!!
I think that’s about it on the highlights of my trip. It was wonderful. I got to spend time with the family and community and I’m engaged!
