Here's the hardest thing to do once you get engaged: keep the tarnishing waves of details at bay long enough to let your engagement glow live out its natural course.

   After our long talk recounting the hysterical events leading up to our engagement, Keith and I walked back to my apartment in utter glee vowing to keep the evening for ourselves and share it with everyone the next morning. Out of pure emotional exhaustion, Keith instantly passed out. I sat there, staring at my finger, in awe. I realized that the next morning I would be heading home to Poughkeepsie, New York for my best friend's wedding and wouldn't see his family until the next week. I instantly woke Keith up and told him we had to call his mother. My "inner bride" had already taken me over.

   The entire family of night owls was awake at 1:30 in the morning. His mother answered the phone and I asked if it would be OK for me to call her "mom" now. Confused, she answered in the affirmative. After 30 seconds more of silence, she yelled into the phone and started crying. It took her a minute to decipher my request. She was happy. We laughed. Keith slept. We woke him up and he laughed too. Somehow, we never woke my roommates.

   We hung up and I realized that if my family found out that I called the Tobias's and not them, they would be hurt - even though I was going to see them the next morning. (Smart Inner Bride!) So, we called Poughkeepsie. My cute little brother listened to me gush for a half-hour about the whole story. The story changed each time we told it because we remembered different things we had said or done. He said, "I always wanted a little brother!" Funny kid! Keith is 5'6" and Bobby is a whopping 6'2".

   We hung up and Keith went to the bathroom. I snuck in another call to my best friend from college, Janine. She was so excited and let me babble on and on. Keith instantly passed out again. I guess it was all that shaking he did while popping the question. I lied there, staring into the night when suddenly I heard a cough through the wall. (OK, strange living arrangement number one: At the time of my engagement, I was living with two men, Pete and Chris. Pete has been dating my friend Kendra for four years. Pete had a room available in his house and I took it. It was cheaper and closer to Keith.) I coughed back. It was Kendra, and she didn't answer back! I made LOUD footsteps down the hall and down the stairs, hoping she would hear me and come out. She didn't. Finally, I put my lips to the doorframe and whispered her name. The door swung open, and sleepy-eyed Kendra stood there blinking. There was really no way to ease into it - so I just blurted it out, "Keith proposed!" There was hugging, the lights went on, she checked out the ring and ooohhhed and aaaahhhhed in all the right ways. We plopped on the bed, woke up Pete, and he ooohhhed and aaaahhhhed too. I recounted the story. Kendra was the first one I asked to be my bridesmaid. I think I finally got to bed around 3AM and fell asleep to the purr-like breathing of my conked out fiancé.

   The "questions" came the next morning. I raced to Poughkeepsie, leaving messages for everyone programmed into my cell phone, straight to Tracey's house. She was getting married two days later and I wanted to make sure I told her in person, and that I did it well enough in advance so that it did not take away from her BIG DAY. I got to her house and we sat on the couch and talked about how stressed she was and how things were going. We must have talked for 10 or 15 minutes. I gave her a hug and told her it would be fine. Then she said, "So, how are you?" That's when I sprung it on her. We hugged a lot and laughed. Of course, I asked her to be in the wedding and that is when it came. "So, have you picked a date yet?" My brow furrowed and I said no. (First panic attack for my poor little inner bride). Tracey is a first-year doctor and her schedule is crazy. When I started weighing the implications of how important it would be to pick the "right" date so that everyone could come, it became overwhelming. It started again when I got home with the family wondering when it might be. There were questions about colors, and who would be in the wedding party, and how many people we would be inviting - and Keith wasn't there to share all of this with me. I have since noticed, that even when he is there with me - all the inquisitive eyes are still pointed in my direction. Keith is one of the most involved grooms I have ever heard of, yet still the questions all come to me. YIKES!

   Thus, we are officially announced and indoctrinated into the Engaged Club. Keith and I came into this promising to have fun through the entire planning process. It has become our mantra. It amazes me every day how many obstacles still lie ahead before our BIG DAY: emotional quicks and traps, family baggage snares, hurt feeling drop nets. But, the truth is, love has wings. Keith, my incredible pillar of strength, has this wonderful knack for paving a clear path for us and keeping us on course, endlessly whispering in my ear, "Have fun - I love you." That pretty much says it all.