Getting Engaged

Well, it's now less than a week until our 25th wedding anniversary. Thought you might enjoy hearing the story of our engagement.
We met in August 1981. I knew by November I wanted to marry Vickie, but we had no money and were both still in school. During the fall of 1983, while Vickie was back in Massachusetts, I asked a couple of my female friends to go with me to help me pick out an engagement ring. I knew she wanted an oval cut-the rest I was on my own. My friends helped me look, and we finally found some that fit the description. I then picked out one that I thought was really nice. And, of course, the salesman was glad to set me up on an "easy payment plan"-and to be truthful, it really was not that bad.
Now, my memory on dates is not always good. Her birthday and anniversary, no problem. The best I remember about when I proposed was that it was sometime in February. She was back iin Newport News at the Nursing School, so I waited until she came to visit VWC that weekend. I knew the girls who were living in her old dorm room now, so I asked if I could use the room for about an hour that Friday night. Before dinner, I told her we needed to go by the room for something. We went in, and no one was there. I just said they will be right back. We talked for a minute or two, then I got on my knee, reached into my pocket and pulled out the ring and said "Will you marry me?"
I never told my parents beforehand that I was going to ask Vickie to marry me, and I did not tell them for several more weeks. They had always been against our relationship (especially my Mom) and I did not need their permission, nor did I want to listen to a bunch of criticism of me or attacks against Vickie.
The funny thing was, my parents came to the college a few weeks later for some type of awards assembly (it may have been when I was selected for the history honor society). As we left the assembly, my parents met our college president, Dr. Lambuth Clarke. (What a great man he was!) Dr. Clarke, who remembered EVERYTHING about EVERYONE, said to my parents "Mr. and Mrs Busic, congratulations on Anthony being elected to the honor society, and his engagement to Vickie!" Well, I felt really bad for Dr. Clarke, and a little bad for my Dad, but my Mom got exactly what she deserved. I tried to dismiss it at first ("well, people get confused") but the cat was out of the bag.
I helped Vickie shop for her wedding dress, and in fact, picked out the one she eventually chose. So much for "bad luck if the groom sees the dress before hand".
I also remember we bought it at a shop called Lady L, which had stores in several large cities in Virginia. Once when I took Vickie for a fitting (which was quite the effort since I by then was at Duke and she was in Newport News and had no driver's license) we arrived to learn the dress was at another store hours away. But it all worked out. We went to the Pottery in Williamsburg, and had the cake top especially made for us-blown glass, very pretty, and in our budget LOL!
Well, in a few more days, I'll share a bit about the wedding itself. Gonna try to find some pictures and use my new scanner for the first time. God has seen us through a lot these last 30 years, and we are grateful to be celebrating our 25th aniversary. Hope you enjoy reading this.