After many tears and after church at my grandmother's house,
We were planning on going to Bristol, Tenn., with my parents, to visit my grandmother for Christmas. We were supposed to leave Sunday, December 21, 2008, but my uncle had a stroke and on Monday was transferred to UAB. Monday night, we decided to have Christmas with his parents. Robert told me he was only getting me one present this year. Secretly I was hoping for a ring, but I never told him this. He wanted to know if I wanted to open my present with his parents or my parents. I was really stuck, so I finally decided to open it with his parents. When I opened his present, his parents said my face showed disappointment (but I promise it didn’t!). It was the most beautiful diamond necklace I had ever seen. I was gushing over it and was so happy. I told him I could totally understand why he only got me one present.
After much deliberation and stressing, my family finally decided to go to my grandmother’s on Christmas Eve morning. We left at 6 a.m. to make sure we made it in time for Christmas Eve services. It was a very long trip! When we finally got to Bristol around 3 p.m., it was raining and looked miserable outside. All I wanted to do was go inside and rest before church that night. Robert had other plans. He began saying he wanted to go visit my “grandfather’s bridge.”
My grandfather, James A. Street, was an educator mainly in Alabama and Tennessee. He was a highly respected man. When he died three years ago, the Tennessee legislature named a bridge that is about a mile from my grandmother’s house the “James A. Street Memorial Bridge”. It may just be a bridge to some people, but it means so much more to me and my family.
Back to the engagement story… (I told you I get off track!) Robert began nagging and telling me he really wanted to go see the bridge named after my grandfather. I told him no, no, no. He kept trying to get me up and get ready for church. I told him so many reasons why I didn’t want to go - that I didn’t have to be ready for another 3 hours, it was raining, we would go another day, but he would not give up. After an hour of badgering, he decided the best way to get me ready was if he went and got ready. My mom and sister come in at this point and tell me that I am being so mean and that I should feel honored that Robert wants to go see the bridge. They put the total guilt trip on me! I finally got dressed, but I have to admit, I was a little annoyed.
When we were leaving, my parents told us to not be gone to long, we would have to be leaving for church soon. I said, “Don’t worry! It’s raining. We won’t even get out.” I remember hearing my mom say “I don’t know about that,” but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. On the short drive there, Robert was insanely quiet. I was being my normal chatty self and he was sitting with his hands in his pockets, not saying a word. While we were driving, the rain stopped, but of course I didn’t think anything of it at the time.
When we arrived at the bridge, I got out and walked over towards the bridge and said, “Well here it is – the bridge. You want to see anything else?” I turned around and Robert had his back to me. I asked him what he was doing and why he wasn’t even looking at me. He turned around and I will never forget the look on his face. It was a mixture of joy, happiness and nervousness. He looked so scared, but happy at the same time. My voice began to quiver and I asked, “What’s going on? What are you doing?” He walked towards me and grabbed my hands and got down on one knee. At this point, I began to freak out. All I could say was “This isn’t happening. This isn’t real.” Not the most romantic thing to say at this time, huh? After professing his love and him finally telling me “Yes Hailey, this is real. I do want you to be my wife,” I finally said YES! It seemed everything worked out for the happiest moment in our lives – next to our wedding day. Of course when I got back my parents and grandmother were ecstatic. They were in on the whole thing and helped Robert with the planning. We did make it to church, just barely, but we did make it!
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