A Special Day in England

With the Royal Wedding being TOMORROW (!!!!) and all the hoopla of viewing parties, constant news coverage, and wanna-be-Kate bloggers, I can't help but remember a very special day in England.

The "commoner" marries the Prince! How awesome is that!? She is beautiful! 

I remember having butterflies in my tummy just thinking about the wedding day we'd already set. The only problem...we weren't yet engaged. However, knowing that I would soon be visiting the English countryside with Dustin's family, I was hoping he wouldn't pass up the perfect setting for a day we'd always remember.

We started the day with our full English breakfast, a meal I could easily eat everyday for the rest of my life. With our stomachs full and a long ride ahead, Dustin and I (and Eric, too) crunched into the backseat and headed to Stratford upon Avon (yes, I fell asleep on the drive). This is where Shakespeare grew up and is buried and is also the home of the Royal Shakespeare Theater. We had tickets to As You Like It that night, which was to be the highlight of the day!

Clearly, I was flushed! (And again, skinnier, tanner and blonder, ha!)

After walking around Ann Hathaway's (Shakespeare's wife, not the actress) gardens and home, Dustin insisted that his parents walk ahead to the city square while we tracked down a mocha for our coffee fix. After searching and and getting weird looks when ordering a cafe mocha (which don't exist in England) we finally settled for the ever trustworthy Starbuck's. They always have mochas!

With our coffee need satisfied, we started searching for Dustin's parents. Being without a phone in a foreign country and after walking around the streets with no success, I was rather frustrated and ready to give up. Dustin suggested that we go walk by the Holy Trinity Church along the Avon river while finishing our mocha and enjoying the beautiful day. (He had a plan all along!)

We sat right in front of the church, near weeping willows and a team of rowers, and Dustin pulled out a tiny book. He started reading to me, which was nothing out of the ordinary (he should read for NPR), and I listened to my love with endearment. But he was reading differently. He was pausing more than usual and kept looking at me intently. He was reading Shakespeare's sonnets, the 18th to be exact.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (it was a day in May!)

And summer's lease hath all too short a date: 

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; 

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall never fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest: 

And then with a shaky voice and tears in his eyes, he finished by saying:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

(Isn't that so sweeeeet!!!!)

What a happy day! 

And I knew it! I knew this was it! He quickly pulled out a wooden box from his pocket (how did I not notice a tiny book and wooden box in his pocket?) and got on his knee and asked ,"Caroline, will you marry me?" And tears just started welling up in my eyes and my heart was filled with tingles and warmth! I think I asked Dustin if he was serious, but before he could rethink it all, I replied, "Yes, yes, a million times yes!!!" I was so excited and was so happy to be that much closer to becoming Mrs. Dustin Jernigan! (I still love getting mail addressed to Mrs. Dustin Jernigan!)

I will never forget the perfect day in May when my Prince asked for my hand in marriage along the river Avon!

Dustin later told me that he wanted me to have my favorite thing, a mocha, to make the "setting" just right.  

He also asked me by a church because we had already chosen a life of ministry together. Also

, the church had a cemetery, which was symbolic of us growing old together and being together forever! HOW SWEET! I still get all tingly thinking about that day!

Kate- since you are surely reading my blog- marriage is the best! I wish you the happiest wedding, better than you have ever dreamed of, and a wonderful life lived alongside your Prince William. One question, what is your new last name? Princess Catherine ________? 

with all the LOVE in the world, 

Mrs. Dustin Jernigan, xoxo