two cows and a dishwasher.

"it's going to be your father," he said jokingly.

"then you'd probably better answer it!"

i was standing at the kitchen sink, up to my elbows in bright yellow rubber gloves and wrestling with the dishly aftermath of our dinner. given my father's propensity for utter non-communication, i was a little skeptical at dom's pronouncement--the dishes kept their top priority, because those gloves are a pain in the ass to put on. i could have been more trusting, considering that dad had received the email equivalent of a letter bomb over the weekend. but, to my way of thiniking, the odds were even.

dom was still a bit surprised to hear my father's voice on the line--despite his prediction that it would be my dad, he is all too familiar with the deplorable communication skills that run rampant in my family. he was not nearly as surprised as my father was upon hearing that i was doing the dishes (dishes being, historically, not my forte). less surprising for all of us, however, was the news my father had called to deliver.

backtracking a bit, the story actually started saturday night; dom was running a bit late and had opted to meet me at chez k for the party rather than accompanying me, biscuit , mike and the cakes in the car. shortly after our arrival, i received a text message informing me that he was going to be later than he'd thought, because he'd gotten sidetracked. by writing emails to my mother, father and sister, asking them for their blessing.

because he wants to marry me.

and while this may not be such scintillating news to you, blogosphere--it certainly lacks drama, compared to other recent couplings, and most of you probably smelled it from a mile away--i'm awfully excited. i'm excited enough that i can't really even write about it properly (clearly). dad was the last of the gang of three to clock in (i remain amazed at his relative timeliness--two days for him is pretty miraculous), and with his blessing we are now free and clear to say:

watch this space for news of our impending engagement. because while we've decided on a dowry (two cows and a dishwasher), and dom's already asked me twice (once while sitting at the dinner table with my mother), it's not official till there's a ring. or, at least that's what he tells me.

we're going to get married.

christ in a sidecar.

bit of a leap for a girl who, this time last year, thought she'd never be able to love someone like this again.

though i'm going to have to say that i like to think i'm a fucking bargain at two cows and a dishwasher. i think we could at least squeeze an extra goat and a washbasin out of the deal if we tried hard enough.