It Happened During the Indy 500...

So as the days went on the relationship grew. Every day was stronger than the next and I knew I had to spend the rest of my days with this giggling, amazing woman. Day in and day out we would spend time together and inevitably talked about our future. Was I going to actually do this? Better yet, does she really want a bald, Irish/Choctaw bass player? Poor girl has no idea.

During an afternoon’s travel we wheel into Shane Company in Franklin so I can just see what kind of ring she would like “if and when” we get married. By the way fellas, if you haven’t taken the plunge already you can get a good used car for about the same price as the glorious, spherical ornament of gold and diamonds that the one you are hoping to wed may require. Just saying to be prepared! Anyhoo, the trip put me on the path of ring enlightenment. A few weeks later on a similar trip to Jared ( Yes, I went to Jared ) we found THE RING. I swear before GOD and everyone that the woman glowed like I had not seen up until that point. At that instance I am looking at the dude behind the counter with the very obvious “TAKE NOTES YOU FOOL so I don’t forget” look in my eyes. Now at this point I had been saving for some time, Jami and I were very much in love, I had prayed for months over my decision, and there was only one thing left to do. Buy the ring? Plan the proposal? Pop the big question? Nope, it was time to ASK JERRY!

The following weekend we were on our way to the Little Magnolia’s home state of Louisiana and my impending conversation with daddy. How many guns are in that house again? Oh, let me do a quick side note. Jami is in law. She investigates for a living. I suck at hiding things. Translation I confess everything upfront due to a major lack of poker face on my part. It is just easier and keeps me from having an un-enjoyable conversation with the 5’4” Louisiana Hot Pepper. That being said she KNOWS I plan to talk to daddy and being the oh so loveable Jami that she is, about every 10 miles I hear “Are you nervous yet, are you nervous yet, are you nervous yet?”. It is her loving support I crave the most.

So we get to West Monroe after 8 hours of “Are you nervous yet, are you nervous yet, are you nervous yet?” and in typical Foster style her family promptly tried to kill us with food. For the record, death by crawfish wouldn’t be too bad of a way to go. In retrospect though, the equivalent of Japanese Water Torture is death by crawfish and our dear sweet sunflower going “Did you ask him yet, did you ask him yet, did you ask him yet?” You cannot properly eat crawfish in this manner and digest food properly. It must be love.

After lots of food and laughs we finally retired for the evening. The following day I was feeling the anticipation of trying to pop the question to Jerry. A) because I love his daughter more than life itself and B) I want to get it done so my blood pressure can go down and Miss “Did you ask my daddy yet?” can go on with her weekend. Well Jami is upstairs getting ready for us to go visit with some folks so I am downstairs with Jerry watching the Indy 500. A little angel pops up on my shoulder and goes “Hey, Dufus you have him alone”. I can feel my heart racing a little bit with anxiety. Jerry of course being Jerry is kicked back in the chair watching TV and looking quite comfortable so I don’t want to disturb him quite yet. WHAT!?!?! Yeah, it is a cop out. Sue me! I then pick up the local paper and start thumbing through what? Wait for it…..What section would make this moment perfect? Yep, GOD is great and has a grand sense of humor. I had picked up the BRIDAL section. This is the blunt force blow to the head I needed to ask the man, the myth, the dentist.

It happened during the commercial break of the Indy 500. REPEAT: I asked Jerry Foster for Jami’s hand during a COMMERCIAL BREAK of the Indy 500. The commercial comes on, my heart is pounding out of my chest, and then I tell him that I don’t know how to say it so I am just going to SAY IT.

“I need your blessing Jerry.”

“For what?” says Jerry .

Of course he knows darn well for what and is relishing in making me squirm. Sweet, the WHOLE family is comedians. For the record though. I fully plan on doing the same thing if Jami and I have a daughter one day.

“I want to marry her Jerry.” comments the nearly fainting Bald guy.

At this point he basically summed up in less than a minute with “Alright, I know you two are very happy, I like ya, and her MAMA is going to have a bunch of questions for you.”

Then he leans back in his chair, un-mutes the TV, and returns to the Indy 500. The deed is done. My heart jumped out of my chest and landed somewhere outside Vicksburg and I sit there amazed. After I gain my composure and realize that all was right in the universe I headed upstairs to check on Jami.

Before I got up from the couch I hear the laughter of a Tickle Me Elmo in the distance. GOD has a grand sense of humor.