Easter weekend.

My mom nearly fell over when she saw the ring.

Growing up, she always talked about my future wedding and husband. When my parents bought their house a couple of years ago, my mom said at the time that she specifically wanted the house because of it's huge backyard: for my wedding reception. I always scoffed at my mother's remarks; this is probably why she and my whole family thought I'd never want to get married. When I called to say Jesse had proposed, they all immediately asked (on speakerphone, of course): "What did you say??"

As someone who never thought of weddings or dresses or husbands or rings, it was surprisingly nice to go home with a diamond on my left hand and a fiancee. My mom, obvious from her reaction, loves the ring. She immediately called her family and best friends (again). My dad was also impressed, and when he picked us up from the train station, welcomed Jesse with a hearty hug and a "welcome to the family!"

My mother and I tend to bicker over a lot, though we love each other. I thought it would be nice to show up this weekend with a bunch of wedding magazines since she was so excited. I mean, this was probably a moment she thought would never happen. After satisfying her with my patience over her thoughts on my wedding, the family settled on the couch to watch Enchanted. Uh, I'd watched it the week before, but I really LOVE this movie (another great Rick rec!). It's like Sleeping Beauty + The Little Mermaid + 13 Going on 30. (Sidenote: I'm obvs mature enough for marriage when I list these awesome movies, right? Also, I say "obvs.") I digress. The movie is hilarious, and though I thought the songs strange during the Oscars, they're perfect in the movie.

On Saturday, it was time to get down to business. My parents gave Jesse and I a sit-down counseling talk about marriage. My parents have been together for twenty-six years, and are as happy as can be (one day I'll share their quite mythic story). It was full of well-wishes, stern but good advice, and left open-ended for future discussion. No matter my jokes here as I write, but I take marriage seriously, as does Jesse, and I know that I'm ready for this, and I'm ready for Forever.

The rest of Saturday included my Uncle Dave bringing over champagne to celebrate, an amazing turkey dinner via my father, Jesse and I cleaning up the kitchen to show off the domesticates we are, and lots of rummy with my brother. The next morning we went to church (something my mother informed Jesse he'd have to get used to) and then we set back off for New York. It was a truly fabulous weekend, and I couldn't be happier. My family means the world to me, as does their support.

Funny story about the train ride home - per my nature, I never wrote out my first name with anybody's last name. Not even Clooney! I told Jesse this was probably because while other girls were busy having marriage fantasies, I was having other kinds of, uh, fantasies (and we all know Clooney isn't the marrying type). I told Jesse that I'd have to get my checks changed next year. I'd have to get a new signature, too. So, in completely atypical fashion, I broke out my little notebook and a pen and started signing "Jessica Johnson," with such glee that I may have regressed into a sixth grader in that moment. I'm supremely excited, surprised by my traditional nature, and ecstatic because I hate the lowercase cursive "k" in Parker because it's not connected in my signature and Johnson flows quite well. The nerd flag always flies.