I just have to write it

Wally's up in the bedroom watching Fiddler on the Roof and I decided I would take a break and get on line a minute. If you all read the new post on "Breinholt" you will see that Melinda is officially engaged, ring and all. She and Thomas came by this weekend for hugs and congrats and then made the rounds to Thomas' parents and most of his grandparents. He still has quite a few hanging around. This is the part I want to write about--
A couple of weeks ago Wally was in church and Julane Holland came up to him and said, "So, I guess Melinda's engaged now." And Wally said, "No, she's not." Julane kind of stammered a little, then asked, "oh, well when is the wedding?" Kind of wondered a bit at that. It was right after Valentine's Day, and we thought, humm, well, probably some one thought she would be getting engaged that day. Anyway, that night, the phone rang and it was my sister Marilyn calling from Idaho. Her question, "Is Melinda really engaged?" My answer, "No! She's not! Where did you hear that?" Her son Clint was talking to some friends about South Jordan, and he commented that he had family in SJ and named us. One friend said, "Oh, I have heard of Melinda Breinholt, she's engaged and is getting married on May 16." Clint was surprised and called his mom to confirm who in turn called me. I called Melinda and she was a little shell-shocked, too, but we talked through it and decided not to worry about it. We suspected that one of her friends was getting a little imaginative and gossipy and just left it at that. Thursday night a person came up to me in choir and said, "So you must be busy with your cute daughter engaged--what's her name--Melissa, Mel--" My immediately reply was, "It's Melinda and she's not engaged!! Where did you hear this??" She kind of cowered and said it was in her water aerobics class at the rec center, and then slid away with her head down. I may have come on a little too strong, but I was amazed. How on earth was this traveling around the valley (and Utah Valley, and Idaho, etc. etc.) so much? I started feeling a little bad that someone was determined to steal her thunder. Melinda and I talked again, and she said that Lanaya called her and said, "So you're not engaged yet? My chiropracter (who sings in the MoTab choir) told me she was." At that point, I thought maybe I was losing my mind, and that I had made an announcement in choir or something.
The other part to this story is that last Monday, Thomas came by to talk to Wally and ask for Melinda's hand. It was a sweet, loving and thoughtful thing to do. We all had a nice visit and then he showed the ring to us which is beautiful. It used to be his great-grandmother's ring. Thomas had a diamond solitare mounted on it. It's gold filigree and very Melinda. And this weekend we got to see how it looks on her finger.