Engaged

What I'll always remember from that day is the sun on my face from the open sunroof. And closing my eyes and just turning to the bloke and saying: "I couldn't be happier." How wrong I was.

We were on our way to el Escorial - a historic town about an hour away from Madrid. A day trip to somewhere new. Something which always, to the bloke's complete amusement and bemusement, makes me a lot more excited than I really should be.

Before lunch we drove round the town's old monastery and up into the hills to check out la silla de Felipe II, a stone chair where the old king used to go survey the building of the monastery.

But the bloke wanted to go higher into the mountains, so up we trekked, climbing stone stairs until suddenly we came across a fantastic vista point with no-one-around.

It's funny how your life can change so much from one moment to the next. One minute I was gazing out across the valley, admiring the way the sun and shade were creating borders across the forest.

The next I was almost watching my life play out in slow motion, as I turned to find the bloke gone, then looking down and realising he was kneeling before me with a little blue box in his hand.

It really was like a scene in a film. I got the shock of my life - but in the best possible way. In between shaking and crying I think I said something like "Is this really happening now?" I don't know how long it actually took me to say "yes", but I'm sure he got the message immediately by my reaction.

It wasn't until long after, until the ring was on my finger and I'd calmed down a bit that I realised we'd taken photos of the happy moment with my wrist support bandage on. So in all our memento photos I've got a megawatt smile and a bionic hand. Never mind, makes the whole thing more memorable I suppose.

The rest of the day seemed to pass in a blur. I think we were both a bit shell shocked over lunch, which I spent most of just gazing at the diamond sparkler sitting there on my finger. Did I look any different? Could people tell? Of course not, but how can it be so that when something changes so much, it doesn't have any outward signs at all?

It didn't really start to sink in until much later, when we started to phone people and tell them the good news. Someday soon, we actually have to sit down and organise - and go through with - a wedding.

As I reluctantly took the ring off my finger that night and put it to bed in its little velvet lined box, I had something of an out of body feeling - like it was somebody else playing out this scenario that I've imagined so many times before.

Seven years ago I met a guy in a bar. He asked me if I wanted a shot - I said yes. We found each other then we lost each other then we found each other again. We didn't know where it would lead. But he turned out to be my rock, my best friend, and really, it couldn't have gone anywhere else.

I couldn't be any happier. And this time I know it's safe for me to say that.