They don't always say "yes."

The last week has been full of all kinds of twists and turns. Things with Mr. D and I are fine. I'm actually back home from my seemingly-endless work trip, so things are already looking up (However, I haven't actually unpacked. Anything.). We still haven't heard about our offer on Savannah, and my heart skips a beat everytime I get an email alert.

But things are not so great with some other important folks in our lives: Mr. D's bro, FBIL C and his girlfriend, Ms. CY. You see, they have been together for 6 years. They have been living together for about 4 years and have a dog together. Mr. CD proposed to Ms. CY on their 6th anniversary, while ice skating (cute, right?). Well, things get hazy from there.

The news I got was that he presented her with her promise ring, and he was going to take her ring shopping so she could pick out exactly what she wanted. She said yes. We sent them congratulatory text messages and I offered to help her plan her big day.

Out of respect for FBIL C and Ms. CY, I will skip the details. Suffice it to say, they are not planning a wedding. Ms. CY isn't sure that she wants to spend the rest of her life with FBIL C. He is wondering why on earth she had a ring as her desktop pic and frequently brought up marriage over the last few months.

Their situation reminds me of the relationship I was in before I met Mr. D. I'll call him XBF. XBF and I dated for 7 years. We talked about getting married for a few years before I found out that he had a girlfriend for the last 9 months of our relationship (YUCK). We were young when we met, and after spending that much time together, it was just sort of expected that we would get married. I never asked myself if we should get married. (Did I mention I was young?) Like Ms. Snapdragon (shout out!), I feel like learning of his infidelity was the best thing that could have happened to me. It saved me from making a gigantic mistake.

I feel like FBIL C and Ms. CY have also avoided making a mistake. I know it will hurt, but I'm really proud of them for being honest with themselves before dates were set, deposits were paid and vows were repeated.

So, in the end Ms. CY said no. I don't have any experience in this area, so I wonder... does this happen often? Especially after years of togetherness? Have you ever said no?