I love my mod!

I have been engaged for all of four days as I write this blog, so naturally I’m finding it hard to think of little else. So you’ll forgive me if I blog out of that excitement.Getting engaged is pretty exciting at Bethel. On such a small campus, it’s very likely that the people around you are people you know, and are therefore at least somewhat receptive to the overwhelming need the newly-engaged feels to share his or her news. They know you personally, and if your fiance attends too, it’s likely they know him or her too. The celebration that you’re having yourself spreads to the community. It’s a wonderful feeling.I have to use my mod as a wonderful example. They are some of the most supportive and excitable friends I’ve had, and it was such a treat to be able to share my news with them. The night he proposed and we got back to the mods, my modmates, like the good students they are, were already asleep, and I was in such an absurdly happy state that it didn’t occur to me to wake them up yet that night.My fiance, who is a natural at romantic gestures, came to my room with a second long-stemmed red rose the morning after he proposed. At that point, I was wide awake and giddy, remembering what had happened, and in no state to go back to sleep. So I walked out to the mod lounge where I tried to get some homework done–didn’t work so well.A few minutes later, Sarah, one of my modmates, returned from her 6:00 a.m. kickboxing class (she is unbelievably disciplined). I just started giggling and held up my hand to show her the ring on my hand.Her face lit up. “Oh my gosh you’re engaged!” she whispered.We were talking in quick, high-pitched, excited whispers, trying to be quiet since it was early, but that didn’t keep.My roommate Kelly, from the way she tells it, heard the excited murmurings from the lounge, sat bolt upright in bed and somehow she knew.”YOU’RE ENGAGED?” she yelled. “WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU WAKE ME UP!”That woke up my other four modmates, who came tousled-haired, bleary-eyed, but excitedly out to the lounge to join Sarah and I, who were laughing at Kelly’s exclamation.As I sat with them, reliving the proposal the night before to their enthusiasm, I relished having such close friends. Some of us hadn’t even lived together until this year, but we had gotten so close so fast. I don’t know that that’s always possible at other colleges. I think I know more people and am certainly closer to more people at Bethel than my friends are at big state colleges.It stunned me a little that I still had to go to class (doesn’t the world at least pause when you get engaged) but I got so many chances to pass on my story again that I was willing to go with it. My teachers were sincerely excited for Michael and I; they actually knew both of us. We got so many well-wishes that I stopped counting.When I came back that evening, my modmates had gotten a bouquet of flowers and a bowl of chocolates with a note that read, “Congratulations Aimee and Happy Birthday! Love, your mod.”You can’t tell me it gets better than this.