Does the first one count as an engagement? Or did they just go straight to wedding and then annulment?

Let’s call it a second engagement then.

Britney Spears is engaged to marry Jason Trawick who proposed in Vegas on his 40th birthday. Britney just turned 30 earlier this month. Jason used to be her agent. But I’m sure that has nothing to do with him also conveniently making all the Friday news deadlines.

All this proposal excitement has me remembering the last time. It was 2004. Holy. Sh-t. It was 2004.  You know when everyone else around you knows it’s wrong, but you can’t see it, you can’t see it at all? Imagine that, only exponentially BIGGER. Like worldwide bigger. That was Britney and Kevin Federline.  That’s celebrity. Everything is magnified.

It’s Friday. Let’s review some Gossip History. Here are Britney and Kevin to PEOPLE Magazine on how she, yes SHE, proposed. The “really baby” and all the kissing is AMAZING:

Britney: It was about three weeks ago, and we were on an airplane to New York from Ireland. I'd finished the European part of my tour and I was going home. I was ready to get back to the States. I was really happy. Kevin was with me, so I'd had a lot of fun on the tour.

We were a couple hours into the flight, and we'd been talking the whole time, stuff about life, wanting to have kids, the future and everything like that. It was an intimate conversation. And we'd always talked about how some people don't have to get married when they're in love.

Kevin: You can spend the rest of your life with each other if you're in love.

Britney: Then all of a sudden I said, "What if you want to get married?" And I kind of went from there to asking him if he would marry me. I asked him.

Kevin: And I said no.

Britney: He said no because he thought it wasn't the right way to do it.

Kevin: It wasn't like a "Will you marry me?" It wasn't that straightforward. The way she said it was kind of beating around the bush. Still, I was taken by surprise. I thought the guy was supposed to ask the girl. So a couple minutes went by and then I asked her.

Britney: But I'd been rejected and I was a little put off. [She laughs] No, not really. I kind of knew he was going to come back and ask me. And I said yes, of course.

Kevin: My head was spinning. Oh my God, I was happy. I wasn't really thinking about asking her right away but I did without reservation. I'd known for a while that she's the one.

Britney: Oh baby. [She kisses him] Really?

Kevin: Yeah.

Britney: Baby. [More kisses] But I wasn't even thinking about doing something like this because of the big stink that had happened in Las Vegas [she wed Jason Alexander in January, then had the marriage annulled 55 hours later]. I had no idea it would become that big of a deal. That thing was a total ugh. I was not in love at all. It was seriously my friend from home and we got crazy in Vegas.

So marrying Kevin was the last thing I was thinking about doing. But then I said, "You know what? This is my life and I don't care what people think. I'm going to get married. I'm in love with him."

Now then...

Is it true love Britney + Jason Forever and Ever? I hope so. I hope Britney + Jason Forever and Ever means they’ll let her stop. Which, I’m telling you, is what she wants. And they know this. That this tour was supposed to be her last obligation to them. At least that’s what they let her believe. The cynic in me wonders if this engagement, if it was her reward for getting through it, holding herself through it. And if marriage is a management strategy for Team Britney of which Jason is, undoubtedly, a very important part.  

Too harsh?

Fine. It’s Christmas after all. Britney + Jason Forever and Ever For Real. And he will fight for her right to retreat. And have more babies!

Click here to revisit that entire Federline engagement article. It’s awesome in retrospect.