neorants

Last night was the happiest night of my life. I asked the one and only gooselady to be my wife, and she said yes. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Last Thursday, I made a call to her parents’ house, because she’d told me a while back that her father was off on Thursdays, and I needed to catch him while she wasn’t around (she is student teaching this semester). I explained that I’d like to talk to him sometime about my future with his daughter and asked if he would meet me for lunch sometime. He agreed (always a good sign when you don’t get shot down as soon as you ask to meet — at least he was willing to hear me out!) and we met yesterday for lunch, where I explained to him how deeply I cared for his daughter and that, as he probably had guessed, I wanted to ask him for his blessing before I proposed to her. He said yes (insert HUGE sigh of relief).

I had already ordered a bottle with a poem I had written for my proposal the day before from Timeless Message, so assuming it arrived on schedule (I paid for overnight delivery) and I could convince my future fiancée to come to my place that evening, everything was go for the proposal. I couldn’t hold on to that ring any longer, you see — I knew she was the one almost as soon as I had met her, then bought the ring a month ago and managed to maintain my patience while I got to know her parents better and they got to see what kind of guy I am. It was nearly burning a hole in my hands at this point.

Getting her to come to my place was a bit of an exercise — she had work to do, and was more than a little suspicious as to why I was missing church that night and suggesting she come to my place. Eventually, once I had gotten home and seen that my bottle had arrived and everything was set, I called her again, explaining that I had a gift for her that I really had to give her at my place. She wanted to see me anyway, and her natural curiosity (which bit me a little later) was enough to make her take the bait.

I rushed to the local grocery store in preparation for her arrival, and picked up some pillar candles, glass candle holders, and a dozen roses. Then I swung next door to pick up a bottle of wine. We’re not really wine drinkers (heck, I don’t even own a corkscrew) but a bottle of wine just completed the ambience. I was really worried she was going to get to my place before I had a chance to prepare for her arrival. As luck would have it, and I later found out, she had stopped off at Wal-mart to pick up a couple little gifts for me, herself.

I placed the three candles at intervals on the staircase up to the loft, scattered rose petals up the stairs from the doorway to the bedroom, where I’d arranged a blanket with the wine, some wine glasses, a dozen roses, and yet more candles (and some Sprite just in case she was actually thirsty ;)), as well as the wooden crate containing her poem in a bottle leaning against the wine bucket. I turned on some romantic music, unlocked the front door and placed a sign saying “Come in” outside, followed by one saying “Follow the roses” on the steps in the candlelight.

When she arrived, I heard her exclaim “oh my” and then she ran up the stairs. She already had some idea what was going on but the fact that I wasn’t standing there with a ring threw her. Her natural curiosity (I mentioned this trait earlier ;)) led her to skim the poem before she read it out loud though, so she knew what was coming. In any case, when she got to the end of the poem, I was on one knee with the ring and she said yes! Words can’t describe how I felt at that moment. I guess the fact that I’m writing this huge blog entry to keep a record of it (my first real entry at that) gives some idea of the impression the night made on me. No tears were shed on either side, but it was easily the most emotional moment of my life.

No, you can’t read the poem. :-P

The bride-to-be and I

The blanket setup