The Proposal

(Original post at www.abforever.blogspot.com)

Benjamin and I had been seriously discussing marriage for several months. Still, he wouldn’t give any hints as to when or how he planned to propose. So I waited (sometimes impatiently, to which he will attest) for him to get everything ready.

On Saturday, May 12, 2007, I suspected nothing. Honestly, despite the fact that I was sure a proposal was coming soon, the possibility of it happening that weekend didn’t really enter my mind.

That morning, we had made plans to go to the Botanic Gardens after church. We had been there about a month before for a picnic (I absolutely love picnics), and it is beautiful. That time, I actually thought he might propose. Later, I thought about telling him that I would really like him to do it there, but decided against such an intervention, as he said he already knew what he planned to do. I didn’t suspect anything this time, though, because he asked very casually if I wanted to go. Plus, I was tired of getting my hopes up =P

We went to church in Fort Worth as usual. The building is always chilly, but it was especially freezing during the Bible study. Normally, Benjamin would have given me his jacket, but this time he kept it on, fanned himself with the handout, and offered to get my princess blanket out of the car. (He brought it up later, explaining that he didn’t want me to be wearing his jacket & notice the ring inside.)

During church I whispered that I was looking forward to going to the park. He took that opportunity to ask if I minded Ryan (his little brother) coming with us, because Ryan wanted to ride in his new car. I felt kindof let down, thinking that Benjamin should have known that I consider parks our own little romantic thing. I said that if he needed a ride home, we could just go another day, trying to hide my disappointment.

After church, Benjamin said that he would go pull up the car (since he had parked a long way out to avoid “dings”) while I finished my drink inside. However, it took him longer than I expected because, as I later learned, he needed to move the ring to his guitar case. Again I inadvertently interfered, when my impatience led me out to the car in my 4” heels.

When we arrived at the Botanic Gardens, he handed me the blanket and asked me to go set up under our tree while he found a way to cover his camera and guitar in the back seat. (Due to my previous interruption, he still needed to move the ring.) I unknowingly made his objective harder, insisting that we walk together. Finally I said, “just bring your camera with you, and leave your guitar uncovered in the car.” We walked to our tree and laid out the blanket. On the way, I saw some people taking wedding pictures, and pointed it out to Benjamin. I’ve been doing this from time to time, partially because I think it’s neat, and partially to remind him that I want to get married…as if he had forgotten lol.

As we were still wearing church clothes, Benjamin said he wanted to change into flip-flops. By this time, I was like, “It’s about to rain, and you’re concerned about changing out of your shoes?” He insisted on getting them from the car, so I waited. When he returned, he only brought his guitar.

He started playing a song from memory as usual, but then stopped. He picked up a page of tabs from his case, and told me he hadn’t put the rest back in there after he cleaned it out. I just thought, oh, ok…new song, cool, what is it?

Scanning the page as though he had not played the song before, he answered, “It’s called ‘Question’.” I’ve heard the song, so I’m sitting there thinking, “Greeeeat! I know he’s not going to propose today, yet he’s going to sight read this song about proposing.” I started to inform him of this little discrepancy, but he had already started playing. I figured, Oh well, he’ll figure it out in a minute, and we can have a good laugh. When he got to the chorus, I realized he knew the song and had picked it intentionally:

Someday somebody’s gonna ask you
A question that you should say yes to
Once in your life, maybe tonight
I’ve got a question for you.

I also grasped that he seemed to know the tune awfully well for never having heard it. I looked at his face, saw his nervousness and excitement, and focused on experiencing the final seconds of singleness.

When he finished the song, Benjamin set down his guitar and picked up a wooden ring box. By this time he was crying. He opened the box, and said, “I love you so much. Will you marry me?”

I, of course, immediately said “yes,” and leaned over to kiss my fiancé. I may have whispered it, because later he asked if I had actually ever said yes.

Then I finally got a good look at the ring. It was a beautiful square solitaire in a shiny platinum setting. I had not helped to pick out the ring, and even though he knew what cut I wanted, I had been a bit nervous about what he’d select. But as with everything he’s picked out for me, it was perfect. He started to hand it to me, but I said, “you have to put it on my finger!” When he slid the ring onto my finger, I was happier than ever.

I didn’t react at all how I always thought I would – I figured I’d either shriek or start bawling. I don’t think I fully believed everything that was happening. After all, he wasn’t “supposed” to do it then!

As we packed up and left, it started to rain. I love the rain, I love the park, and I love my wonderful husband-to-be.