I have much to tell you about our vacation to New York City! First things first though — I'm engaged!
I had pretty much convinced myself that it wasn't going to happen on this trip, and James had done a good job of coaxing my mind in that direction, too. If anything I thought that watching the ball drop was the ideal time — it came and went; so I was simply enjoying our vacation.
New Year's Day — our six month anniversary — we ended up going to Rockefeller Center Ice Rink; something that was on our list of things to do. The Christmas tree was still up and lit — it was gorgeous. It's a small rink with a plaza all around the upper level. We waited in line before purchasing our admission and skates. This was James' first time ice skating. We made a few rounds and were having a great time when James suggested we stop in the middle and have someone take our picture. This was not unusual as we had been asking people to do this our entire trip.
James instructed the lady on how to use the camera while I waited for him to return. We smiled; he whispered in my ear that he loves me. I reply that I love him, too. He told me that he doesn't want this to end. I replied not to worry; I think that our skating session is two more hours. Before I realize it, he is down on his knee asking if I will marry him! I was shocked and amazed. At some point I said yes and pulled him up off of his knee — this is tricky on skates. We hugged and kissed and hugged and kissed some more. He put a gorgeous ring on my finger! I cried, people clapped and we eventually made it over to the side of the rink where we did more hugging and kissing and crying.
I asked if our parents knew. They did. Last week when I thought he was going out for drinks with friends, he actually drove down to my parents to ask for their blessing. We called family and friends and told them the good news. We flipped through our camera to see the picture and realized that our sly photographer was actually a videographer! She had caught it all on video with our digital camera!
It was the most beautiful memory I have to date. It was a moment I will never forget — straight out of those wishes that you have for yourself. I had the most incredible proposal and I know this is only the beginning of our incredible life together.
S. S., Portland, Oregon
My sister's partner works on my parents farm and was supposed to plow and plant half of a field in oats. He did this but also sewed 'Lucy Marry Me' in the un-planted half.
He had to wait a painful six weeks for it to grow!
Luckily it wasn't visible from ground level so no one suspected a thing except my Dad who thought it would be a Christmas message and kept quiet.
One day my brother-in-law woke my sister and drove her up to our airstrip where his pilot friend was waiting in his plane. He bundled my sister into the plane and she was flown over the oat field to read the message. The answer was yes! She took some pictures and they appeared in the local paper.
Various local pilots flew over the field for a look before it was eventually harvested.
They have now been happily married for three years and have a son.
E. E., Christchurch, New Zealand
May 22, 1999...This is how my husband proposed to me. We had been dating for 3-1/2 years and had talked frequently about getting married. We had our own joke that started with him placing his hand on my belly and saying, "That is where our baby is going to be." I would always say back to him, "Not until I get a ring on my finger." His answer was that was, "You don't have to be married to have a baby but if that is the way you want it to be." And then we would laugh and go on with whatever we had been doing before the joke started.
Well, on this one day, we were getting ready to go meet friends for breakfast and, as usual, we were running late. I was trying my best to hurry up and get out the house and my boyfriend was being pokey. I was brushing my teeth and he came in and stood behind me and put his hand on my belly. We start the whole joke thing except, this time when I said, "Not until I get a ring on my finger", he said, "If I gave you a ring, when would you want to get married?" My brain about shut down. I am thinking, "WHOA! This is a new turn of events. What do I say?"
I told him, "That since I just started school, I don't want to be bogged down with worrying about studying for classes, then taking board exams, and wedding plans thrown in there somewhere, that maybe we should wait two years until I was at least done with school." He agreed.
I told him he needed to get dressed because our friends were waiting on us. He said "OK, but he had to look for something and for me to sit on the bed and close my eyes." He proceeded to look in all the closets in the apartment (still in just his underwear.) I asked him repeatedly if I could help him. He kept telling me no and to just stay there with my eyes closed. So I sat on the bed with my eyes closed listening to him ask the dog (who is lying on the bed next to me) where he put it and going through closets and dresser drawers.
Then it got really quiet.
I asked him if he is okay and then I felt his hand on my knee. He said in a quiet voice, "Open your eyes." There he was, on one knee, with a white box. He then asked, "A..., Will you be my wife?"
The dog then put his head on my other knee and looked up at me with his brown eyes. "And he wants you to be his mama," my boyfriend added. I then look at my boyfriend and he opened the box. "Oh my god, it's my ring," I screamed and immediately threw my arms around him saying, "You know I'll marry you."
I looked at the box and realized that it has a little light in it. I said, "That is too cool" and my boyfriend asked if I meant the box or the ring. I was in tears with happiness.
My boyfriend then got ready and we left for breakfast. It was all planned beforehand so when we got there, our friends had just gotten there, too. Everyone was really happy when I showed them the ring, even though they had seen it the day before when my boyfriend had taken it to work.
After breakfast we took a walk on the beach and then went to the jewelry store to show them that I finally had the ring on my finger. The lady that had kept helping us explained that they had the ring in the safe since October, when we first started looking. He kept bringing me back in "just to look" even though he had already picked out the "perfect one". The staff had to keep a written list of what they told me, so they could keep their stories straight as to why the ring was no longer in the case. I laughed as I lightly punched my fiance in the arm and told him he was a punk. He laughed, too.
I told him that I couldn't believe that he kept it a secret for so long. Usually, he is not that good at keeping things from me. I usually know when he is up to something. This was a very good surprise.
We have now been together for 11 years and married for almost five. We still continue to surprise one another with little things.
A. L., Chesapeake, Virginia
My fiancé and I live in the Bahamas.
We had set a date but had agreed on not getting an engagement ring to save costs. On July 10, the Bahamas' Independence Day, he and I went to the beach. The tide was low so we decided to walk along the beach instead of going for a swim.
We walked to the end of that particular beach and then he started talking about digging for buried treasure—we had watched a documentary on Blackbeard the night before.
He had a stick in his hand and drew a small heart in the sand which said "I love you". I wrote back "I love you too". Then he drew a bigger heart while I had my back turned towards the water. It said "Will you marry me?" I said no, but wrote in the sand "Of course I will". He mentioned digging for buried treasure again. I reluctantly agreed and dug in the sand with my hands. I gave up after about 15 seconds. Then he showed me a spot to dig in.
I did so and saw something pink in the sand. I thought it was trash. When I pulled it out, it was a ring on top of a heart-shaped box. I was so shocked. An engagement ring was the furthest thing from my mind that day and the ring is so gorgeous.
E. N., Nassau, Bahamas
Ryan and I had talked many times about our plans for family and our future and I knew we were going to spend our lives together. He was delaying proposing and I felt it was due to his beliefs that he had to have the engagement ring ahead of time, which we can't afford right now.
I decided to take this worry off his shoulders and proposed to him!
I planned it for Valentine's Day. We went for dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant and, after we were done eating, I told him how much he meant to me and how happy I was.
I gave him a Valentine's Day card and he believed this was the only reason I was getting so mushy. But then I gave him a heart-shaped box of chocolates and suggested he eat one. When he did, he saw there was one letter under the chocolate. After taking out all the chocolates, the letters spelled out "Will you marry me?"
We were both in tears and the answer was a big "Yes!"
J. C., Abbotsford, British Columbia
