On Saturday night, high in the Rockies, in a faux-Swiss-village hotel, in a lovely suite punctuated improbably by (I am not joking) a heart-shaped jacuzzi tub in the middle of the living room, following an indoor picnic of bread, cheese, olives, and wine, Steve asked me to marry him. But first, he presented me with a series of beautifully wrapped jewel boxes, each one a tiny work of art, and each one containing a ring.
I opened a small, carved wooden box to find two tin-and-rhinestone rings in the shape of an “L” and an “O.” The second box, in beautiful white stone, contained “V” and “E.” Then a round box covered in white silk and embroidered in gold held a silver toe ring with a heart in its center. An onyx box revealed a rose-colored resin ring with three rhinestones, representing our past, our present, and our future. A round, polished wooden box carried a rappel ring, which Steve promised to use to protect me from falling. A ceramic box painted in red produced a small-gear bicycle chain ring, to help us along our occasional uphill stretches. Perhaps my favorite, a porcelain box painted to resemble a tree branch, complete with mushrooms growing from blades of grass and topped off with a nut-chewing squirrel, housed a huge, green rock-candy ring. Steve explained that this would provide us with nourishment on our journey together, but the rock-candy engagement ring also has been a running joke between us for months.
Finally, I opened a beautiful, rectangular stone box with a rose inlaid in the lid to find a sterling silver ring holding a large, rounded-triangular cubic zirconia. Steve declared this the size of the diamond I deserve, but probably won’t get, and asked me to accept all of these rings as his symbolic gesture. (Symbolic only because his paternal grandmother has promised him (me? us?) her ring, which I will receive some time after I meet this generous woman at Thanksgiving and Steve executes Part II of his Top Secret Proposal Plan.) He was already kneeling, and I was already pouring tears, when he popped The Question.
And I said yes.
Congratulations! What a lovely story.
I am newly fianceed, too, and know how giddy you must be feeling right now.
Steve is a lucky guy, but I think he knows that...
Posted by: jd2be | August 30, 2004 at 06:11 PM
Congratulations!
I'll have to consult your fiance for a few tricks sometime in the future :)
Posted by: Tim Marman | August 30, 2004 at 07:42 PM
Oh my god!! Thats some seriously elaborate proposal planning!!! SO CUTE!!! CONGRATULATIONS MAD!!!!
Posted by: jdz | August 30, 2004 at 09:13 PM
Thanks (and congrats to you, jd2be)! Though I was kind of expecting it (house buying and all), Steve truly did surprise me with his unprecedented display of romance and creativity. I'm a lucky girl!
Posted by: mad | August 31, 2004 at 09:12 AM
well, yay! and wildly more romantic then our deciding to get married moment. xox
Posted by: eve | August 31, 2004 at 10:25 AM
Congratulations!
Lucky you. Lucky him.
Enjoy the bliss!
Posted by: Julia | August 31, 2004 at 12:19 PM
I only read your blog from time to time but when I saw that you and Steve were buying a house together, I was routing for you! Congrats to you both.
Carolyn
Posted by: Carolyn Elefant | August 31, 2004 at 04:23 PM
Congratulations to you both. What wonderful news!
Posted by: LawMom | September 01, 2004 at 03:35 PM