Probably the most romantic thing I have ever done, or perhaps the only romantic thing I have ever done.
E and I had been togehter for about 3 years. We met thru friends, her best friend is married to a good friend of mine, so we had actually known each other for about a year before we started dating. So anyway, after 3 years together I decided that it was time for me to consider marriage. We had moved in together after about two years and I was pretty sure (is anyone ever totally sure?) that she was who I wanted to marry.
I wanted everything to be a surprise, just like in the movies where the leading man produces a diamond ring in a romantic situation and the leading lady swoons and breathes a romantic sigh as she says "yes." So to keep this level of secrecy, I never once mentioned the word "marriage" or "wedding" in her presense. Maybe I am kidding myself, but so far as I could tell she had no idea what I was planning, but chances are I am not as sneaky as I like to think I am.
I saw an opportunity on the horizon sometime around May of last year (2004), the only reason I remember the date is because the Calgary Flames were in the middle of a pretty awesome playoff run, and I went down the to the diamond store after an afternoon game one Sunday. I went down to the store and wandered around looking at settings for about 2 hours, trying to figure out what I could afford and what she would like. I must have looked at about 1000 rings, seriously a thousand, Spence Diamonds has a pretty massive selection. I kinda figured out what I could afford, and had a long talk with the 'diamond expert' to figure out what diamond I was interested in. From a purely academic POV i loved the process, I learned a ton about diamonds and grades etc.. but from an emotional stand point I was a little concerend at this point. You see, E and I had just bought a house togehter that month and were planning a 3 week vacation to England and Ireland for that coming August, so I was a little concerned about my finances. So I walked outta the store with no ring and no idea when I would return to buy it.
FFWD, 3 months to the end of July. two weeks to the day before we were scheduled to fly out of Calgary to London I decided to take the plunge. I went back to the diamond store and wandered around for another 2 hours or so and picked out 3 rings that I liked. Went back to the same diamond guy I had talked to back in May who told me I picked the exact same one I had looked at 3 months earlier. I took that as a good sign and decided to go forward. Now remember that I am keeping this a closely guarded secret, so I can't call E and ask her for her ring size, and I can't call any of her friends and get their opinion on the style and so on. I have to lay out thousands of dollars on an item that A) may not fit and B) might be really fuckin'ugly.
Pfft, throw caution to the wind. I had the guy size the little finger of my left hand on the wild-assed assumption that it was about the same size as her ring finger. Then I waited for 2 weeks as they rushed to finish my ring in time.
The day before we flew out to London I called them to see if my ring was ready... after waiting for what seemed like an hour on hold they told me that the ring would be ready that afternoon.
Now I am getting to the proposal part...thanks for bearing with me so far on the back story.....
We flew to London Heathrow and I had the ring inside my security wallet, the kind you wear under your shirt like a little purse. I was a little worried that the band would set of the security scanners at the airport, in which case I would have had to whip it out right there and propose in the security scanning zone. Not the option I was going for. We toured around London for a few days and then flew to Dublin...same deal at the airport, but once again I was good to go without being busted by security. By the time we got to Northern Ireland I had been lugging the ring around in my secret wallet for over a week, she almost found it one time when I left it in my back back and she went looking for my jacket as she was cold. I snagged my pack at the last moment to prevent her finding the jewlers ring box.
August 16, 2004 we got up in the town of Portrush and took a bus out to The Giant's Causeway. It was a beautiful sunny morning, a few fluffy clouds floated around. So far as Ireland goes, this is the best weather one can hope for. We hiked around the cliffs above the causeway for about 20 minutes before we finally came to a little precipice that over looked the bay. I made E sit down on a rock and I set up my camera on a tripod...then I had to wait again.
Even tho it was fairly early in the morning, the hiking path was still kinda busy with people taking the same walk we were. I had to wait and wait and stall and stall for about 25 minutes until there were no people around. E was getting a little edgy as she is not all that comfortable with heights. When the coast was clear I started my 12 second timer and dawdled over to where she was sitting.
Just as the shutter was about to trigger I quickly got down on my knee and whipped the box out of my pocket. Then I said, "Erin, would you like to get marr..."
Before I could finish my question she threw her arms around me and said "yes yes" and kissed me. That's when the camera shutter fired.
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