The Proposal

"How did he propose?"

Boy, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I'd be filthy rich.

So here’s the story from my point of view:

We had only been dating about six months, but I already knew that this was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Clearly, he felt the same way. We talked about marriage and kids and buying a house; everything was just dandy.

One thing you need to know about me is that I’m an impatient, impulsive person. I’m a car salesman’s dream come true. So although it was nice to know that we were both in it for the long haul, I wasn’t going to believe it 100% until I had a ring on my finger.

Petty? Yes. Am I proud of it? No. I think after so many violently disappointing relationships—one that ended with a gun at my head and another that ended with my ex being imprisoned for two years—I really wanted to make sure that I didn’t let this perfect guy get away.

So. We talked about it one night. I cried bitter tears and voiced my fears that he was never going to propose to me. The very next day he went out and bought me a ring.

How do I know this?

Because I was there. I didn’t pick out my own ring, though. I still wanted some element of surprise. So I sat on a bench just outside the jewelry store, super excited and grinning from ear to ear. It wasn’t long before Mr.Unicorn emerged from the store with two ring boxes.

“Before you get all excited,” Mr. Unicorn said, holding the boxes over his head and out of my reach, “I want to propose to you in front of our families.”

Well, poo. That meant more waiting. I was touched by the fact that Mr. Unicorn wanted to include our families, though, and I resigned myself to the fact that it would be another two weeks before I would see my ring.

The next day, after work, we went for a dinner-and-a-movie date. It was nothing special, really, so I didn’t bother to change out of my scrubs from work. My hair was still up in a messy bun, and I had not an ounce of makeup on my face. We decided to eat at Atlanta Bread Company because it’s conveniently close to the movie theater. I had just finished devouring my soup-in-a-bread-bowl when Mr. Unicorn whipped something small and shiny out of his pocket and blurted out, “Will you marry me?”

I was surprised. Shocked. Stunned. And very, very giggly.

Some girls tear up when they’re overcome with emotion. Some girls go completely quiet. I giggle. Hysterically.

At the onset of this fit of giggles, peoples started staring. You could tell they were confused. Did he just propose? Here??? At Atlanta Bread Company? Weird.

But my proposal was perfect. It caught me off guard, which is very hard to do given that I’m so damn nosy and impatient.

I said yes, he put the ring on my finger (the wrong one, at first), and we rushed to the photobooth at the movie theater to take some pictures.

Personal photo.

Personal photo.

Personal photo.

Any unusual proposal stories out there?