The Proposal

Christmas Day has come and gone and the scope of this blog has been reached. Here are the events of the last 48 hours or so.

My original intent on Christmas Eve was to ask the father of 'the Gal' for permission to marry his daughter. The family was all coming over for a play/concert that 'the Gal' had organized. I thought this would be a good opportunity to guide her father away for a moment to deliver my question. The concert was such a success that there never was a dull moment in order for me to do this. Nearly a dozen songs were played by either 'the Gal' or myself and the other members of her family. The 'Family Christmas' play she had written was well performed by everyone. It was a great night to remember. Several people departed for church soon after or went home to prepare the evening meal. Two hours later we found ourselves at the home of 'the Gal's' brother. We had a terrific meal and played the board game 'Outburst' to round off the evening. Once again I could not find the right moment to pull her father aside to talk. It was only when I overheard we were having her parents over for breakfast the next morning that I knew this would be the right time.

I awoke on Christmas morning with a case of nerves. I was on the eve of 'go time'. 'The Gal' and I soon found ourselves preparing breakfast for everyone. We all ate a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, homemade bread, and coffee. This helped a lot to calm me down. As her father got up to leave I asked him to join me in my office for a moment. As he stepped inside I closed the door and took the ring from the desk drawer. I opened the box to him and asked, "I've never done this before and when the time came I wanted to do it right. Would it be ok if I were to give this to your daughter?"

"Absolutely." he replied. We shook each others hand and shared a brief hug. My emotions were beginning to get the better of me. For obfuscation purposes, we left the room with well delivered stories of burnt-out stove fuses and floor joists. 'The Gal' and I cleaned up the kitchen after everyone had left and then we both got ready to go next door for dinner.

'The Gal' nearly escaped out the door with a pot of potatoes before I stopped her and brought her back to the living room. I asked her to sit down on the couch and the two dogs gathered around her. I went to the next room and brought back a goblet and a heart shaped vase filled with red sand. The vase was a gift I gave her for our 1st year anniversary. I pried off the wax seal and asked her to pour the sand into the goblet. She began to pour the the sand and at one point a small, rolled up piece of paper tumbled out. I retrieved it from the goblet and told her to remove the gold-coloured string that bound it together. As she opened the message it read, 'Will you marry me?' I knelt on one knee and opened the ringbox I had stored in a drawer near my feet. The look on her face will never leave my memory.

"Of course I will!" she giggled, glowing with happiness. We embraced, kissed, and as we have many times, spoke of the love we have for each other. She carefully took the ring from the box and placed it onto her finger. "It's beautiful." she said. To which I replied, "It's Canadian. My one and only requirement."

"I'm sure glad we have diamonds in Canada." she laughed.

I will always laugh and love with this woman. My Gal, my fiancee, my love...

"And now, the time is near, and so I face...

the final wonderin" Ok. I'm no Elvis, but look how he ended up. That's not to say I'm getting the jitters, it's just that soon I will venture into the unknown. I'm sure every guy has felt this way up to the moment he asks his girl if she will marry him. I'm not religious in any sense so I don't feel I am making a covenant with God or anything. I do take the rite of marriage seriously though in that this is the person I choose to spend the rest of my life with. I've spent enough time alone to know that if a woman gets any better than 'the Gal', I will need another lifetime to experience it. Sure we have our differences, but that doesn't change the fact that I love her immeasurably. Our differences so far are small by comparison. Her offbeat sense of humour resembles my own and we usually crack each other up.

If for any reason she says 'no', I hope it is something we can discuss and work through. I hope it won't be a deal breaker for me. We are living together so that could present a challenge under the circumstances. She's been married before so she may draw upon that experience and the challenges it presented. I can respect this having myself never been married. Likely she may be more disappointed that I will propose marriage and then take off for several days to visit my family for Christmas. I'm sure it will be ok though. But enough about all that.

If all goes well, 'the Gal' and I will perform a little concert at our home on Christmas Eve. 'the Gal' really loves this time of year. She has more of a 'modern view' to decorating, but it still looks quite nice. I hung my wreath on the outside door and my Spongebob Squarepants decorations on the tree so it all balances out. I played some carols on my cello last year and it was a lot of fun and brought a new dimension to Christmas for me. I grew up with a music element around me during the holidays. We sang carols on Christmas Eve each year until we were about fourteen or so. Once the Grandchildren came onto the scene, it seemed everyone was too busy to bother. It's still mentioned from time to time each year, but no one has really carried the torch for this idea. Last year I played versions of Silent Night, and O' Come All Ye Faithful. It went very well and I believe I will do it again this year. I am looking at adding God Bless ye Merry Gentlemen and Ave Maria. The latter will be a bit tougher and it may not come to pass. 'The Gal' is learning to play O' Christmas Tree on piano as well. If she is comfortable enough to play it on Christmas Eve, I will accompany her on cello. All told, I may be too nervous to play anything. Ha, never thought of that until now!

Anyho-ho-ho...I gotta cut this short. 'the Gal' should be home shortly.

December is now upon me.

Ahhhh...the first true cold month, and the last of 2008, has arrived. I am relaxing at home with a cream soda and an empty home. 'The Gal' is off in Fargo right now with her mom doing some X-mas shopping. She will be gone for the next two days so it's just me and the dogs. Oh yeah, and the cat. He always seems to be forgotten.

As you have likely noticed, I've added a photo to this entry. Yes, this is 'the Ring'. I must apologize as it is a bit blurry. I tried to get as close as possible to show some of its detail, but the tradeoff was picture quality. (I took over seventy pictures!) That's what you get for all the auto-focus cameras out there, mine included. It's a beauty, just like 'the Gal'. I couldn't rest knowing 'the Ring' was sitting in a department store just waiting for me to pick it up. I had to bring it home where it belonged.

It was weird going into the store knowing what would happen next. I was going to take the first step (some might say leap, though they are already married) in solidifying my relationship with 'the Gal'. Say what you will, marriage may only have a 40% ratio of success, but it still captures the essence and unequivocal state of being in love. Several of the staff at the store seemed to smile at me when I was handed the ring. They knew the shape my life was about to take and of the question I would be posing in a few short weeks. A look of hope and reserved happiness showed on their faces for me. Other than this singular event in my life, I am a stranger to them. One of the staff called out 'Good luck!' as I turned to leave. It felt nice to hear that.

I dropped off my portfolio to RRC that day as well. I hope to hear from assessment before X-mas if I have a final interview before acceptance. It is hard to say though with the workload they have before the holidays. 'The Gal' and I had her parents and uncle over for dinner two nights before I handed my portfolio in. I explained my intentions and why I would not be going to chef school in January. They seemed impressed by my portfolio and appreciated that I had made the effort to show them and explain my situation. I felt it was the least I could do having basically misled them up to that point. Until I knew for sure what I would be doing, I did not want to have any more stories circulating about which career path I would take. I will also make a copy of my portfolio to show my family when I visit them at X-mas and explain the same.

The next major development involving this blog will be when I talk to 'the Gal's' father. It is important for me to have his blessing in asking his daughter to marry me. I am not sure if I will include her mom in this. I do not think she would be able to hide the fact very well about asking for her daughter's hand. I will talk to her father about two days before x-mas.