The Proposal

I had it in mind for months, how I was going to propose to her. I knew the where, and how. She can quote Shakespeare almost by heart, and one of our first dates was to see Romeo And Juliet.

She knew what day I would propose, but didn't know how or where I would do it. We talked about it; she was ready for me to propose before I did, but we didn't have a ring, and I wanted to wait until I had one. Fortunately, her grandmother had a beautiful ring that she gave to my fiancee, and we had it resized. By then, both of us were more than ready.

She didn't want to be proposed in front of a crowd, but beyond that, it was all up to me.

Sometime ago, I went to Borders and bought a book that contained the complete works of Shakespeare. She had plenty of books on Shakespeare, and more than one that had all of his plays, but she didn't, and doesn't, have one like this. And she doesn't have one with a place to hide something shiny.

Being that my money is tight, I'm not sure what she thought I'd plan for a proposal.

In any case, I wasn't straying from my plan. We planned to do something together on the last Sunday in September, so I took care of that by planning something similar to one of our earlier, and most memorable dates.

A few people at church seemed to have a clue about what was going to happen between the two of us. After all, it was one of our church members who introduced us on New Year's Day. Two weeks later, we went on our first date, and a week after that, we went to see Romeo And Juliet.

A little over eight months later, we went back to that early date spot. My only clue to her of where we were going was that we were going west. Along the way before we got there, we even joked about which knee I would get down on to propose.

As we kept driving, passing another area we've been a few times--Charlottesville--she more or less deduced where we were going--the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton.

But what play?

Macbeth. Yeah I know, not the most romantic of plays, but I didn't have any control over the playhouse's schedule.

We sat off to the right of the stage--no bad seats here. I hadn't seen the play before, and she had never seen this particular one performed, so we were both having a good time, but I was also watching her and thinking about how I was going to put my plan itno action.

In the intermission between the second and third acts, I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I did have to go, but this is where I put the next phase of my plan into action.

I asked one of the women who worked there--the one who looked most in charge--if I could have a few minutes alone in the theater after the performance was over. When I told her why I wanted this, she was excited about the idea and said she'd make sure the ushers closed all the doors and left my fiancee and I alone.

The play ended, and I was being coy, telling her to linger while the others filed out of the theater. Then she was wondering why we weren't leaving, or rather, why I wasn't walking with her out of the theater. After sitting for a moment to make sure everyone was indeed out of the theater, I asked her to walk up to the stage.

I followed her, with the book, and something hidden inside of it.

Both of us were on the stage, but I never made it to one knee.

I told her I had something for her inside the book. I opened it and showed her the ring. Then I took it out and asked her to marry me.

She said yes.

I had never before had such a feeling inside of me, one of complete and utter joy.

We held each other close, kissed and then the lights went out.

The theater staff was waiting for us when we walked out of the theater. Neither of us knew what to say, but finally these words from her:

"I said yes."

They clapped and smiled, and presented us with a signed copy of Macbeth, wrapped in a silver bow.

I think I glided through downtown Staunton on the way back to the car. We sat in the car for awhile and soaked in our moment before driving to a scenic overlook.

So, here she is, my beautiful bride to be.

Comments

[Kim]

I'm very late on the congratulations, but I've been out of the loop lately because work has been so hectic and I've been coaching in the evenings. I will say that even before I fell into the abyss, I saw this coming :) What a great and unique story! I'm very happy for you both!

[Leah]

aww, for cute :-)