David was different, from the start, than any man I’d dated before. We didn’t go to the movies, out to dinner at fancy restaurants, or to concerts or ballgames. Instead, we waded along the shoreline of our favorite beaches in SC and FL. We took my three children along on exploring adventures, searching for live starfish (which we didn’t touch or disturb…just looked at!) and conch shells with hermit crabs living inside them. We took the girls to a tiny marina, where David taught us to lay flat on the worn wooden deck so that when the mannatees came drifting up, we were close enough to touch their wet, stubby noses.
We laid on the beach some nights, staring up at the stars and dreaming of a future we would one day spend together. One night, I was anxious. I’d had brain surgery the month before. I wasn’t sure I had the right to ask anyone to spend their life with me, since I didn’t know what my future held, health-wise. David talked to me a long time that night. He said, "I don’t care if you have a week, a month, or 50 years left. Whatever you have, I want to be there by your side." I wept with joy and relief.
He’d become such an integral part of my and my girls’ lives, I didn’t realize how important it was for him to be with us forever. One week later, David asked me to go the beach with him to watch for sea turtles laying their eggs. We lay in the darkness, still and quiet, waiting and watching. We saw two enormous sea turtles that night inching up the banked sand to lay their young. I touched the second one and started crying. It was awesome. David bent to wipe my tears and then stayed on his knees. "Donna," he said softly, "there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you. Would you marry me?" He held up a small white velvet box. I gasped when I saw the gorgeous diamond ring blinking at me in the starlight. "Yes! Yes!" I cried, sinking into the sand beside him.
That was three years ago. Since then, David has proven to be the perfect husband and stepfather. He works hard every day on his construction job and comes home sweaty, tired but happy to be with his ready-made family. I am more in love with him now than ever, and his love seems to have made me healthier! My last tests showed no recurrence of the tumor and a total remission!
Proposal Story By:
Donna Rich
Pine Mountain, GA
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