I knew that Larry was thinking about asking me to marry him, but he assured me he would never do something so cliché as to propose on Valentines Day. I agreed with him that it would be contrived on that day, feeling a teeny bit disappointed but believing his proposal would come another day.
When February 14 arrived, Larry presented me with flowers and earrings and promised to make me a romantic dinner. A fondue for two. We would sit together and leisurely talk with plenty of time to gaze into each other’s eyes over a relaxing amorous dinner. Nice I thought. A nice night.
Before dinner, I went upstairs for a shower and when I stepped out of the water, I smelled smoke. I wrapped myself in a towel and rushed downstairs to see Larry dancing around with a dishtowel, swatting out flames in the middle of the dining room table. The fondue had started on fire!
I couldn’t understand why Larry was so upset. No big deal, I told him, we’d just whip up a stir-fry with the cut up vegetables and meat. He was fairly inconsolable, and almost looked like wanted to cry. "This is not the way I planned it," he moaned. "Don’t worry" I told him and went upstairs and threw on some comfy sexless clothes and left my hair damp and hanging around my face, sans make-up on and came down to cook up the dinner.
Larry was still disappointed and acted funny all through dinner but I shrugged it off. When we finished eating, he suddenly literally just stood up, looking even greener and more nauseous, and then he fell to his knees and pulled a ring box out of his pocket. He opened up the box and inside was a huge sparkling one-carat diamond.
It was so unsuspected, that I started to laugh. Here I was sitting in a room that still smelled of smoke, with awful looking hair, sweats on and not a stitch of make up on my face. I felt like a bum and three quarters believed that he was just joking around and that the beautiful ring he was presenting to me was a fake. When he seriously sputtered out the sweetest words I have ever heard and asked me to be his wife, very solemnly and seriously tears sprung to my eyes and I answered, YES!
Talk about a night of sparks.
Janet Gurtler,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- The Basics of Buying a Diamond - August 13, 2020
- Houston Sports Hall of Fame 2018 - October 8, 2018
- Red Bull Rubik's World Championship Ring - October 8, 2018
