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Now, most of you that know me, know that I have never had any strong feelings about marriage either way. You know that I have never been inclined to dream about an impending wedding day. As a child, you would most likely find me playing outside in the mud or hanging from a tree than playing house, dress-up or dolls. However, as many of you also know, when you finally find the right person that you want to spend the rest of your life with you do start to dream! This is a story describing my memory of the events of our engagement day. A month before visiting my parents in California for the winter holidays, Martin cagily told me that he had booked a table at Morton's for the 23rd of December. Now, this is one of my favorite restaurants and he was telling me so far in advance; I have to admit I was a little suspicious. We spent the entire morning of the 23rd at Disneyland. The sun was shining and we had a wonderful time trying out all my favorite childhood rides, however, it was difficult to keep from being somewhat anxious and thinking about the upcoming dinner that night. (Was he, wasn't he, hmm?) After we got home, my sister innocently asked if she could come to dinner with us. I had to take her aside and in a quick, hushed whisper tell her that I thought that Martin might propose at the restaurant. She squealed and congratulated me with a bone-breaking hug. Now you've done it, I thought to myself. Now you better just hope that he does propose because you will be embarrassed now if he doesn't. That evening Martin and I drove to the restaurant in the mild winter breeze. The sun was setting and I was looking forward to a little lobster and a drop of champagne. We found our seats at the restaurant with minimal trouble and sat down at the largest table I had ever seen. It was so exciting to be able to sit so cozily next to each other in such a quiet corner and enjoy the evening with my boyfriend……hmmm….(husband to be?) The team of servers were there hand and foot waiting to help us and everything seemed perfect. All of a sudden, Martin hastily got up to go to the restroom. In the meantime, I tried to fluff up my hair and check my make-up to make sure that I looked absolutely perfect when he finally asked me to marry him. We ordered from the scrumptious selection of foods displayed by the serving staff. Martin ordered a large cut of beef and I ordered the green lobster. By this time I was getting a bit anxious. I started to become slightly unsure that Martin was going to ask me. I began to wonder what was taking him so long. After fretting for a couple minutes, I decided that he must be waiting until desert. I tried to calm my nerves. My lobster arrived and I looked down in amazement at the largest crustacean I had ever seen! However, I did manage to finish it off without much problem. We found out later that the lobster weighed three and a half pounds! (I definitely recommend Morton's for great seafood!) Our soufflé arrived and Martin had still not asked me. Hmmm…… I started to wonder when he was going to pop the question and surprise me…. Where was he hiding that ring, anyway? I decided he must be waiting until after we finished eating desert. I tucked into the incredible soufflé and tried to enjoy myself. Finally, all the food was eaten and all the wine was gone and Martin was raising his hand for the check! What!? He still hadn't asked me to marry him! I didn't understand! I started to feel deflated. The idea started to sink in that maybe he wasn't going to ask me anything. I thought to myself, "Was it all in my head? Had I made up the few hints that I had gotten?" I was finally starting to resign myself to the fact that Martin was not going to ask me that night and I would have to go back and tell my sister that I was wrong. Martin and I left the restaurant and strolled outside along the grass. The moon was shining and the stars were out. There was a gentle breeze wafting through the leaves in the trees. At the time, I could hear a few parrots settling down in the trees for the night. Suddenly, Martin stopped and pulled me toward him. He had a serious look on his face. He cleared his throat and took out a tiny box. My heart stopped. I couldn't believe it! |
From the first time I saw Jennifer, I knew that I eventually would marry her - from that day onward, it was merely a matter of time. About a month before our planned trip to California, I decided - that the time was ripe, I was going to do it! First things first, getting Jennifer's ring size was a fairly easy thing to do, and the trip to the Amsterdam diamond factory was an experience all by itself. Getting Jennifer to babble about her favorite restaurant in California was probably the easiest of all tasks, and a quick e-mail ensured us a 'special table' reservation for the night at the Morton's Steak house. A new favorite pastime of mine came to life and whenever I had a spare moment of the day, I would practice cute little speeches and elegant, cunning ways of delivering these ..this was going to be perfect! Two weeks before the dinner I once again confirmed my reservation via e-mail, and asked Jennifer's dad, for his daughters hand in marriage "YOU IDIOT ...OH..OH .... YOU ARE STILL YOUNG...RUN!! DON'T LOOK BACK!" was the answer, and I interpreted this as, 'sure, go ahead' December 23rd ... showdown. We spent the day in Disneyland, and I actually managed to have a good time, despite the growing stabbing pain in my stomach that my nervosity was starting to cause, I was only going to get one shot at this ... it HAD to be right, it HAD to be perfect ... perfect...yeah...perfect! Before we left, I had bought a new Hugo Boss shirt, this was going to be my 'proposal' shirt, only - it needed ironing before I could wear it, not a problem ..... or so I thought! It turns out that Jennifer's parents are content with an ironing board the size of a medium sized chopping board - and the fact that it had no legs did not help any .... I tried ironing my shirt for about 10 minutes, before I had to give up, and wear my trusty old Monday-morning-high-tech-material-self-iron-shirt, at least my suite looked sharp as ever ....and so did I (yeah baby!) Now, I had been unaware of some of the events Jennifer had to go through with her sister described in Jennifer's story ... but the after shocks were going to effect us .. in a big way! A little background information about the Dula family's vehicles are in order here. There are 2 cars in the driveway; one is an immaculate dark grey Volvo, with cream interior which had just been washed the day before (planning!!!). The other is Tom's work truck, a small red Nissan pickup. Tom has replaced the glass in the rearview window with plexi-glass, as it kept breaking on him. The little red pickup is actually used as a truck and a true metal shop working truck at that! The truck has for the last few years been able to start with a key in the ignition ...any key that is. (I tested this with our apartment key from Sweden) This key issue was however no longer a problem, as Tom had removed the need for ANY key, and had installed a button underneath the dash as the starter. The little red truck is a great truck ... but not ..what shall we say .... stylish! Since 'pesty' was not allowed to go out with her Big sister, she had rallied the parents, and a Cinema trip had been arranged. Fairly innocent you may think, but bear in mind that only 1 of the 2 vehicles had seating for 3 people ........ yup - Jennifer and I, me in my new suit and Jennifer looking like a million dollars, had to sit ourselves in the truck. "It can still be perfect Martin ... perfect..think perfect" I thought as we cruised towards the restaurant, we were a bit early for our reservation so we decided to circle the block first. This gave us the chance to get a look at the restaurant before actually going in, it also managed to send shivers down my spine and whack another dent in my 'perfect' evening.
Valet parking ... of course, a nice restaurant like this has Valet parking. This would mean that I would have to pass the keys to the truck to an attendant.... After parking in the back of the restaurant, and walking around the front "car..what car? ..ohhh nooo we walked here" we were finally at the restaurant, which boosted my 'perfect' vision a bit. Morton's was very idyllic and looked snobbish enough for my intentions that night - now to find our 'special table for 2' "Please look again, I must be there... I booked via e-mail..." "I am sorry Sir, I have no reservation in your name" Great - just great! Whether they simply messed up my reservation, or I made a reservation for Morton's in Santa Anna, Florida, I still do not know. The very friendly restaurant manager, did her best, and 5 minutes later, we were seated in a booth meant to house a family of 8. First I tried sitting straight across from Jennifer, but it felt like the dining scene in the movie 'Coming to America' and I decided to sit next to her instead. This seating arrangement offered a perfect view of the entire restaurant, but no view of Jennifer whom I sat shoulder to shoulder with ...oh well "perfect, think perfect". Seated like this in the booth did however pose one serious problem, there was NO room to move anywhere but sideways out of the booth, and there was definitely not enough room for me to drop on a knee ... Oh well, the table problem was immediately dwarfed as a new issue arose - I had picked up my white starched quality cloth napkin only to discover, to my horror, that where my fingers had touched the fabric, it had now turned black ... black as oil in fact! I excused myself, and pretty much ran to the bathroom! Obviously what had happened, was; when Tom had used the truck earlier that day to pick up some metal supplies, he must have soiled the steering wheel with oil without him or me noticing it - could this get any worse?!? At this point, the evening actually brightened up, the food we ordered was excellent, as was the service, the wine and of course the company! - And to be honest, it was not even as expensive as I had thought it would be, all in all a seriously good meal! While eating my delicious porterhouse, I had thought of a new cunning scheme, after dinner I would ask Jennifer to take a walk in the moonlight on the beach with me ... that would be where I would ask her! Leaving the restaurant (making sure to dodge the attention of the Valet attendants), we walked along the grass towards the car and I suggested casually that we should go for a walk on the beach. This suggestion was promptly turned down by Jennifer, who was full (and a bit grumpy?) and just wanted to go home .... great ... well... now or never Martin! Plan B ..or C ..or however far down the list I was now, I decided it was now or never... this was far from the 'perfect' I had envisioned all along - but I had to ask her now .. I just had to! Shattered was my illusion of the perfect restaurant scene and the even better beach scenario had also gone down the drain - it just HAD to happen ... now! So there, underneath the flickering light of a old lamp-post, walking across the mall's parking lot - I finally delivered the speech I had practiced and perfected for months ... only, it came out as 'ehh...will you... uhmm .. marry me?' ... as for dropping on one knee, well - that did not happen either, I got so flustered and shy, that I opted for hiding in Jennifer's hair and whispered to her from in there.....
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