Engaged. Build a Ring, Build a Life

When I wrote the earlier cryptic post, I was standing in front of our elevator with Gerdy, in the morning, waiting for David to get done in our apartment and lock up for our morning walk. As you may have guessed, I look for clues for the conclusion of The Proposal on a daily basis, and I had accumulated quite a bit of what I thought was evidence, but I was quite wrong. This morning revealed a whole new set of clues, and I was so breathless, that everyone I secretly called only had voice mails, and then I remembered that my iPhone could get online, so I wrote the quickest post that I could.

Here is the background to the following events:
1. David went to Columbus a few weeks ago to go to an Ohio State game. We had just been there, and he did have a mystery phone call with a "ticket seller" that never panned out.

2. David was supposed to get a FedEx on Friday that had a script in it for his next job. We were supposed to go to Peter Lugers, a really good steakhouse in Brooklyn, for a reservationless lunch. At 1pm, when I stopped my work to ask David when we were leaving, he told me that the package never came, and that we would have to drive to the FedEx store at 8pm to pick it up - west of Time Square, which stinks. This met with much huffiness on my part, because no one should ever have to drive to the FedEx place. The little man in the truck should drive his hiney back, and I was going to make him do that. But no, we picked it up that night. There were two boxes for him, in fact.

3. This particular morning, the morning after the FedEx pickup (which segwayed into white wine and chocolate crepes at my request), David had to move the car at 6:30am for alternate side parking. When he returned, he had treated himself to a pumpkin spice latte and was carrying white and purple roses wrapped in paper. A glorious site in the morning.



4. Also on this morning, David's back hurt, and he decided to make a pillow for himself to sleep on top of out of my fabric. He chose a scrap of lambskin. I questioned his choice, and the small circle he had just cut, and wondered just what kind of pillow would this make. I was told to not question while he was designing.

The day began as usual - me recovering from a very full dinner of crepes by putting on water for coffee, feeding the animals, and watering the plants. The morning was golden at 8am with a strong September sun. I folded my loads of laundry that piled up onto the couch (can't do domestic things during the work day in a home office), wiped all surfaces with 409 or Pledge, and got ready for a shower.

While in the bathroom getting ready for the shower (aka analyzing every pour on my nose), I had a sudden and urgent desire to tell David how wonderful my Crystol Exfoliator is, and how it is going to get rid of the two baby rednesses that have appeared on my cheek, and to be honest, one on his cheek. I swung open the bathroom door and tried waltzing into the living room, but David literally sprang up, smuthered me in hugs, and then proceeded to bounce up and down, to 'loosen up his muscles' after sleeping on our failing mattress.

Back in the shower, I thought I had my first clue: he had something that he couldn't show me. I was contact-less, so couldn't see a thing anyway. Satisfied with this clue, I continued as usual (but opted for a day-old-hair), got dressed, makeup-ed, and went to the kitchen for a glass of water before Gerdy's walk. And that is where my 2nd clue lay: on my desk, were scissors and a piece of purple elastic, which I have not used in ages, and I always put scissors away. David had cut something decorative. I quickly looked around the living room for the srap of lambskin, thinking that if it was a pillow, he'd leave it lying around for another inspiration. But it was gone. The FexEx package was on a nearby table. On a decadent whim, I thought of checking the package for who actually sent it, but slapped my hand and left it alone.

Cut to: me outside of the elevator, posting "Strange things are happening" with my iPhone.

Outside, while walking down the sidewalk to Central Park (our daily route), David declared that he would like to go to the duck pond to check on them, since it seemed they had been swimming in slime before. I know that this algae clears up on clear days, but agreed. But then he specified that Gerdy was to go do her thing in the woods first, and then we were to check on the ducks. He's never made any such request on Gerdy's walk before. I had to look away to hide my giggle. On this route, he had me listen to the 5 voicemails of me that he has been saving on his phone for the past 3.5 years - which comprised of me being silly, saying hello, singing, sneezing, and apologizing for needing Katie Time sometimes.

Gerdy was being stubborn, of course, since this was Saturday, and that means she gets an extra long walk around the ball fields further into the park.



But David took over leash duty and led her to the edge of the pond, to a bench, that was populated with kanoolding Europeans. David went to another spot, under a beautifully dead looking tree that backbends into the water and is actually still alive. I was to later learn that this was a backup location he scouted if the bench was occupied (he's a Location Manager for films).






Under that tree, David asked if I wanted to see something, and dug into his shorts pockets. The wrong pocket, and dug into more pockets. Out came a little brown leather envelope wrapped in gold ribbon from my new art supply closet. He asked me to open it, and placed his hands underneath it, and told me that this was the beginning of new things, and that he wanted to build a ring and a life with me. Then he got onto one knee, and well, he didn't need to stay down there long. I unwrapped the leather and found two glittering diamonds and a metal prong grabber thing.

I have now learned, that David went to Columbus to meet with a jewelry designer, and explain just what kind of diamond I liked - mine cut - for its imperfections. David wanted them to be old, so the jeweler sent him two turn of the century diamonds - one round with the glittery cuts, and one slightly squarish, also with glittery cuts. I was to chose, and we are to design the ring. I have two days to submit my thoughts on the design, and then David ships the stones back so that the jewelry can get started, in order for the ring to be finished by Thanksgiving.




In the meantime, David wanted me to get a "girly" ring, so when we got home and began researching, we went straight to Etsy.com to search for rings, and got this one, which is a giant aquamarine from Starry Designs, which is David's birth stone.

Part of why this threw me, is that we had a birthday party for a 2 year old to go to in New Jersey in a matter of hours, and a party in the evening for a couple who is leaving NYC for Chicago. So our reflection on all of this is very short! Not to mention design research. But, we are both thinking Art Deco, so, thanks again to the iPhone, while driving to NJ, I searched online and found some beautious designs. And, David suggested I incorporate a symbolic element from my or his families, like a family flag (Scottish flag or something). And so I picked the Edelwiess flower because it was my grandmother's favorite song in The Sound of Music, it has Swiss ties which my family likes, and German ties, which is my dad's side. So, we drew some things out, and have found a few Art Deco rings like this one to work from. But now I'm liking tulips...so who knows.

Clues I missed:
1. He did go to my parents after coming back from Columbus (my parents are in Cleveland), to ask their permission. He was so nervous, that when my dad went to shake his hand, he didn't see it because he kept yabbering about something or other to both of my parents.

2. He wanted Gerdy to be part of the proposal because she's part of my life, and now his, and our courtship. She will be a Flower Dog.

3. My mom almost told me a few times. She was talking about it in emails to select people, and sent me their email. Twice, she called me frantically, begging me not to open the email and to delete it.

And so, that is the news from Lake Wobegone. More to come, I guess, on the avalanche of wedding planning. Eee!