|
I feel like we should be really tired of telling people how Steven proposed, but it was just so ridiculously funny. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong in one way or another.
They had to remake the ring two weeks before he was going to propose. Steven designed the ring himself with the help of Noshie, at Almaza Jewelers, and when he went to pick it up, it was wrong, not even close to what he had pictured. Noshie wasn't sure he could get it to him in time to propose, but he said he'd try. With that, Steven decided he couldn't wait any longer, and moved forward in figuring out the rest of the details.
He had decided in a stroke of genius the day before, after hearing the weather forecast (foregoing his initial thought) that he was going to propose in the Heritage Society Park downtown, on a porch, in the rain. The day of, everything started smoothly. It was raining, and the ring was ready. He drove to Almaza, after working half a day, to pick it up. The ring was perfect, just what he had hoped for. When he walked out of the jewelry store, things started to go awry. No more rain. When he went back to the park to scope everything out, there were a ton of homeless people hanging out. He told me later, he just didn't want an audience. He was nervous enough.
After that plan fell through, he decided that the James Turrell tunnel at the Muesum of Fine Arts Houston would be a great alternative. So, he headed to the MFAH to talk to someone about his plans. About this time, I called him to let him know I was on my way over. He got stuck in traffic, on the one street you should not go down if you are in a hurry. The street with the elementary. The school let out and he waited in the parent pick up line, unbeknownst to him. He waited, and waited, and then a woman opened the door,
"Are you here to pick up Kevin?"
Apparently, if you wait in the parent pick-up line, in a mom-wagon, they'll just give you a kid. Comforting.
He finally made it to the MFAH, purchased two tickets for later, and headed to the tunnel. He spoke to this older woman who was working in the tunnel, told her what was going on, and asked if she would be able to leave for a few moments, and perhaps, keep people out while he proposed. She replied with a slight bow,
"I'm here for you."
He rushed home to meet me, I was making a trip to his side of town to pick up some things before we traveled to Rhode Island for a friend's wedding. He wanted to pick up a a particular book for the trip, so we swung by Domy, a local bookstore. He was dawdling, looking around, with a confused look on his face. I was a little fatigued,
"We don't have time for this, I still have to go home and pack. Can you just ask the guy up front where the book is so we can go?"
Steven asked the guy at the counter (who looked just as confused) about the book. We left and made our way to Forever21, or so I thought. At this point, I hadn't spent enough time on that side of town to know the difference. When we arrived at the MFAH, I was confused to say the least. I asked Steven why we were there. He had told me later that he didn't even think twice about me asking, so he made something up on the spot,
"My boss wants me to see this painting, mumblemuble."
So we wandered around the museum for a while, and again I was getting impatient. He knew we had things to do. We walked through the Turrell Tunnel, and then we walked through it again. Come to find out, his "I'm here for you" woman, was nowhere to be found. A shift change left a teenage boy manning her station. We left.
We drove a few minutes and ended up at the Menil. We had our first date there, we've picnicked, and exchanged anniversary gifts on a bench across the street. We parked, got out of the car and walked toward the bench. He was really quiet and nervous, so I could tell something was going on. He sat me down on the bench, got down on one knee, and asked me to be his wife. After I said yes, he pulled the ring out of his pocket, and slipped it on my finger. And then?
It started to rain.
At that moment I didn't know how ironic that was. We sat in the rain for a while and talked. Enjoying the moment. We went back later to Domy, and there it was. A poster he had screen printed for me lying on the ground, under a chair. He had brought me by Domy to see the poster, and maybe catch some of the references on it to our relationship. Had the moment felt right, he would have proposed. Obviously, that didn't pan out. That was why the guy at the counter was a little confused. Steven had put the poster up the day before, and told the guy his plan, but instead just asked for a book awkwardly and left.
After Domy, we made the important phone calls to our loved ones. Got dressed (my Mom had dropped off some of my dresses while this was all going on), headed to Mark's, where we had a delicious dinner, and creme brulee.
– n –
|
|
