A Proposal Story (For Laura, Melanie, and the others we love who are far way)
Almost six and a half years into our relationship, the boyfriend and I are now fiancés. Ooooooooh.
Last week he said he wanted to take me to the American Museum of Natural History. It’s my favorite museum and has been since I was a nerdy little girl.
We got there around noon. A friend gave us free passes. We compared the relative sizes of planets and molecules then went to see the space show. I love space, Battlestar Galactica and Carl Sagan, so I cried a little during the show because, for a sarcastic and silly person, I am equally sincere and fascinated by everything.
As Whoopi Goldberg narrated our flight through the cosmos, I leaned into the boyfriend and said, “This must be how the Tardis feels.” We also love Doctor Who.
I had an inkling the proposal might be happening. We’d talked about it for years and had recently looked at rings. I’d fallen in love with a vintage ring, but knowing it was one of a kind, didn’t expect to see it again.
After the show we headed towards the whale. If you aren’t familiar, there is a room at the museum where a life size whale replica hangs from the center of the ceiling. The room is a warm blue meant to convey the sea and its perimeter is lined with detailed dioramas of ocean life.
You may know it from the movie The Squid and The Whale, which is named for one of the dioramas. It is my favorite room in my entire hometown of NYC and I go there on every museum visit.
Boyfriend grabbed my hand hard as we walked in the room and drew my attention to a Manatee diorama to confuse me. At the bottom of the stairs, he turned me towards him. He launched into the kind of sweet and meaningful things a man proposing to the woman he loves says, and then he was down on one knee with a navy blue ring box in his hand.
The only thought I had was, “Omigod, this is happening!”
I started laughing and crying, which is always a fun combination.
“Yes, of course!”
When he put the perfect little ring on my hand (the vintage!) I was halfway doubled over. Still sobbing, I heard clapping. I figured some tourists in the room noticed what was going on.
I looked up through wet eyes and saw a bunch of my friends, some of my favorite people on the planet, standing there ready to celebrate with us. Then I lost it.
Though I suspected the proposal, I did not suspect my friends would be in attendance. It was the best. The friend who gave us the passes led a mini-tour through the room, which I was too shocked to take in.
Our friend Adam took the above picture of us before we left and headed towards brunch. I insisted on an embargo against social networking posts until I could tell my mom.
We all walked to a wonderful Greek restaurant. I couldn’t have been happier. Walking, talking, and eating with my friends is one of the great joys of my life.
At the restaurant, the server started pouring Champagne before we’d ordered. Later, a mix of desserts was laid out on the table. Turns out that two of my friends, who don’t know each other, both happened to be in Tennessee for the weekend and had sent these kind gifts in their place.
I sat back and took in the table of friends that surrounded us, and thought of the people who were there in food and drink form. I thought about how damn lucky I am.
As soon as I got home I called my mom and asked her to video chat. It was her birthday so we’d already planned to do so, but now I got to tell her the good news and see her reaction. She said it made her birthday better and we were happy.
The rest of the day was a blur of calling family, giggling, and going out of our way to call each other fiancé. We had a simple dinner and, knowing I had to start my second semester of grad school in the morning, decided to take it easy by watching Back to the Future. That is our kind of love.
No, we don’t have a date yet. I don’t graduate from school until December, just in time for the world to end. But we plan on getting hitched sometime next year in Scotland.
NOTE: When we put on FB that we were engaged we received a deluge of congrats. One friend, Laura, asked me to put the proposal deets on Tumblr, so here they are. She’s also a huge BTTF fan. It did make me laugh to realize that BTTF would be a detail in something she’d requested. However, that is not why we watched the movie.
ALSO, can we stop creating this false dichotomy between Portland and Brooklyn? People are comparing a small-sized city with a legitimately white-majority population, to some myopic media perception of maybe like one or two neighborhoods in THE MOST POPULATED BOROUGH OF NEW YORK CITY. Brooklyn has 3 fucking million people living in it, and Mr and Ms Media Reducto over here are reducing it to a few banal and dated stereotypes about the privileged white people who live on Bedford Avenue and/or Park Slope. GUESS WHAT, Williamsburg existed before “hipsters” moved there. This borough is 42% white, 35% Latino, 34% Black, AND ALL LOVE. Whereas Portland’s community of color is largely relegated to outlying suburbs and neighborhoods still affected by the segregating effects of redlining in the 1940s, and is stuck with a “liberal” white community that is so scared to admit it might be racist that its lack of dialogue and overt white-niceness towards blacks and Latinos there completely otherizes them in a totally condescending way. ANYWAY! STOP SAYING THE TERM “BROOKLANDIA,” and also PORTLAND IS NOT A UTOPIA FOR NOT-WHITE PEOPLE.
Yep, pretty much this
And Sanfrooklyn and Broaklynd and Willadelphiaburg and…
Bless whoever wrote this original post.
Signed, a mildly brown Brooklyn native who lives in Harlem, in part because she can’t stand hearing all the weirdly racist stuff many hipsters say (often without realizing it is racist) and having people talk about her beloved home borough as if it just came into existence when, in fact, it was always cool and has an amazing history.
(via jamespumphrey)
i have a massive urge to drop out of school, delete my facebook and tumblr, throw my phone out the window and get on a train to somewhere random and just go on a massive adventure
That’s not far off from my friend Melanie did, so why not?
She’s enjoying it, just check her Tumblr.
(Source: backwardswords, via trustyourtennant)
The Most Badass Excerpt From Barney Frank's Interview With The NY Times
Interviewer: You’ve long argued for the decriminalization of marijuana. Do you smoke weed?
Barney Frank: No.
Interviewer: Why not?
Barney Frank: Why do you ask a question, then act surprised when I give an answer? Do you think I lie to people?
Interviewer: I thought you might explain why you support decriminalizing it but don’t smoke it.
Barney Frank: Do you think I’ve ever had an abortion?
I like my job, and the people I work with.
Jeez guys, thanks for the invite. Wah-wah.
(via iamachilles)
Jen Kirkman - comedian: What I Would Have Said About Eddie Brill on NPR →
**I wrote this last night but was shy about publishing it. But I feel good about it today. Please forgive any grammar or spelling errors. I’m not the best editor. ** - Jen Kirkman
I was supposed to talk to the Larry Mantle show on NPR this week. They wanted to talk to me about the recent…
Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland.
Swoon.
When someone tells me that they hate Donna Noble it makes me want to scream and hit them painfully in the groin.
I don’t hate Donna but I also don’t get what I’m supposed to love about her. I did like her way more the second half of her time on the show. But the first half, she was like someone I would avoid in real life, so I just don’t get it.
(Source: billiebumblebee, via trustyourtennant)
And that’s the theory. Nine hundred years, never seen one yet. But this would do me.
(Source: vrijen, via trustyourtennant)
