The Age of Sincerity

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.

Posted January 30, 2012 at 6:15pm || home