STOP PRESS: ENGAGEMENT!

Well, it’s happened. I’m engaged. I proposed to Lizzy a little after midnight tonight, the 30th July. Now that’s a significant date for us, as it’s the date we’re getting married next year (2005). Yes, I know it sounds like we’ve arranged that pretty fast, but to be honest with you, we’ve been planning it for a few weeks now, so tonight was the night where we go “official” and “public” on it.

So, I’m sure you’re all gagging to hear how it happened, aren’t you? Well, when you’re sitting comfortably, I shall begin…

Well, on Tuesday evening, after having arrived at Lizzy’s parents in Norwich, I asked her dad for his permission to ask Lizzy to marry me. He said yes and shared a few manly hints & tips. It was decided that that in itself was worth going out to celebrate, so we decided to go out, as a family (plus me), for a meal on Thursday night (i.e. last night). So we went out for a meal with Lizzy’s mum & dad and brother to a lovely place that served huuuge portions. YUM!

So, once the meal was done (about 10.30) Lizzy & I headed off to the beach to have a romantic stroll & chat, arriving about 11.00. (It was meant to be star-gazing too, but it was all cloudy, but we did do a little star-spotting, which isn’t so much fun.) We sat on a bench down by the sea and chatted and stuff for about 40 minutes, with me all the time trying to be calm and wait for midnight to come, so it’d be exactly a year until we got married. Then the rain came 🙁 Not very hard, mind you, just a bit of spitting. It was enough, however, to put us off sitting still there for too long, so we meandered back to the car at the top of the cliff, whilst I silently prayed for the rain to stop. (No really, I did).

Anyway, we got back to the car and I drove it to a car park that overlooked the sea… and this is where the story goes a little… surreal… or Lizzy-esque. As we pulled into the car park, there was one other car in there with a guy sat in it with the engine running. Lizzy, as any normal human would think, thought he was committing suicide by pumping his exhaust fumes into his car so he’d die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Obvious eh? No other possible conclusion for a mental health nurse to draw. So it was decided we’d get out of the car and walk past his car to check he wasn’t dead. (Just the romantic feel I was aiming for) We did so, and he seemed OK, so we walked to a bench on the cliff top, still in view of his car and sat there as Lizzy continued to worry.

Then a guy with a torch came out of a house nearby, and Lizzy again, perfectly rationally, suggested that maybe a drug deal was going down. I asked if she wanted to call the police, but I think she wasn’t serious about that.

Anyway, a few minutes later, the suicidal guy drove off and the drug dealer walked past us with his dog and back to his house.

Once that rather “normal” (in Lizzy’s world) episode had occurred, midnight was upon us. This is where I didn’t really know how I was going to lead into proposing. Fortunately Lizzy fed me a great line (which she didn’t realise was a good line as she hadn’t realised the whole date thing until this point). I looked at my watch and she asked what the time was, and I said that it was just gone midnight. Then she asked what the date was today. (What a line to lead on from eh?). So I said that it was the 30th July and that a year today we’d be getting married and so I should…

I got down on one knee in front of the bench she was sat on and pulled the ring box out of my pocket. I gave a little speech about me not being her first love (that’s God) but that I’d like to be her second… that I’d love her forever… Then I asked her to marry me. She said “of course”. Then I got the ring out, explained the significance of it – it was the temporary ring my dad got my mum when they first got engaged before they got a real ring – like it will be for Lizzy – and placed it on her finger.

Kissing, hugging, praying and a little crying (yes me, not her) ensued. Then she made me do a re-enactment of it, just so she could re-live the romance of it.

Sat and chatted for a while longer, checking no more suicide cases came to top themselves there that night, and then headed to the car so Lizzy could get a look at the ring (it was a bit dark outside). Then it was home to Lizzy’s parents, a frenzy of texts and now a blog entry. And here we are… engaged. WOO!

All congratulations in a comment below… thanks!

Author: Alex

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