Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Its surprising they're still together after that beginning

Or

The Story of Father's Proposal

I'm sure over the years this story has become inflated in some areas and downplayed in others, but this is the version that sticks in my mind. Since you can't really ever get at true reality, this interpretation will have to do.

My mother was a strong, independent woman in her upper 20s who had a career and some strange roommates.

My dad was a funny salesman who had decided that law school wasn't really for him.

They both went to the same strange church congregation that they lovingly called, "the cuckoos nest" because there were so many nuts in the group.

Anyway, they'd been dating for quite a while.

One night as they were sitting in the car he tossed a little box into her lap and said, "well, what do you think?"

She opened it up and it was one diamond earring.

Confused she looked at it and back up at him in bewilderment.

It finally dawned on her that this was a marriage proposal.

She later found out that it was the earring of a "lady of questionable reputation" that my dad knew (he was a lot more sketchy back then) and had been purchased at a pawn shop (I think?).

She took 3 months in giving him an affirmative answer to his "eloquent" request.

To this day he insists that the earring was a "jewler's setting" and she maintains that it was only a "few weeks" before she gave him an answer.

Classic, huh?

8 comments:

The Unprocessed Project said...

One earring? Did he ever give her the other one? Classic!

My parents were 18 and fresh out of high school. My mom told my dad that two of their friends got engaged. My dad said "well, do you want to be engaged?" The rest is history. Now that is romance!

4 said...

i really liked that story, it was sweet in a unprepared sort of way. thanks for visiting my blog. actually i've been reading you're blog for i while. i just never bother to comment.
it was very, very classic.

Unknown said...

Hahahah! This is SOoooo funny. My dad proposed to my mom the SAME way. No kidding! Except he had a ring in a box, in a shopping bag, that he dropped on her lap while we walked by. He walked into my grandparents living room and sat down with a beer & my Grandad. My mom was freaking and walked in there, looking at the ring, then at him. He sipped his beer, and said, "what do you think?" We all tease him mercilessly for that. It makes him sound like a horrible redneck or something, but he's really a doctor and a sweet, loving man. I think he was just nervous :) Maybe your dad was too!

Thank you for sharing this story! So cute!

katezmom said...

OK, some clarification. Dad did not know the woman. He bought the earing from a sketchy friend who owned a used car lot. He actually said, "Here, this is for you." It was in November and we married in May. I told him yes after 24 hours but would not set a date for a month or so. So you see, he knew he was engaged but not when I would marry him. The whole deal upset me so much, that I couldn't go to work the next day and stayed home and threw up. Yay romance.

Maggie said...

Yeah, I was just gonna say the line was, "Here, this is for you." Guess Mom beat me to the punch.

Xiporah said...

Awww That's sweet!

My parents were very unromantic and had a more then rocky relationship(which is probably why they got divorced, duh)

My mom had been dating my father for several years and they were living together. She was fed up and started secretly looking around at single bedroom apartments with the intention of ending the relationship.

Until she found out that yours truely was on the way.

My father wasn't very happy about it. He was terrified of having children and tried to urge my mother to end the pregnancy, something she absolutely refused and threatened to leave him over. (he's apoloized to me several times for this)

So they got married in a rushed ceremony when my mother was four months pregnant in january, I came along in June.

It's not a romantic story and it ends with their divorce when I was eight. You should feel priviledged that your parents are so devoted to each other!

Mrs. Architect said...

That is a really cute and funny story! Thanks for sharing! That was just as good as the one you posted the other day. hehe

Unknown said...

Haha! I love your mom's response... Yay romance! I see where you get your sense of humor from :)