"Further Yet...." or "How to Propose Marriage in Seventeen Easy Steps"

Here's a question for you. How do you surprise a girl with "the question" when you've been working towards marriage in a deliberate way and she knows that you just talked to her father? Well, I'm not sure that you can. But you can try.

Faith had band practice tonight so I didn't think that I could find a way to squeeze in a proposal. On the other hand, I didn't figure that she'd be expecting it either. And then I thought, "Why don't I just call Pastor Marilyn and ask if Faith can miss practice tonight? If so, then I'll hurry over to the monastery, pick up the ring, make reservations at the restaurant, run to the bus stop and head her off at the salon before she leaves for home." It was just audacious enough to work.

So I called up Pastor Marilyn and said, "Can I steal Faith tonight? I want to ask her to marry me." I probably didn't explain all that well because she thought I was going to come bursting into the church during practice. "Well, that sounds pretty dramatic, but I think I'll just catch her before she leaves work." I received the okay. Excellent! Then I looked at my watch. "Oh boy, I'd better get moving!"

I'd probably been on the bus for about 3 minutes when I got a message, "Oh Benneeee... I'm done about 5 today..." That left me with a very tight schedule and the very real possibility of missing her altogether. Time for a snap decision, so I typed, "Don't you dare leave that salon until I get there. I am on my way!" Maybe I was losing the element of surprise, but now this was starting to sound heroic!

I got off the bus at Muffelettas and zipped in, "Do you take reservations? Yes? Dinner for two. 7:30. Bye." I hurried over to the monastery... Oh, and did I mention how hot it was today? At this stage that whole perspiration thing was happening again, but this time it had nothing to do with anxiety, it was all about the blazing sun and sticky air.... Right, so I picked up the ring, changed, cologne, double checked ring status, checked wallet status... Good to go!

The air conditioning on the bus was just glorious. Whoever came up with that idea deserves to be in heaven for sure. And then I thought, "Flowers! Flowers are always a good idea!" So I hopped into the flower shop, picked out a dozen roses and wrote out a card, "Congratulations! We're almost to the question. It's not long now!" (Faith has the card with her, but that was the basic gist of it.)

When I walked in the door the salon was pretty quiet with Candace doing some guy's hair and Faith at the receptionist's desk. They both had an expectant air about them. I gave her the card. "You're taunting me!" she said, smiling. "Well I'm not going to ask you in here!" Faith got the roses all squared away and we headed out the door.

"So where are we going anyways?" I replied that we could head south like normal. I was hoping to preserve some element of surprise. When we got to Lake Como I told her to pull in to the parking lot. You see, Lake Como has been the spot for many walks. We first walked there in the winter time a year and a half ago with her mom and sister. And now we were going there by ourselves and I had a diamond ring in my pocket.

We talked a little as we started to make our way around the lake, but we were pretty quiet. To be honest, I hadn't chosen the exact spot for the proposal, I just figured that it would be obvious to me. And so it was. Faith's lousy shoes were starting to give her blisters, the sun was beating down on us and I saw a shaded bench that looked across the lake to the Pavilion. "This is it."

We sat down. "Wow, this is the moment" I thought to myself, "Don't rush." And so I told Faith about the qualities that I admired in her. I joked that I had made a list of these qualities the day before in case I seized up when talking to her dad. She'd heard about that, but I wanted to tell her face to face. Some items found on the list: her love of God, intelligence, long-term vision, discipline, willingness to forgive and to ask forgiveness and, of course, her beauty. And then I talked about some of the commitments that I wanted to make to her: to make provision for her and our family, to love her in deed and word stemming from a decision and a commitment (not a warm and fuzzy feeling), to support her and join her in worshiping and obeying God while teaching our children to do the same.

And then it came time to fumble in my pocket and drop to my knee. "Faith Christine Stewart, will you marry me?"

"Yes."

She said yes! And then she added, "Is there anything else that you want to say?" You see, Faith and I have been careful about what we have done and said as we've courted. We haven't been perfect, but we've studiously held to some standards. One of which was that we didn't want to start professing our love willy nilly, but wait until it really meant something. It was with great pleasure that I said to her for the very first time, "I love you!" Was that ever worth the wait!!! And I've got to admit that the idea of kissing her crossed my mind too. But that, we have decided, will be a magnificent reward for another day. Today's gift was plenty.

Well, this story has been a little longer than I intended so I'll just buzz through the rest. We went home to tell the Reverend Mother and Tiger Lily. Faith burst in the door, stuck out her hand and practically sang, "I'm engaged!" There were hugs, explanations and a few pictures. Then Faith and I headed for Muffalettas where we ate and ate and ate. It was amazing.

There will be some pictures soon.