Sabrina’s Spring Break was coming and I suddenly knew I wanted to propose right then and there.
I had bought the ring six months earlier, after only having known Sabrina for a month – and a long-distance month at that. She had visited me in Southern California for a weekend in September and we were at Disneyland when she spotted the ring in the antique-jewelry shop in New Orleans Square. It was a beautiful old estate-piece from the 1920s – the type of ring I always hoped my fiancée would like, and here was Sabrina, liking it even more than me, if possible. The next day, after sending her off on a plane to Arizona, I went back to Disneyland and bought it.
To tell the truth, at that time I had no real knowledge that I would ask Sabrina to marry me one day. I hoped so, but a lot can happen in six months or a year and I still needed to get to know her better. The ring became a symbol to me. I had invested my hard-earned money on it. Now I would invest my time and attention and love on Sabrina. Sure, we might break up, and yes, I might have to sell the ring on E-bay one day, but I wouldn’t let that happen easily. In the next six months, whenever we hit a tough-spot in our relationship, I would pull the ring out of the wooden box on my desk, look at it, and decide to work harder.
Actually, that never really happened. I know it would make the story more dramatic, but in truth, we got along really well. We communicated and laughed and worked together better than most couples do. Month after month, she opened up my heart and my horizons in new, exciting ways, and month after month that box on my desk stayed locked.
During Christmas Vacation Sabrina hinted about that ring in the shop at Disneyland and I was forced to play a cruel trick on her. To throw her off, I told her that the last time I visited Disneyland, the ring was gone. Somebody had bought it. This was actually the truth – I had been to Disneyland several times since September and yes, the ring had been sold. It was sitting not four feet away from Sabrina at that very moment, in fact. You see, I still wasn’t ready to ask Sabrina to marry me. I was close, but four months was just too soon for me. Sabrina was crestfallen that I hadn’t been savvy enough to pick up on the fact that the ring in the antique shop was the ring of her dreams and that I had somehow let it slip through my fingers. She eventually forgave me though.
Two weeks later I bought her a promise-ring at an antique store in Flagstaff and she was happy again. I realized that sometimes a woman needs a symbol of intention on her finger just as much or more than a man needs one in a box on his desk.
Now it was Spring Break and like I said, I suddenly realized I was ready. That put me in a dilemma. How was I going to pop the question? Some of my friends had made their proposals into grand, complicated affairs that took weeks of planning. That put a lot of pressure on me. We planned on going to Disneyland later that week with friends. That offered many romantic possibilities – like presenting the ring to her in the store where I bought it; or down on one knee in front of hundreds of applauding tourists by the Dumbo Ride. Would she want a public proposal? Or a private one? I decided on private and romantic, and against Disneyland, and prayed to God that I knew her well enough.
Still, even if the moment itself was private, I knew that Sabrina would want to share the event with friends and family as soon as possible. So I decided let Jeff and Caroline in on the secret. I gave them a bottle of champagne, some flutes, and a ice-bucket and asked them to bring them to Dos Amigos, (the restaurant where we had met), on Friday night as usual and wait for us there. Our friends, John and Robin would also be there, which was perfect, since they were the friends who were there the second night we met – the night we first kissed - back in August.
I told Sabrina I was taking her to Walt’s Wharf in Seal Beach – one of our favorite romantic restaurants. But I told her dress kind of casual. And to bring sneakers. This vexed her no end. But she went along with my cockeyed plans anyway and we were off. I told her that we had a little time to spare and I wanted to take her to see the sunset – something we still hadn’t done together yet. She agreed, but seemed skeptical.
I took her to Palos Verdes, to a cliff above a beautiful little beach that I had been visiting since I was a kid. To get to it, we had to hop a chain-link fence and walk across a private field, but Sabrina was completely game to do this and was into the adventure of the moment. That made me love her all the more.
We walked through the waist-high grass and wildflowers that were blowing gently in the evening breeze. At the cliff edge, I rolled out a blanket and we sat among the tall grass and looked out over the dark ocean. There was no sunset to be seen through the stormclouds, but the night was mysterious and fragrant with the scent of flowers and the sea. I held her close and whispered to her all the reasons I loved her. I told her how much I loved her strength and her beauty and the way she chose to be happy in adversity. I told her how I even loved her stubborn side, and her righteous temper at times. I told her the words that had become the catch-phrase between us; “You’re the necessary part of me I never knew I needed.”
Then I kissed her long and deeply with all the emotion that was welling up inside me. I drew the ring out of my pocket and asked her if she would continue to make me the happiest man in the world for the rest of my life. She said yes and there were tears running down her cheeks. I didn’t know that I would make her cry and I told myself, “You’re a damn lucky fool and you better do everything in your power to make this wonderful woman happy the rest of her life.” Then of course, I apologized for deceiving her about the ring. It looked like she didn’t really mind that much.
It grew dark and reluctantly we walked back to the car. I still had 20 minutes or so to kill before meeting Jeff and the gang at Dos Amigos, so I had to trick her again and stop at a nearby market to buy a few postcards “to remember the night by”. Finally the time was right and I got back on the road to Walt’s Wharf – with Dos Amigos conveniently along the way.
As we got near our local Mexican Food joint, I pulled into the parking lot and was gratified to see I had surprised her again. We walked into the restaurant and Jeff and Caroline and John and Robin all yelled their congratulations and the champagne was poured. I don’t know about Sabrina, but it was one of the happiest nights of my life.
