I must being this story by noting that Wm wanted the proposal to be a surprise. It is also important to note that I'm a smart cookie and I'm not easily surprised. Worse for Wm, I knew for a fact that he had purchased a ring and I knew that based on our target dates to be married that he would need to propose within two weeks of when he had obtained said ring. As it were, I resisted the urge to perfect a cellphone impression by asking, "Ring? Ring? Ring?" every time I saw Wm.
For some time Wm and I have intended on visiting the San Antonio temple. The first word that comes to mind when I think of this building is "opulent." Mormon meeting houses quite to be extremely plain (think a doctor's office meets a schoolhouse), but often no expense is spared when building a temple. Within the temple are thick, tall, dark-wooded pillars. The ceilings are accented with gold leaf, and murals and paintings adorn each wall. Every window of this temple is beautiful, colored stained glass.
Wm insists that the temple is more spectacular at night than it is at day - when the light from within the temple causes the stained glass to glow. Personally, I prefer to make my temple visits in the morning when my mind has yet to be cluttered by my daily stresses, but Wm convinced me that we ought to take a trip on a weekday evening so I could admire the windows.
My then-boyfriend-now-fiancé is a very by-the-books guy. Given the fact that a Mormon by-the-books proposal is at the temple, I would have been more surprised if he hadn't proposed. If he'd wanted a closer approximation to genuine surprise at an electronics store or a random moment would have sufficed, but Wm probably didn't consider those methods acceptable alternates.
In order to get to the temple on time I would have to leave work earlier than usual, change into Sabbath clothing in the bathroom, and go straight to Wm's house from work. (I live half an additional half hour north of the temple.) This day I wore a red blouse (thank you, Veronica) and a high-waisted black skirt (thank you again, Veronica). It was an easy outfit to transition from work to church in. Still, the combination wasn't as sleek as one might hope, and all I could think was, "This is not the outfit I want to wear when receiving a marriage proposal." Still, that's what I get for not planning a better outfit.
We ran down a checklist as we left his house. Temple recommends? Check. Temple clothes? Check. Sabbath dress? Check. As we were pulling out of his driveway he paused, "Oh, wait, did I forget? He fiddled with his bag and concluded, "Nope, never mind."
I was tempted to tease him, "You didn't forget the ring, did you?" I bit back this comment because I feared if I dashed his hopes of a surprise than he would simply wait until another day.
This was my third time attending a temple session, and I was making an effort to focus in on and memorize everything. I kept being a little surprised when I'd look towards the men's side of the room and realize, "Hey! Wm! Oh! Yeah, we came together." After the session, Wm told me to take my time and to meet him in the lobby. By the time we'd exited the temple I'd completely forgotten about the potential proposal.
After we exited the temple we took a stroll around the building to admire the stained glass. The air was very warm and a bit humid - a typical night in central Texas. The temple was indeed beautiful. "Which are the celestial room windows?" Wm inquired. "The three, biggest ones," I replied kind of wondering how he wasn't certain. Wm started rambling. I was trying to discern whether he was talking or proposing. The question was answered when he got on one knee and asked, "Will you marry me?" I do wish I'd let the question hang a bit more. No, not to make him sweat, but just to enjoy a moment that won't ever be repeated.
I'm guessing I provided the correct answer because I was given a pretty ring and a flower. They had been stashed in his temple bag. He explained he'd chosen this carnation because it was both red and white. Red for love. White for purity. Or something like that. (He'd earlier asked my preference on flowers and I told him I'd much rather have a well-thought carnation over a thoughtless red rose any day.)
When we returned to his car the temple workers were trying to figure out what to do. They were leaving for the day, yet here was an extra car in their parking lot. We apologized for holding them up. When Wm opened the car door for me I was surprised by a small bouquet of red and white roses. They were carefully laid on a towel-wrapped ice-pack. What a nice surprise!
While driving to Austin we called each of our parents. My Mom was a bit sleepy and didn't hold much of a conversation. I knew it was too late on the East Coast to call, but my Mom had earlier insisted that I call her regardless of the hour. Wm's parents live on the West Coast, so they were actually awake. This was the first time I'd actually ever talked to either of his parents, and his mom sounded very enthusiastic.
I was again surprised when we reached Wm's house. A vase of gerber daisies, carnations, and roses were perched on top of my car. Yes, I know, gerber daisies, carnations, and roses do not belong in the same vase. Apparently my fiancé had been listening more closely than I thought when I rattled each of these flowers off as ones I thought were good flowers to be given. (Um. Let's ignore that my official favorite flower is lily, but I tend to forget this. I'm not much of a flower girl.) It was very apparent that Wm had tried very hard to do the floral arrangements himself - a gesture that I love more than the flowers themselves.
Half past midnight my final surprise came. There was a large vase of carnations, daisies, and roses in front of my garage door. (The garage door because I enter and exit my apartment from the garage. I only open my front door when I'm expecting a box or when I have a visitor.) It took me three trips to get my purse, my changing bag, my temple bag, and all of my pretty flowers into the apartment. The proposal? Not a surprise, yet Wm still managed to surprise me with the details.
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