February 6th, 2012 by Murray Barnes | Posted in Personal | 1 Comment »
A little over a year ago, I had a great day with my girlfriend. The next day I sent an e-mail to my friend Derek.
Man, yesterday Katie and I had a really nice day. She had a doctor’s appointment, so I came along, then we went and had a picnic lunch by the river Chattahoochee (which is an awesome name), followed by a walk along the river, then going to the cinema (driving to the cinema via the great state of Alabama, where we must’ve spent a whole 3 minutes, but it was my first time there. I have now visited 4 states! Hooray), followed by a bit of browsing a book store and some dinner. It was just a really, really fantastic day.
(not trying to rub in your being separated from the lovely Betty, I have a point to make)
Yeah, sitting there beside her on the river eating a picnic, I think if I’d had the ring on me, I might’ve. It would’ve been perfect.
I’d bought the ring in December. When the girl in the shop asked me what I was buying it for, I’d told her “I’m not ready to admit to myself why I’m buying it yet”, and it was true. Getting engaged was going to be a huge step, and one I was too scared to make. But on the 28th of January in 2011, sitting outside the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, eating Subway Sandwiches and reading my kindle with my head resting on Katie’s lap, I suddenly realised I wasn’t scared any more. That was the moment I realised that Katie was what I wanted; not just for that moment, or for the next week or month or whatever, but for forever. I just wished I had the ring on me then.
I didn’t, though. And while I’m sure Katie would have said yes with no ring, I wanted to do it properly. I will now quote an e-mail I sent to another friend, after the event.
So, on Friday Katie passed me the newspaper, and it said there was a library book sale in Columbus on Sunday, and since we’re both definitely
bibliophiles, that sounded good. And to top it off, her grandmother phoned up offering to pay for us to go see a movie, so that sounds like a date to
me. Plus, with the Superbowl being on, that’d be much more interesting.
So, it’s church, Sunday morning, and the Children’s sermon (of which I can’t remember the point) was talking about Nike and the slogan “Just do it”. Well, I mean, can’t ignore that, right? So, after church we head to Columbus. Another beautiful sunny day. We stop for lunch at a fast food restaurant, then head on to the library sale where we buy a big bag of books (nice offer, fill a carrier bag for $5), but it’s far too early for a movie or anything, so I suggest we go back down to the river, since it’s nice, and go for a walk. Takes some convincing, since walking isn’t her favourite activity, but since she had no better plan, we drove down there.
We walk for about twenty minutes, passing a couple who are having a picnic. He has a guitar, and she accused me (in jest) of not being romantic enough to serenade her. I suggested I could be just as romantic. When we find a place that’s more secluded, I lead us off the path (to this exact point, in fact:
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and we sit down and talk, cuddle, etc. All the time, I am trying to work up courage, since I don’t have much of that.
After a while, she looks at her watch, and asks how long it’ll take to get to the movie. I say I don’t know, there’s only one way to find out. To which she says “Just do it?” and I was all “yup. But what’s it?” And she starts making suggestions of things we could do. Starting with the obvious walking back to the car, and I’m like “Nahh”, and so she starts pulling up some of the grass we were sitting on, piling it on my leg and says “Start a fire on your leg?” and I’m like “Yes, that’s exactly what I meant.” During this time, I am struggling desperately to pull the box out of my pocket. I’d wrapped it in my bandana to keep it safe, but it turns out that unwrapping a bandana wrapped ring box, inside a pocket, with one hand is difficult and time consuming. But I managed it by the end of that last sentence, and finished it up with “Or, maybe this” and pass the box to her, opening it.
She was all “That’s pretty” and I say “Yeah, it is, and I think I want to give it to you” and I could tell from the look on her face that she was down with that. I put it on her finger, and squeeze her. As we’re hugging I say I should probably ask, just in case. So I say “I love you, Katie Fuller, and I think I want you to be my wife”. As much courage as it had taken to get the ring out, saying the w word was even harder. She said she thinks she’d like that too. I took a few pictures of us, of her wearing the ring, and then we head back to the car, no longer the boyfriend/girlfriend we were on the walk there. As of about 3:45 PM EST, 6th February 2011, Katie Fuller is my fiancée, and I’m not sure if I could be happier.
On the way home, we stopped off on Pine Mountain to look at the stars for a bit, and I decided to take the ring off, get down on one knee, and do
the proper “Will you marry me?” proposal I’d not managed earlier. She said yes.
It’s been a year since I put that ring on her finger. Mostly that decision has meant filling in forms and waiting patiently (or not so patiently). I’m hoping it has slightly more significant upsides coming soon, but even though it’s not been a barrel of laughs so far, it was still the best decision I’ve ever made.
Katie Fuller, I still love you, and I still want you to be my wife. You still good with that?
A little over a year ago, I had a great day with my girlfriend. The next day I sent an e-mail to my friend Derek. Man, yesterday Katie and I...
. It is only 69p, too.
