The Proposal

The proposal date was Thursday, June 19. Earlier that week Charles had told me that he wanted to grill for me. Well, naturally I agreed, for I can never turn down a man-made meal. On Thursday, he called to tell me that he was going to make that night date night & since I was already dressed up for my internship, he would dress up too.

When I got to his house around 4:30 with a bag of charcoal and lighter fluid (which he had forgotten to buy when he was at the grocery store, must of had other things on his mind...) I walked in the house and Charles had the table set with a table cloth and two candles. I did suspect that he might propose, but I also knew that he wanted to plan several surprises to throw me off. So, I brushed it off and began helping him chop the vegetables (which he left for me to do because I love to chop vegetables, I don't know why but I do). When everything was grilled, the chicken, sausage, bell peppers (orange, red & green), tomatoes from our garden, green beans & red potatoes, we sat down to bless the meal and eat. It was delicious!

Then he said that he had a stomach ache (my first thought was disappointment because I wanted Jamba Juice for dessert, but being the caring girlfriend, I sympathized). He jumped up and said that he had bought me something the other day and forgot to give it to me. He went to his room and came back with a brand new cookbook from one of my favorite cooks (Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, if you're curious). By this time, I was suspecting he was up to something because he never buys new books (our binding love is Half-Price Books) and this was a brand new cookbook. When I opened the book, he had embossed "From the Library of Charles and Malena Rikard" on the front page (which he special ordered from Williams-Sonoma). As I read it, he got down on one knee, opened the ring box and proposed. He said a bunch of stuff that I didn't hear. I just said YES after his lips stopped moving!

And that's the proposal, simple and meaningful, just the way I like it.