November 6, 2000

It's hard to believe this was 10 years ago...

Ram organized for my friend Karen to kidnap me for an hour. We went to a book store while Ram was busy at my house. I remember being mildly worried to leave a guy that I had just met a few months before at my house by himself! He made supper of pork chops, baked potatoes, broccoli, and wine. When I came back there was a rose on my plate and a candlelit dinner ready.
After dinner he took me in my bedroom. My house was only 800 square feet total. There was only the kitchen, living room where we also ate, small bathroom, my bedroom, and my office. He had arranged roses on the bed with a card in the middle. Under the birthday card was a card from the florist. On the card from the florist he had written, "Will you marry me?" He pulled the ring out of his pocket and kissed me. He showed me the wedding band. We called his parents and then we went across town to show my parents. His parents were impressed that he made dinner when he had done very little cooking before that. I was impressed that he borrowed some items to make supper/set the table from his friends because he couldn't ask me where I kept things or it wouldn't have been a surprise. He was teased because he never ASKED me to marry him, he just wrote a note. A week later when he had my ring resized he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. I said "YES"and got more kisses!
The next day after he proposed was my birthday. He had to work so my parents took me out to eat for my birthday without him. I don't think I did very much teaching on my birthday-I had to show everyone my ring. I remember one mom dropped her son off for school and I showed her and she was shocked. She ran home and got a gift for me both because it was my birthday and because I got engaged. She couldn't believe I was engaged when she hadn't even met him at any church or school events. I didn't tell her that our first date was in September and we got engaged in November! I still have her gift and we're still in contact.
I kept my engagement a secret until Ram and I went to visit my sister the following week for her birthday. It was really hard to keep that a secret from her for a week. A few weeks later Ram left for his vicarage for a year in the New Orleans area.