We've been dating for about 1.5 years. She's been asking when we can go to Vegas (jokingly) off and on for a while now. And after I've told her it would depend on when we can afford it, she told me she'd be happy with a gumball machine ring if it's all I could afford. I actually bought her a gumball machine ring over 6 months ago, but did not propose to her with it, and she got pretty upset at me for joking about something like that.
Now for the story...
I'd been planning this for a while. Back in late February or early March, I decided that April 1st would be the day. But then, the Tuesday before Saturday, April 1, Dian told me that if her best friend Ginger didn't have to go to Austin, they were planning on going to Galveston for the weekend to go antiquing and other "girl stuff," and that I was specifically NOT invited. Uh oh! So wednesday, I called Ginger and confided in her my plans. I asked her to PLEASE PLEASE go to Austin, so I can take Dian to Galveston! Then Ginger tells me something like "oh... um... I didn't know she was planning on going to Galveston THIS weekend... but I'm already planning on going to Austin this weekend. But that's awesome... good luck!"
I need to commend Ginger - she did a hell of a job of keeping the secret for what was apparently an agonizing 96 hours! There was no hint of it at Survivor night on Thursday, and apparently Ginger did a great job of keeping it to herself, because Dian told me, "oh man you got me GOOD! I was totally not expecting this!" Thank you Ginger!!!
Saturday morning, Dian didn't really want to go to Galveston like I'd suggested the day before. Instead, she wanted to sleep in (which I had no objection to) and then go to Trader's Village for the Cajun Festival. OK, I guess we can get some mudbugs... but I really still wanna go to Galveston to pop the question on the beach! After finding out they had no bugs there, we wandered around the shops for a while, and went home around 4pm or so. I finally convinced her that it would be nice to spend the night in Galveston, then we can do whatever on Sunday morning. After searching online for a hotel that had rooms available AND cost less than $12,951.95 a night (seriously! the Hilton really was that much according to the yahoo website!), and getting a little frustrated, we finally found one and I booked it. We got our stuff together and headed out. We checked in at like 8 or 9pm, then drove along the seawall for a bit and had a bite to eat at Denny's. After that we drove around some more, and discovered that many sections of the seawall have absolutely no sand down below - only large granite/concrete chunks. Probably due to hurricane Rita. We finally found a relatively deserted section with sand, and as luck would have it, it was only about a block away from our hotel.
After walking up and down a jetty and around the beach, dodging dead jellyfish and random boulders, her knees started hurting, so we started heading back. I figured I had better hurry up, cuz I'd really be pushing it if I kept her out there much longer against her will. We were almost back to the stairs, and she stood up on a big square of granite and said, "I'm taller than you" in a teasing way, like a little kid would, where the kid's next words would be "nanny nanny boo boo." I said, "good." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the gumball machine ring, still in the plastic egg, and said "will you marry me?" and held out the egg to her. She started laughing hysterically and crying a little bit and took it from me. I think she was trying to open it, but she couldn't... she said "come on, are you serious?" I said "yes I'm serious... will you marry me?" She still couldn't get her fingers to cooperate and couldn't open the plastic egg, so she tried to look into it (remember her eyes are watering) and said "is this even real?" while she continued to laugh...
I said "no, but this one is," and pulled the Helzberg box out of my pocket and opened it for her. I'm not sure, but I think she might have yelled out loud when she saw the little fuzzy box. She leaned in to try and see it (while she's still laughing uncontrollably)... I was about ready to catch her, but she didn't fall. Her laughter got way louder - not like a big giggle, but a full blown laugh... take a deep breath, laugh like 3-4 times, take another real deep breath... I bet the people up on the street could hear her laughing. Her eyes started watering even more. So now that I had the real ring out of the box, I held it up and asked her again... "Dian, will you marry me?" and she said "of course I'll marry you Jason!" I put it on her finger as far as I could (and as I did it, a picture popped into my head - Amie's wedding rehearsal just a few weeks ago... the priest was telling them not to force the ring onto the other's finger - just get it on there as far as you can and let them put it on the rest of the way themselves - if you get it as far as you can, it won't fall off since it's jammed right there anyway)... well I did that, and then she grabbed it and finished it, and said "just like Amie's rehearsal..."
Grated minds think alike, eh?
All the way back to the hotel, and still inside the hotel room, she couldn't stop laughing... She was laughing for at least a half hour from the time I gave her the ring. Once she got into the car she couldn't decide who to call first, but her phone had no signal right on the beach, and hardly any signal back in the hotel room too. It was just as well, since she wasn't coherent enough to make a phone call anyway.
Her parents thought it was an April fools' joke when she called them. In a way, it was.... at least, the first half. I'd told Dian that Ginger knew what was going on, so she called Ginger to relieve her of that burden. When Dian called her sister, I could hear Carmen yelling over the phone, even though Dian was sitting on the other bed in the hotel room. She couldn't sit still... I'm sure her brain was going 5000 different directions.
I'm glad she finally conceded and came with me to Galveston!
The Rings!
Dian's ring is a 1/4ct. Marquise solitaire on a 14kt yellow gold band, very similar to this one. No, that's not the exact ring, but it's pretty close, and that is where I bought it. Together, we picked out this exact wrap to be the wedding band. It really complements the solitaire. About 2 weeks before the wedding, we'll bring the two rings into the jewelery store to have them soldered together. We'll also have them remove that little loop in the center of the wrap, and tighten the gap on either side of the solitaire, so that it really looks like one ring. As it is, the wrap makes it look like one larger ring, except for that loop. If you are having a hard time picturing them together, I photo-chopped them together for ya - it's the one on the left.
Jason's band hasn't been purchased yet, but he wants a Titanium ring for several reasons. First, Titanium (Ti) does not conduct electricity, which is the exact opposite of Gold (Au). Au is one of the BEST conductors of electricity in nature, which is why lots of electrical connectors are gold-plated. Thus, Ti is safer to wear, whether working on cars or computers. Second, Ti is practically indestructible, unlike Au - a very soft metal, that is easily dented/scratched when you work with your hands like Jason does. Also, because he rarely (if ever) wears jewelry, he prefers a low-lustre finish, and he likes the natural color of Ti. He wants to get one with a hammered finish, like the one shown on the right, and here, because if (when) it does eventually show some wear, it will blend right in with the normal finish of the ring.
Jason & Dian - March 25, 2006
| Main text April 4, 2006 | This page April 12, 2006 | by Jason Gibson |
