The Proposal - Aidan's Version

Well, last evening (August 19th, 2005) was the culmination of about two years of research and work. The idea started as an idea of how to involve it in the Edinburgh Tattoo. I began mind games, thinking about how, what, when, where and why with regard to this proposal. I decided fairly early on that I wanted to include sapphires in the ring, to ensure that a part of me was included, it had to include a diamond as that is recent tradition and it had to be a white metal, platinum, because that goes best with her skin tone. I started looking around Hamilton to see what was available, which didn’t thrill me an awful lot, so I decided to try the Internet. I tried various schemes and eventually ended up with a three stone ring. Through various hints, nudges and other very subtle hints, I learned what Marisa liked in rings, cuts, styles, ring size and a host of other pieces of information. Patience was a must as this information gathering took a while. I tried contacting several online jewelers asking about styles etc. It turned out that most only did three stone diamond rings in the type of style I wanted. It wasn’t until four months ago that I found one that would put together the combination that I wanted. By the time I had collated all of the information that I required, did tests on AutoCAD including scaled printouts that I tested on my pinky finger for sizing etc. I eventually settled on about ¾ carat as being the best size. Researching the quality, I discovered that the best which would not change things too much was to get as near colourless as I could, with a fairly good grade of clarity and most of all a top class cut. The ring arrived about a week before I had decided to do it. I had to tell someone, because I was so excited, so I let my sister, Veronica, in on the secret that evening. My next project was to ask Marisa’s parents. I tackled her mother first to gain some vital information on how I should approach Marisa’s father. Armed with some good advice, I had 24 hours to sort something out. I arrived at Marisa’s house that evening. Her mother was out walking and her father wandered around the garden with us looking at various things. As if on queue, Marisa disappeared indoors and so I took my chance. His reaction was interesting, in that his first comment was, “Yes, take her out of here” or words to that effect. I knew I was ok as he was actually beaming. So now, I had to put the final touches together for the evening that followed. We arrived at Coral Beach and walked to the clubhouse. We were greeted as is traditional at CBC by Alonso the parrot with a cheery “Hello”. We were escorted to a table in the corner by the window and passed the menus and wine list. We chose our drinks, wine and dinner. I had quail, vegetable soup and beef tenderloin. Marisa had seafood medley, fish chowder, and the beef tenderloin. We talked about a variety of issues, and the thread kept on coming back to engagement, rings and wedding and timings thereof. I was inwardly smiling, knowing what I knew. We had dessert. I had ice cream with chocolate sauce and Marisa had the dessert medley, which was a small portion of everything on the dessert menu.We got up to leave and I suggested that we take a walk outside. We walked across the granite outdoor dance floor and then found our way through a myriad of corridors and passageways to the steps leading down to the beach. We stopped on the balcony below the beach terrace, and I started the ball rolling, talking about our 1461 days together and that I had another present for her anniversary. She then suggested that we go down to the beach. This was my nightmare, as I had been thinking that I would drop the ring in the sand and lose it at night. The moon was shimmering across the water and the ocean was near calm. I started my spiel again and was distracted by some children who came running onto the beach. We walked a bit further along the beach until I felt a little safer away from the “crowds”. I then began my spiel again about the 1461 days and all that. I decided not to kneel for two reasons. 1 – I wasn’t sure how she would take the surprise, because it was obvious that she didn’t have a clue what was about to happen. 2 – the sand. I eventually got out the words “Will you marry me?” to which her mouth opened wide, her face fell and she broke into tears. I was glad that I was standing as she probably would have collapsed. I kept on prompting her for what felt like at least ten minutes, until she said yes. This gave me time to get the box out of my pocket, the ring out of the box, and pre-position it near her ring finger. As soon as she said “yes” I slipped the ring on her finger. She looked down and burst into tears again. We walked along the beach a bit further to a beach chair and sat down. She continued crying for about 15 minutes. I asked her if she was happy, and she said yes. I told her the story of the ring and asking her parents etc. I’m not sure how much she truly took in as she was rather caught up in the moment. We eventually got up and left the beach in the moonlight to spend the rest of the evening together.