The Proposal

There is one question that every woman longs to be asked. It has nothing to do with her age, her weight, or whether or not she would like fries with that. No, this question has just four little words. These have the power to bring a grown man to his knees (literally), and a woman to tears (happily). The question is, “Will you marry me?” and for most women the answer in their head screams, “Well, it’s about time!”

With this in mind, I’m wondering just how important the actual proposal is. Most of the time, the woman already has an answer in mind, and will reply with that regardless of how her man pops the question. She’s probably been thinking about what she would say since sometime around their first date. For her, the real question is not how he will ask, or how she will respond. It is: When will he finally work up the guts to do it?

There are various websites dedicated to coaching a man through this intimidating process.  My favorite is mostly based on its name: The Art of Manliness. http://artofmanliness.com/2008/06/17/the-mans-guide-to-the-perfect-marriage-proposal/ This page, dedicated to all things masculine, includes an article entitled The Man’s Guide to the Perfect Marriage Proposal. The author of the article suggests everything from revisiting the site of the first date to slipping a ring upon the wife-to-be’s finger while she sleeps (Is that sort of creepy, or is it just me?). Although I doubt that my sister’s fiancé Mike visited this particular site, he did choose to go with their first idea.

As Mike is a high school science teacher who is popular with his students, he had volunteered to chaperone the senior prom. Gina went as his date, and on the way they stopped for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, the site of their first date. This had been my sister’s favorite restaurant for some time. She had always enjoyed the excellent food and warm atmosphere, yet because of Mike, her reasons for loving this place have now changed.

After a romantic dinner for two, the waitress came to take their cheesecake order. She brought menus, but mentioned that there were some new flavors in the display case. Wanting to check these out, Gina and Mike made their way to the case at the front of the restaurant. Gina started at one end of the case, looking everything over, trying to make a decision. The restaurant serves 50 different kinds of cheesecake, so choosing can often be a challenge. Mike asked if anything looked good, but she was still undecided.  

As they made their way toward the other side of the case, Mike pointed out a slice of chocolate cheesecake: http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/menu/Cheesecake/godiva_chocolate_cheesecake. This piece sat on a plate which had the words, “Gina, will you marry me?” spelled out in chocolate syrup around the edges. The cheesecake was topped with a diamond ring, in place of the traditional chocolate shavings. Mike pointed to the slice and asked, “How about this piece?” The person behind the counter took the plate from the case. Mike removed the ring, and on one knee, proposed in front of the entire restaurant. My sister finally heard the question that she had been waiting for since Mike first came into her life, and of course, her answer was, “Yes!”

Her answer was not in response to the proposal itself, but to the man doing the asking. That “yes” was the first to be uttered from a series of promises. The rest of which, she will pledge to Mike on December 18^th.  On that day, I’m sure that her new favorite question will become, “Will you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?” And unlike the nerve-wracking night of his proposal, Mike should have no doubt as to what her answer will be.