7 quick takes- engagement edition

Thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and do our engagement story as a 7 Quick Takes.  Thanks Betty and Jen!

-1-

The ring

Guitar Man and I picked out the ring together.  We wanted an antique ring, but were scared to buy an actual antique.  So we did what any well bred suburbanite does when in need of a material item- we went to the mall.  I should also mention that our budget was $400 and I have a really large hand.  I needed something substantial and a tiny diamond would look ridiculous on me (I love how tiny diamonds look on little dainty hands).  We settled on a lovely rectangular shaped amethyst surrounded with little tiny diamonds.  I still love the ring 14 years later and get compliments on it regularly.

-2-
The Question
When we first met, he invited me to his dorm room to watch The Lady from Shanghai by Orson Welles. We ended up talking all night and never watched the movie.  Then, of course, he HAD to invite me over again to watch the movie.  Rinse and repeat.  We did this long enough to form the foundation of a solid friendship.  Even after we dated for 5 years, we never ended up watching the movie. 

A few months after we bought the ring, Guitar Man asked me to watch The Lady from Shanghai.  I was having none of it because our whole relationship was predicated on the fact that we never watched that movie. Then, one day, he cajoled me into watching a few scenes.  During one of the scenes, the movie cut to him in a suit and tie making a speech about how much he loved me.  Then, the real Guitar Man got down on his knee and popped the question.

-3-
The Wake
When Guitar Man asked me to watch the scenes from The Lady from Shanghai, we were on our way to a wake.  It was on the north side of Chicago for father of a family friend.  We went to the wake with the ring on and of course my parents noticed and we tried not to make a scene.  We made a scene anyway. 

-4-
The Dinner
My parents insisted on taking us to dinner to celebrate.  We decided on a cute family restaurant in Little Italy.

-5-
The Flat Tire
After dinner, we went out to parking lot only to discover that my parents had a flat tire.  Guitar Man and I offered them a ride to their home on the south side in my entry level, no-power steering, manual transmission Saturn.


-6-
The Other Flat Tires

As were driving down California Ave. past Cook County Jail, Guitar Man hit the mother of all pot holes.  We heard a pop, the sick sound of air being sucked out of a tire and then the inevitable thump, thump, thump.  We turned on the hazards, looked at the damage only to realize that there wasn't one, but two flat tires.  After we unloaded the contents of my trunk on the street (which included a vacuum cleaner- what was i thinking ????) , we changed the worst of the two tires.  My dad made the wise suggestion to limp home on one flat tire.  There was no way we could get a tow truck quickly in the neighborhood we were in and we were in a precarious situation on the side of a busy inner city street.  While we were changing the tire, a streets and sanitation worker stopped behind us with his truck to shield us from passing traffic.  I swear he was an angel. It was our own real life Adventures in Babysitting. 

-7-
The ride
My dad drove the rest of the way home.  He didn't take the expressway so we drove through my mom's old neighborhood and she told me stories as we sat in the backseat.   Dad and Guitar Man chatted up front.  As the open windows filtered in the city lights and sounds, I listened to the most beloved people in my life and thanked God for the crazy-wonderful life he gave me.