my girlfriend proposed to me!
The engagement ring on my finger.
Last Sunday, my girlfriend proposed to me! It was such a lovely day, so I thought I would recollect it here before I forget.
A few days before, we had set plans to get shaved ice and walk in my favorite park in the city. It's a wonderful park! It is set far below the general city level and the trees are really high, so that it really feels like a forest. It is covered in green moss in the spring, sunlight shimmering in the little river in the summer, golden leaves flowing in a breeze in autumn, and snow filling the air with an eerie stillness in the winter.
On this day, it was summer so the sun shone through the tree's branches leaving perfectly patterned shadows on the ground.
We walked through the park and talked about what was on our minds, as we usually do.1 Halfway through the park, we reached a set of benches nicely positioned in front the running river. She asked if we could sit down, so we did. We were quiet for a moment.
Then... she asked if she could give me a present.
I had a strong feeling that she had been planning to propose to me on that day, but until that point I wasn't sure if she would go through with it. I was quiet for a moment, mentally preparing myself, then said, "...yes?"
She took a little booklet out of her bag and handed it to me. Although she had tried to hide it, I had stumbled upon her painting pages for this booklet before. It had made me very curious about what it was!
I inspected the booklet carefully. The cover had a drawing of lilies on golden ink on a dark green background. She told me she bound it herself. I could tell she put a lot of thought and time into it. I opened to the first page and it said "For Lili...🪷" and already I felt like crying. I felt very loved. In the next couple pages, she had painted a series of our adventures: her favorite moments from our relationship so far. I read each page aloud.
I looked up for a moment and there was suddenly a family with a bunch of kids running around in the river. They were cute, but I felt shy and I asked her if we could walk a little further in the park. She agreed, she felt shy too. We walked a bit further.
At this point in the park there is more foliage above us and so it is darker, but the shadows are particularly intricate. On the way to another bench, we talked about the memories we shared together.
Finally, we sit down and I can start reading again. She looks over my shoulder as I take in each page that she has beautifully crafted. I am definitely crying now. I get towards the end, but again a few people walked by. I wait a little bit. They pass. At last, I read the last few pages. The booklet ends with "In our love story, as you turn to the very last page of this book... I get down on one knee and ask: Lili ..., will you be my wife?" She then got down to one knee and asked me.
I said "yes, absolutely!!" She placed the ring on my finger.
We hugged and kissed. I felt very affectionate and so lucky to have such a wonderful partner... such a wonderful fiancée!
We walked in the park a bit more and talked about our future. What would our wedding be like, our honeymoon, our life together? We had talked about all of those things before, but it felt so nice to talk about them again in the park after her proposal.
I love the engagement ring on my finger. It's not too flashy but still intricate. Most important of all, it sparkles with the memories of this wonderful day with my love.
A picture of my favorite park
On that day, I was in a weird mood and was processing the evolution of the rationalist community. Some parts felt really cultish to me and so we talked about that, as my girlfriend is interested in cults in general. Not a particularly romantic topic I must admit on this day, but I was glad we had space to talk about our feelings on whatever topics they may be.↩