once upon a time...

It's just dawned on me I haven't shared about the proposal...was looking back at my posts in August and was thinking "hmm...some posts on articles I read, a couple on struggles I was facing...huh, no sign of the engagement tale"

So this is how the story goes...

It was late August 2007 and the days leading up to it had been occupied with numerous activities. Tiredness and restlessness began to settle in and Fab and I decided we needed to do go away for a day on Saturday the 25th to rest, relax and recharge. Since he moved down to the Coast, we generally see each other only on Saturdays and even then there are weeks where Saturdays are taken up by other commitments too (which may have been the case that month, my goldfish memory fails me)

We chatted over the phone early that week but no concrete plans were formed; neither of us seemed to have any specific idea or preference so we left it saying we'd just spend a day somewhere nice...perhaps drive out a little further to sight see or something...then Wednesday came and Fab said he'd plan the day, to which I stressed that because I was pretty pooped, I just wanted to have a relaxing day (i.e. no mountain-climbing, amusement parks, strenuous activities and the like). He agreed and promised a relaxing day with a picnic at some location we'd not been before...he made it sound all lovely and casual. In the past we've driven out to places like Byron Bay and Noosa and just spent a day at the beach and walking around the area, things like that so I was anticipating a similar experience.

Then Friday night came and I received a whole bunch of 'missed calls' and a couple of text messages that had accumulated while my phone was on silent mode as I was at our weekly life group gathering. My father had been rushed to the hospital that evening as he had suddenly collapsed in great pain and was incessantly throwing up for no apparent reason. Mind you, my father does not go to the doctor, much less the hospital, unless his very life depends on it (which has happened a couple of times - we thought it was his heart again; he has had heart attacks before which led to a series of operations). His tolerance for pain is incredible and you will never hear a word of complaint uttered from his mouth. He is my hero. The night was filled with anxious prayer and sleeplessness until word came in the wee hours of the morning that he had been discharged after finally responding in some way to the medication. Tests were to follow that week to identify the cause of the horrible episode. I rang Fab and was very slight in my tone as my mind was filled with thoughts of my precious Pa and family and I simply wanted to inform him of the situation and make mention that I was hesitant about going out the following day.

The next morning rolled in quickly and Fab arrived at what I deemed to be far too early a time at my doorstep (which meant he had to wake at some unearthly hour the poor fellow, ok, maybe 5am?) I had messaged or rung after receiving the good news that things were stable with Pa. (Praise God totally! He gave me peace after praying and I believe He would have given my family peace too) Still, I had slept little and was not as excited as my keen boyfriend hovering over my bed with a huge grin on his face. He sat me up and practically shoved me into the bathroom saying the day would be a good break and we should get out and things were looking up and can I please get ready...so I did and tried to look pretty

Off into the car (this story is going to be so long) and there he was looking all cheery so I decided to make an effort and got out my camera and took a quick video of us leaving...little droplets of water starting making their way onto the windscreen from the sky but nothing seemed to dampen Fab's spirit. He had packed me a breakfast wrap or was it a muffin? from Macdonalds...oh yes, the sausage one because I think I inadvertently announced I preferred the bacon version instead. Oops. So in the car he started asking if I wanted to know where we were going and I said I liked it being a surprise but told him he didn't have to take me far otherwise it'd tire him out with all the driving. And on and on we drove and the clouds looked like they were about to bring more rain and then, ha! Budget Airport Parking?! He looked at me with wide eyes and asked, Can you guess where we're going? He then confessed he was slightly concerned when I had mentioned I didn't want to get on some little plane on our relaxing day (how coincidental) although I had been thinking more along the lines of those planes where you feel every single motion and get sick. Sydney it turned out to be! He said, it's ok, don't panic, it didn't cost that much (by that time I was kind of protesting as I said it just needed to be a small trip, oh you're so cute but such an expense is not necessary) as our friend works with Virgin Blue and they were having a birthday sale - $90 return for each person to Sydney. Fab goes, "You've been talking about visiting the fish market in Sydney for Sushi for a long time now...and you've not seen the Opera House or the Harbour Bridge/Darling Harbour...so I thought we could use this day to have a little trip there since we've been so busy and in need of a break" Man! I was pumped by that time! Woo Hoo, Sydney here we come!

So the day panned out with us literally hopping off the plane, galloping through the airport (stopping only to take a couple of quick shots like the one above) and running out the doors to breathe in Sydney air - the weather was absolutely perfect! We got maps and made our way to Paddy's Market to look at their wares...not terribly exciting but we got some great fruits, walked past China Town and headed towards the Darling Harbour...took some photos along the way and off to the Fish Market for lunch! Yum! More walking and sight seeing and photo taking and managed to squeeze in a bit of shopping (and definitely called home to check on Pa and make sure all was indeed ok by then...great news...something about his sensitive digestion and cereal and well more tests were due but he was stable, in discomfort but stable, thank God), we took heaps of photos of the Opera House from the other side of the river and slowly made our way to be under the Harbour Bridge just past the Hilton I think it was. Lots of photos with Fab's camera and tripod along the way...quite a few weddings going on (with huge bridesmaids in black and weird fluro colours). Then Fab found a quiet spot on a little grassy knoll under the bridge facing the Opera House. "Go sit there and leave a spot for me, I'll set up the camera for us to take another shot" He said and I went and made myself comfortable amongst the tiny dandelions and daisy-looking flowers.

Then it happened. He came forward, knelt in front of me, looked me in the eyes and asked, "Actually, do you know why I brought you here today?" (I honestly did not see this coming...it was just a great spontaneous trip to give ourselves a good break, no?) Whoa! I always imagined I would be super touched and cry when proposed to but I have to say I laughed really hard that day - a partial slight nervous laughter, partial amused haha-I-can't-believe-this-is-actually-happening laughter. 3minutes and 12seconds later I nodded and said "yeah, ok". Poor Fab...I asked him what had to be a million questions but he had done the right thing. His parents knew, my parents knew, our pastors and leaders knew...everyone had given the green light after praying over it and they were just waiting for me to find out. I talked at the rate of a gazillion words per second and my arms were flailing and I kept hitting him on the shoulders while laughing. He said, "But I'm really serious, look I have even bought the ring"...and what a gorgeous ring it is! He knows me so well...it's the perfect size and style and everything!

And then it dawned on me why my friend had cancelled our breakfast date for today on Wednesday night (which made me sad so I rang Fab to tell him) - turned out it was Fab who had asked she come up with something to postpone it. Same thing happened with some friends I was planning to meet for dinner with him as we hadn't caught up with them in a while (He had rung them and said, I know Jos has been planning a dinner but I want to propose, help me out here guys!) This also explained why Fab had chosen to be excused from his Saturday morning Church leaders' meeting (He never does things like this - always aims to put God first - but said he thought we should just get a day to ourselves and well, it seemed oh so plausible as he was run off his feet too and he said it'd only be a once off thing and that he had spoken to the pastors about it and the others would get him up to speed with the evaluation and stuff)

Gosh! We had spoken about marriage but it always concluded with us (well me, it seems) knowing it would be a not-so-soon occurrence. I actually suspected he might ask my parents for their blessings in September as they had been planning a trip over to see me or in December when we went to Singapore for Christmas but ha! he rang them about a month earlier so he could propose before they were scheduled to arrive the first week of September! Turned out Mum very nearly spilled the beans over the phone one night but I didn't catch on and she had caught herself in time and continued on with something else when Pa kicked her in the foot. Also, a friend had rung just 20 minutes before Fab proposed and congratulated me but as she is a banga and we often go on a tangent and talk about all sorts of things to each other, she too caught herself when I said "congratulations for what?" and rambled on about some other thing which completely distracted me. Fab had quietly enquired who the caller was and so she got an earful after the proposal! Turned out the proposal was not meant to happen til later in the night but he panicked when the call came and thought he had better get the road on the show lest more people had found out (we still have no idea how this girl knew as so few were in the loop!) and decided to ring me. Poor Fab...only then did I realise he had been so anxious the whole day - I was very merrily getting caught up (this is the 4th time I am using this word in this paragraph...need a new word) with all the sights and sounds to notice!

The whole day was perfect, just perfect and I was able to enjoy it as much as I did also because Pa was well and when we called our families after the proposal they were all laughing and Pa said they would definitely fly over no matter what as he told Mum he wanted to celebrate with us even though Mum had said the night before they might have to cancel their trip and get me to go over instead because of the sudden episode. It only began to drizzle after we started to make our way back to the airport after 12 hours in Sydney (it felt like we managed to pack quite a bit in the one day with a nice ride on the ferry from the Opera House - it's beautiful! - just before dinner) and when we got back, the weather in Brisbane had cleared too! So sweet God is!

The week with my parents (and one of my aunts and uncles came over too) and Fab was super. Happy Sigh...