My Marriage Proposal

Blog Prompt: How were you proposed to? (if not yet married, how would you like to be proposed to?) And did you like your proposal, if you could choose one , what would you like to have happened?

I'm not sure we have an actual moment but we dated over 3 years and had started when I was a college student. Don was 7 years older than me, divorced, and had custody of his 2 daughters. At times we both felt like we loved each other and wanted to get married. Unfortunately, these times were not at the SAME time. So, since we didn't actually feel the same at the same time, we waited. When I graduated from college, I didn't want to begin my new life as a new wife, a new mom, and a new teacher and I wanted to be independent for a year. So, I rented an apartment right across the hall from him and that was almost like living together. In December I was going to Florida to visit my parent for Christmas and the discussion came up about both of our apartment leases ending in June. He suggested that we move in together and I said that was unacceptable. First off, I was not brought up that way so it felt wrong to me and another is that my parents would disown me and never speak to me again. So, he told me to tell my parents we would get married in June. I was thrilled because I was ready to get married.

Now, fast forward this to a week later in Florida. Don calls me up from South Carolina to ask me if I've told my parents yet and how did they take it. I quietly told him that I hadn't told them yet because it didn't seem like the right time. Of course, I didn't tell him that my dad had fixed me up with 2 blind dates to try to persuade me away from him! (My dad didn't like Don at all because he was divorced, had children, and was not Chinese and would probably disown me if I married him.) There must have been bad vibes going through the phone lines, because the next morning there was a knock on the door. There stood Don at the door after a 10 hour drive through the night. Needless to say I was shocked but I knew I had to get my dad out of the house to break the news to him because I didn't want them in the same space when I told him. But this is when I knew in my heart Don loved me! And this gave me the courage to disobey my father for the first time in my life. We have been together happily for 24 years!