Saturday, August 28, 2004
Somewhat delinquent
It started like any other evening. Contrary to form, there were no big plans, no weeks of preparation. It was just Thursday. The week was winding down, but not over. Not having any other plans, we decided to go out for dinner. It wasn't anything fancy--we went to The Ram, a t-shirt and jeans atmosphere in the village just a few blocks from UW, where Thursday's soup of the day is beef and barley. I ordered a porter for myself and an amber for her. She can never decide if she will need her purse or not, but invariably ends up leaving it in the car only on the nights when the waitress asks. We chuckled and I ran back to the parking lot to retrieve it.
Her shop was right around the corner. Coffee after dinner sounded good. It occured to me that the park was also in the neighborhood. It occured to me that the nearly full moon would be dancing on the water. It occured to me that the ring was waiting, it's little box tucked away in the change tray of my car. She loves the sight of the city skyline mirrored in the waters of Lake Union. She loves the park, with its rusted piping and tanks from the old gasworks surrounded by a beautiful, grassy expanse at the edge of the water. She was about to sit down, but I stopped her with a question. For the longest time she couldn't speak--for the longest time she couldn't breathe. Her knees buckled, and she sank down to where I was kneeling.
"really?"
It was barely audible. I nodded as the tears began to flow down her cheek.
"really?"
It wasn't much, and truly that was the intent. I got it at the little silver cart in the mall for less than she gets out of the tip jar in a day. It was only a placeholder. I took it out of my pocket and put it on her finger. She smiled through the tears an wrapped her arms around my neck.
posted by Tom 11:12 AM
