The Proposal

The hardest part about asking Wendy to marry me wasn't the part where I asked Wendy to marry me. Every time I tried to call Mr. Hui on the phone, he was unavailable. So after much contemplation, and a talk with Wendy's sister Amy, I decided the best thing to do was to just show up unannounced at his restaurant and ask him in person.

Of course, for those of you that know Mr. Hui well would guess I had nothing to worry about. I knew that already, but it didn't stop my palms from sweating and my heart from racing. I was so relieved when I saw that he was happy to invite me into his family.

With the most nerve-racking part out of the way, I could now concentrate on the exciting part, asking Wendy. I wanted something unique and something that held a personal meaning for us both. Our first official date was at the Denver Art Museum and I thought this might be the ideal place. In front of the art museum there is a beautiful sculpture called "Denver Monoliths".

To some people the sculpture might seem a bit ominous because they are these large Dark shapes that mysteriously protrude from the ground like tombstones... But however others see it, or whatever the artist's intentions, I feel a great sense of security and warmth when I stand between the two forms. To me, they appear to be holding each other, protecting each other from the harsh elements of nature. They are strong and solid, and they appear to be holding each other, as if they had always been there, and always would be. I thought it would be the perfect place for the both of us to be standing while I asked Wendy to be a part of my life, for the rest or our lives.

Theory is one thing and execution is another. I bought the ring (no simple task in and of itself) and was poised and ready to bring her there on a beautiful summer day. The problem was that every weekend kept getting taken up for this or that important thing. I thought she must have been on to me because I kept saying, in a very casual manner, "maybe we could go to the art museum this weekend?" I kept my ring under the seat of my car for over a month!

My perfect day finally came. I was so excited, I decided to post "Josh is asking Wendy to marry him!" on my face book account. I knew there was no chance of Wendy seeing this posting before the big moment, (Wendy's never been to that website) but I didn't take into account the "privacy" of my iPhone.

For those who have never received a written word from me, you should know my spelling is "creative" at best. When I was posting the proposal on FaceBook, I did a little search for "proposing" to be sure I was spelling it the way the rest of the world does. In the parking lot of the museum, Wendy grabbed my iPhone to check her email, and in the search field was the words "propose marriage". "What's this, JOOOOSH!? Why does it say PROPOSE MARRIAGE in the search field? HUMMMMMM?!" I am no good at lying, so I just said, "What? Hum, that's weird! I wonder why?" Well, I wasn't about to bail at the last minute. It took over a month to try and casually get Wendy to the art museum again, so I went for it anyway.

It was as beautiful as I hoped. The sun was at a perfect angle and the shade that the sculpture gave us felt nice and cool on the hot summer day. I was nervous and got on my knee, and said to her:

On our first date when I was waiting for you to arrive I remember trying to picture you walking up. I had a hard time imagining exactly what you would look like. Even though today I could never forget your face, I would like to be absolutely sure. The best way to do that, would be to see your face every morning, for the rest of my life, Wendy, will you marry me?

Despite my little technical error, she still seemed surprised. Wendy said yes and cried, and since I'm a man, I didn't cry, but my eye's did get a little watery, must have been some sort of pollen in the air, you know how dry and dusty Colorado's climit is.