Best Weekend Ever?

By now, most people who read this blog are fully aware of the big news. To put it in blog terminology, this URL now officially pertains to one additional person. By that I mean to say that I proposed to Irina on Friday night, and she accepted.

For the more curious among you, I will tell the story in short format.

As some of you know, I have been planning to propose for quite a while now. Originally, I had planned to wait until December, meet Irina's parents, ask them for her hand, and then surprise Irina while we were both still in China. There has been some delay, however, in Irina's parents' move to Beijing, so the date of our trip keeps getting pushed back further and further. In the meantime, after meeting so many of Irina's family members and receiving so many emphatic well-wishes from all our friends, I realized that it was making progressively less and less sense not to be engaged. This became particularly clear while we were in San Diego. The assumption of our eventual betrothal has been there for a while, and it started to feel a little stupid that we weren't there yet. At this point, I informed a number of people that I would propose during the month of October.

I did my research and found what I thought would be the perfect ring. Then, I waited for the best moment. That moment came on Friday night. We came home from work, went to the gym, and then I told Irina that I wanted to go for a walk through Strathcona Park. Strathcona Park is where Irina and I had our first date. That day, we walked all the way around the park, talking, sitting on benches, enjoying the weather and scenery, and getting to know each other. It was an amazing day. So what better place to propose?

We arrived at the park at around 7:00 PM, so it was already quite dark and a little cold. Irina was not amused by the starlight and the moonlight in the middle of downtown Ottawa. She was cold and she was worried about being in a public park after dark. After only a few minutes, she wanted to go back to the truck and go to a movie or dinner or something. "Are you sure?" I asked her. She shrugged and agreed to go a little further. After a while, she reminded me that she was cold and creeped out by the dark, so I told her, "Okay, we'll just walk a little further and then we'll turn back."

Finally we made it to the location of the first bench we sat on during our first date. It is in a clearing, with tall trees all around, and the Rideau River gently bubbling by. The moonlight cast a soft glow across the water and on every leaf. Again, Irina turned to me and said, "Ryan, I'm cold, and it's really creepy out here. Let's go back now." I asked her if she was absolutely sure she wanted to turn back, and she said yes. So I said okay, and then proceeded to explain in explicit detail how much she means to me and what a wonderful impact she has had on my life. At first she just shivered and laughed it off, but I went on gushing my heart out, and eventually she realized that I was saying something really serious here.

What she did not expect was a proposal. When I got to that part, she cried and was shocked and very happy. When she eventually got around to opening the box, she saw the ring and said: "It's perfect!"

Here is what Irina has to add:

Ryan started saying all these nice things to me, and I was so focused on the cold that I didn’t even clue in until he went down on one knee, and asked me to be his wife. Now, thinking back, I remember wondering why he kept one hand in his pocket the whole time as he was saying all those nice things! He swept me off my feet when I met him last summer, and was still doing the same in that moment. Couldn’t help but get emotional, so much so that I couldn’t even open the box until he asked me to, saying that what was in it was mine…hahaha. The ring’s absolutely perfect, and what I’ve always wanted…I don’t know how he knew! It’s nice and reassuring to know that the man you’ve been looking for all your life is yours. :)

Then we went to dinner at a place called Perkins. It's sort of like Denny's, so not exactly the kind of place you'd expect for an engagement dinner. However, Irina and I have a long history at Perkins and it's a place that means something to us. So on that level it was the perfect place to go next. Either that, or I am way too sappy and sentimental.

So there you have it. That's what Paul Harvey would call the rest of the story! Now we're both extremely excited and ridiculously happy and you can see it on our faces. One of our coworkers just came up to me and said, "I was just telling [another coworker] that 'Ryan and Irina make the best couple!' You should see her, she's just absolutely glowing." I agree, but I thought she has been glowing all this time.

Okay, that's enough of that. Back to your regular blog postings.