The Proposal

-as told to Lydia by the bride-to-be, Rachel-

Once upon a time.....

We were in Brisbane.

First of all we arrived at our motel (that was after: 1. we'd caught two glimpses of the motel, 2. gotten totally lost, and 3. Rach and I had begun to fear we would end up dead from Mum's driving.)

Eventually stumbling into the motel's lobby, we were greeted by a couple that Rachel knows pretty well. They stated that Matt was running late and that he had sent them with instructions to pick her up and take her somewhere. Curious, Rachel went along with them and they drove her to a restaurant. Rach thinks, "Ok, we're going to go out for dinner."

No go.

There in the parking lot of the restaurant, waiting for her beside another car is Matt's sister. "Um, ok..." Thinks Rach, "this is starting to get kind of weird."

She was then driven to another point where, again, waits a person and a car. Driving the third car was Matt's best friend, Calvin. He began driving her in the direction of his house but then suddenly turned around, "Nope we're just about out of time. That's not going to work." (Rach found out later that Calvin's wife had volunteered to give her a manicure because as she saw it, "After being endlessly dragged around by you guys, she's going to feel like something nice!").

Onward they drove, Calvin finally pulling up at a place near the river (just 6 blocks from where she'd started) and there waiting for her should be none other than...Matt!

Finally!

Calvin exits the scene and Matt asks, "Which do you like better? The botanical gardens or the river?" After a decent amount of indecisive "oohing" and "aahing" on Rachel's part, the river eventually won "in".

On a previous trip to Brissy, Matt had taken Rach on a dinner boat cruise down the Brisbane river. She had loved it. The boat was called the Kookaburra Queen, and after 30 minutes it finally pushed off.

That evening the waves were dancing, probably, as lively as Matt's nerves. lol....you've always gotta have compassion on the poor guy! Especially when he's seriously considering jumping in head first with a girl like Rach.

Ignoring the butter churn in his stomach,however, Matt started in on his prearranged speech. Suddenly, out ran a little boy, and nicely interrupts Matt just as he is getting into it. The boy was yelling, "When's it gonna crash, Dad?" His eyes wide watching the shoreline loom ahead.

"Ah, little kids!" muttered Matt.

"Just ignore him, Matt! Keep going; don't worry."

"No, let's move."

Finally, at the back of the boat....alone....Matthew "pops" the question. In a fit of nervousness, he fails to hear Rachel's, "Yes, of course!"

"Wait, let's sit down." Matt scrambles for some chairs. As they were settling down, he started to get niggled by worry. "So, what's your answer? Will you marry me?"

Rach gave him a quizzical look and giggled, "Yes. I already said that."

He pulled out a ring box; Rach opened it. Staring rudely up at her was this ugly ring. It was a five-buck, fake replica of the Lord of the Rings ring, with a thick band and strange engraving all around it.

In the dusky light, Rach wasn't sure if her eyes were just teasing her. She turned to Matt, "Is it a wedding ring or an engagement ring?"

With a look of panic, Matt put his hands to his face and exclaimed, "Oh! Sorry! Don't you like it? I thought you said you wanted a flat ring!"

Quickly jamming the ring on her finger, Rach said, "It's ok! I.......um....I like it!" In a panic, she thinks, "Maybe it looks prettier in real light."

Matt interrupted her blubbering and fumbled attempts to cover her panic. "Rach, if we're going to be married there's one thing you're going to have to learn about rings. That's a really ugly one." And so saying out of his jacket pocket he pulled another ring. "Now this. This is a good ring."

There cradled in his hand was what every guy wishes to have bought for his girl; the "perfect" ring. It was a dainty ring that captured and elegantly displayed a diamond set in a thin, swirled band. Set on either side of the diamond, were six smaller diamonds. Seven diamonds--one for each of the seven years Matt and Rachel had known one another.

And that is the fairy-tale proposal of Matthew and Rachel.

We hope you stay tuned for the exciting sequel of this event.