On our third date I saw a little toy vending machine outside the restaurant. I bought a little plastic gold 'Bling' ring for 50 cents. She asked why: I told her that some day I would use that ring to propose to her.
12 years later we were on the top of Mount Washington in a terrible thunder-snowstorm (in August). We had sprinted into the summit base just as the storm intensified. Lightning flashed. The ground rumbled. The wind howled. The building shuddered. It was a whiteout with the wrath of God included. We were soaked from the storm and between the cold and our wet clothes we were freezing to death (literally). We took off as many layers as we could (and still remain decent) and threw them on the chairs in the cafeteria to dry. I was shivering so bad that I dropped my vest and that ring fell out of my inner pocket (still in its original bubble container). She spotted it rolling towards her feet and picked it up off the floor.
'You still have this after 12 years?' she asked in shock. I told her I had lost it that year when I was in a car accident. I lied.
"Yeah, guess I never found the right time did I?"
'So are you going to propose or what?' she demanded scowling. Then suddenly it went from just me and her---to a big bunch of sweaty sasquatches wearing LL Bean and North Face jackets crowding in around us. Damn eavesdroppers...not a private moment left unshared...
"OK fine...So, what do you say? We doing this 'Thing' or what?" I asked.
She took my ring out of the bubble container, walked over to the window, held it up with two fingers to look through the center dramatically-lost deep in thought. The other hikers were on the edge of their hairy seats with their beady eyes glinting (either from excitement or frostbite)...at which time my girlfriend with one swift motion shoved the ring into the trash container beside her and walked away without hesitation. The final resting place of my ring after 12 years was now determined to be next to low quality half-eaten grilled cheese sandwiches and undercooked french fries at a mountaintop rest stop. The pained look of sympathy on the faces of the nosey strangers was priceless.
At which point I smiled: "You just made me the happiest man on Earth" I said ensuring my voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. At which point they all started to 'Booo'...
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