The Proposal

Although he is well-practiced in the art of sweet, thoughtful acts the Boy is not a Romantic. Fortunately, I am not the type of girl in need of big, sweeping gestures. Our relationship has never received validation through hearts and flowers and boxes of chocolate. We are who we are; it would have been weird and awkward if his proposal deviated from that. It didn't.
 He proposed, post-Craig Ferguson show, in the middle of a sidewalk downtown. It was entirely without fuss, unsentimental, and to-the-point. There was no bended knee, no flowery speech, no ring (that's correct, no ring). I said yes. The whole affair lasted 15 seconds. 

Fountain Square, Cincinnati, Ohio-A few blocks from where the Boy proposed.

 We kicked off our engagement the same way we live our lives: as ourselves. This new stage in our relationship is not a long-awaited excuse for me to go diva-fabulous on the world; nor has it altered my expectations of how the love of my life should behave. Yes,we are who we are. There is something reassuring about sticking to that, even as so much else changes.

A Modern (Non)Fairy Tale: Begin at the Beginning

Colour Portrait of Carol Channing, 1973, by Allan Warren

  As our Wed-Site proudly proclaims, although we are an adorable couple, we did not meet cute. Good-bye, girlish dreams of falling in love classic-movie style. Hello, 21st-Century grown-up reality. We met via that modern Dolly Levi, the Internet Dating Site (I will leave it to your fervid imaginations to figure out which one did the honors). We soon learned that face-to-face contact is not a necessary element of falling in love. Within a few weeks--before our first date, before even our first phone call--we were bandying about baby names. What is more romantic than unflappable certainty? I can't think of a thing.