Things I have learned so far this year

1. It is remarkably difficult to secretly obtain someone's ring size, especially when someone is a Mennonite who doesn't generally wear rings. There is a story here, involving a twist tie, a Sharpie, and a lightly sleeping adfamiliares, but I unfortunately do not have time to relate it.


2. Even if you've been dating someone for fifteen years, you still get nervous and stumble-tongued when you're down on one knee. She claims she said yes, but I have no memory of it.

Readers of adfamiliares's journal already know that I proposed to her just after midnight on New Year's Day: after we danced Mairi's Wedding together, after we held hands with a whole host of friends to sing Auld Lang Syne, and after I drew her off the floor during the waltz. You also know that the ring I presented her with (previously hidden inside a box inside an envelope inside a sock inside my suitcase, but burning a hole in my pocket that night until I pulled it out) was a 6th(ish)-century Byzantine Christian ring, found in the Balkans, heavy yellow gold in the shape of a cross pattée and marked with the five Wounds of Christ. (Not quite her period, but 2nd- and 3rd-century early Christian gold rings are hard to come by. Also not quite her size, despite the twist tie escapade, but it can be resized.)

You probably know that I love her deeply, truly, and forever, too, but in case you don't, I do.