I'm posting a few pictures from my recent weekend with my now fiance, Bekah. It was an incredible weekend full of laughter, coffee, theater and one very special ring.
I've had the ring since august and it carries with it an incredible story, honestly told better by Bekah. The ring was handed down to me by Bekah's parents with the explanation that it was Bekah's great grandmothers. The ring was promised to Bekah years ago and it has always been understood that she would someday wear it.
I took the ring to a local jeweler that has done work our family before. I needed to get the ring cleaned up and repaired and also find a diamond to put in it. I then went to the task of finding a diamond. It was very important to Bekah (and I) that the diamond in her ring be conflict free. The corrupt nature of the
diamond industry is no secret and we really wanted to part in the mess depicted in the movie "blood diamond". The diamond finding process was slow and complicated at first and I ended up leaving the ring in Ohio in the hands of my parents and the jeweler when i moved to Minneapolis at the end of August. After two months of saving and searching I finally got a phone call from my Dad telling me that the jeweler had found a conflict free diamond that fit the ring perfect and he could have it put in the ring within a week. Considering Bekah's upcoming trip to Minneapolis the timing couldn't have been better.
The ring was restored and the diamond was set, creating a beautiful piece of jewelry with an equally beautiful story. The ring was however, still in Ohio. This issue was solved quickly by sneaking the ring into the violin case that Bekah had previously planned on bringing to me. Bekah would, unknowingly, bring her own ring to me. All of this transpired within a few days and I was left with a little over a week to plan a proposal for the time frame that Bekah would be here.
Knowing that an over done and cheesy proposal would most likely leave me with a rejection I was left with the challenge o developing a unique and yet romantic proposal. After debating and collaborating with a few friends I found the right place, timed how long it would take to walk there, and planned every moment of what would happen. The reality is however, that none of these plans ever mattered. I had planned to meet Bekah at the airport when she got in. Maybe it was the anticipation in my heart about what was going to happen, maybe it was because after two months apart I had forgotten the impact Bekah has on my ability to think correctly, maybe it was the look in her eyes when she turned the corner off of the tram and came rushing into my arms. Whatever it was, I lost control of all my actions.
I felt my body drop to one knee, and my arms opened the case of my violin and uncover a small white box, the contents of this box known only by me. I can honestly say that i dont remember what I said or how I said it, Bekah has now told me that it was nothing to be ashamed of, but I can remember specifically the eyes that met mine as my head tilted up and presented the ring that carried so much meaning and so much history. Eyes of assurance and comfort, eyes that have met mine so many times before in so many contexts and yet still the same. And as she nodded her head yes and fell into my embrace, right there in the middle of the Minneapolis /St. Paul airport, with trams going by and people rushing past, nothing else mattered. I fell in to a place of intense belonging and purpose, like the final piece of a puzzle completing what had begun so long ago, completing a chapter in the story of our lives. And as we sat in this pseudo romantic setting with people swirling about we sat at peace in that belonging.
The next day I showed Bekah where I had previously prepared to purpose. We both decided the airport was way cooler.
