Marriage Proposal by Omission

Marriage Proposal by Omission





    Our first date had been more like slap stick comedy, than the beginning of a heated romance. Why would I have expected my proposal to be any different? Our first date was a blind date set up by his friend John that I worked with in Tallahassee, Fl. David and John were restoring an old train depot in my hometown an hour and a half a way. I was introduced to David standing on the back of a train caboose, when we decided on a two-hour canoe trip as a first date.



    Unfortunately, I had a case of food poisoning strike me a half hour down river. I didn't know my dad had not bought new mayonase since I left for FSU three years prior. David paddled the whole way, and I threw up the whole way. I was lying down in the bottom of the canoe when it hit a submerged log, flipped upside down, and drifted against a log jam. He was standing by the canoe and had grabbed a hold of my hand. Laying flat face down with the current pushing me into the log jam, I could not maneuver myself around the spars that stretched across that upside down canoe. After I had been under a while, he decided to snatch my arm as hard as he could. My head hit the side of the canoe. I was convinced it was one of the worst dates I had ever been on. When he took me home, I was shocked when he actually leaned over for a kiss. I knew right then, he either really, really liked me, or he was really, really desperate! Seriously! He wanted a kiss from a girl with a giant knot on her forehead whom he had seen vomit?



    Early on David asked me to, “Just say something as soon as you know I am not the one for you.” He did not want to waste his time. Six months later, we were eating lunch with his friend John who had arranged that original blind date. He jokingly asked David “So, when are you going to marry her?” David replied, “We will probably get married in the spring at the train depot where you introduced us.” I was shocked and angry, “David! Dont you think you should ask me to marry you first?” Completely serious he replies, “Well you hadn’t said anything.”



    His mother was widowed before I met him. She put her ring in his hand and told him she wanted me to wear it. We are celebrating our 17th anniversary this month. 



    With the addition of four children, life has continued to be more like a Lucy and Dezi comedy episode. It is true! We still communicate just as well as we did the day I got engaged by omission.



Proposal Story by:



Frances Janell Richards

Warner Robins, GA