gift.

it was december 20, 2000.  the plan was to spend the day together, but phil called to say he had some errands to do, was running late, and would i mind a late dinner instead?  i agreed and he eventually came to pick me up.  we had sushi (i forget where) for our late dinner and then drove towards santa monica beach.  it was rather dark.  pitch black, actually.

he parked and asked if i wanted to go sit on the beach.  this wasn’t our usual thing to do, especially on a chilly december pitch black night.  i wondered if it was safe.  he started pulling some things out of his car and i knew something was up.  especially when his guitar came with us.

we sat on a blanket on the sand.  actually, he had me sit on an icebox on the blanket on the sand so i’d be a little higher up.  he asked me to hold a flashlight for him.  he pulled out his guitar along with a song he had written and asked if i wanted to hear it.  my brain started to spin.

he got through the first verse and the first line of the chorus but then kinda forgot how it went.  so he stopped and said he was going to start over.  i think he was a bit nervous.  i know i was.

he remembered the chorus the second time around and sang the rest of the song he had written for me.  in it, he asked if i would go to minnesota with him.

after the song, he handed me a small, red, wooden object.  upon closer examination, i realized it was an apple.  i glanced back at him and saw that he was on one knee.

i think i said yes.

he told me later that it was getting that red wooden apple ready which ended up taking much, much longer than expected.  he didn’t realize it would take so long and the original plan had been to propose at sunset.  at a beach we had previously been to in orange county.

no matter as it was perfect anyway.

assignment #8: a gift from the heart.

i was a teacher at the time and he thought giving me an apple with the ring inside would be just the thing.  he found this wooden apple at michael’s.  but it was a solid, very dense wood.  and he only had a small hand saw.  but where there’s a will, there’s a way.

he sawed it in half, stained it, and attached the clasp.

he also had to smooth down the back side in order for the back hinge to fit. 

and the original apple didn’t come with a stem.  so he found a wooden peg, stained it brown, and glued it to the top.

then he had to hollow out that solid, very dense wood in order for the ring to fit inside.  that also must have taken forever and i have no idea what tools he used to accomplish it.  he also had made a stop at joann’s fabrics to buy a small scrap of green velvet which he sewed into a tiny pillow cushion which he attached inside the apple.  the ring sat perfectly in that little pillow.

i believe he gave me that apple ring holder after having put his whole heart in to it.

and i’m very glad i said yes.