Alright, here we go.
Paul: So I had been planning the proposal for a few weeks by this time (Monday, October 10th), but was still working out a few details. I wanted it to be Uganda-themed and I needed to figure out how to keep it all a secret till it happened. I had ordered the ring (white gold with a pearl and two green stones) a week before and was expecting it this week. However, I got a call on Monday informing me that it wouldn’t be coming until October 24th. Not wanting to wait that long, I decided to ask Sarah to marry me the next day. I got quite excited and slightly nervous at the thought. Tuesday morning, after dropping Sarah off at work, I got straight to work myself. Going to class was out of the question. First, I tried calling her dad a couple of times- we ended up playing phone tag for a bit. In the meantime, I went and picked up a holder ring that looks quite a bit like the real one, some food for our dinner, and two “t-shirt designs”. My mind was going about a million miles per hour at this point wondering how I was going to be able to pull it off, so I decided to stop by In-N-Out to grab an animal style hamburger and a strawberry shake to calm me down. On Monday, I had had the idea to borrow a motorcycle (like a boda-boda from Uganda) of some sort to pick up Sarah at the beginning of the “Uganda date”. Thankfully, some guy I didn’t even know was willing to let me borrow his very African-esque scooter for the evening.
At 1:15, I started getting nervous because I had not yet been able to ask Sarah’s dad for permission, so I tried calling him one more time, got the ok, and took a deep breath. I picked up Sarah from work at 3 and we talked for a while before she headed back to her house so that I could take a nap.
Sarah: Tuesday afternoon (October 11) Paul and I were at Paul’s house. After talking about our plans for the evening (making salsa, doing homework), I conceded that I should probably leave so that Paul could take a nap before our evening began and so that I could go running. Paul immediately jumped up and practically rushed me out the door. I was confused at Paul’s urgency as he practically pushed me out. I knew that he was going to propose sometime soon, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up that something would happen if it didn’t. So I shrugged it off, went back to my house, ran, and got ready to go back to make salsa.
Paul: My nap was very short-lived (surpise, eh?), after which I headed across town to pick up the scooter. I had never driven one on the street before, so it was quite a thrill to be zoomingdown Freedom Boulevard with no muffler and the wind blowing in my face. Sarah was planning on coming back at 5:15, but I needed to find some way to hold her there until 7:00 so that it would be dark outside. I had a final the next day I hadn’t started studying for—perfect. After studying for the final for about 5 minutes, I got crankin’.
Sarah:While I was getting ready, I wondered if tonight might be the night. I took a little extra care when straightening my hair and doing my make-up, but determined to not be disappointed if it didn’t happen tonight. Right before I headed out to go back to Paul’s house, I got a text from him saying that he was studying for a final and that he would pick me up at seven, in an hour or so. A final? In the middle of the semester? Really? Well, I actually knew that he had a block class, so it was perfectly possible for him to have a final, but he hadn’t mentioned anything about it earlier, so I was a little suspicious. Oh well. That gave me more time to write my paper for LDS marriage and family (irony?).
Paul: My roommate and I took out the couch in our front room and replaced it with a mattress. Then I cut some random rope I found outside and tied it between two poles on my front porch, and draped some clothes over it. Dinner was made, crossword puzzles were printed, headlamps were placed, a Ugandan flag was draped above the kitchen door, and I got into the usual garb I wore in Uganda before heading out. Oh, and I made sure to turn off all the lights.
Sarah: After my paper I started getting the tomatoes ready for our salsa and was almost finished when Paul walked in. He was wearing clothes that he wore in Uganda (khaki pants, blue button-up shirt, dirty sneakers, and a visor), but I didn’t connect that it was Uganda. I associated it with being outside and working, so I thought we were going on a hike. I even thought about changing my shoes because I was wearing ballet flats, but all Paul said was that we would have to make the salsa another time because the bowl of tomatoes “might be hard to transport.”
Paul: After driving over to Sarah’s place on the boda, I walked in to find her washing some tomatoes. Sarah looked beautiful, and she gave me a slightly inquiring look when I walked in with my visor and tennis shoes on at 7 pm. However, she didn’t say anything about it. I smiled and wondered if she knew something was up. Then I realized that carrying a huge bowl of tomatoes might make riding on a boda slightly difficult, so I told her we’d have to make salsa another time.
Sarah: Okay, I’m not stupid, so I knew by now that something was going on. I just wasn’t sure if this was the real deal, or just Paul planning something fun. Anyway, we walked outside and there was a scooter (much like a boda-boda) that didn’t have a muffler and the lights got brighter as you revved the engine. You know, really African. The whole time Paul is talking like a boda-boda driver, asking me for money and where I want to go and trying to get to know me. When we got to his house I saw that he had strung up clothes on a line, making it look like they were drying. We walked under the clothes and over the threshold into the dark house (the lights were off) with Paul saying, “Oh shoot. It looks like the power is out again.” Good thing he had headlamps ready.
Paul: I was relieved I had been able to keep it a secret, and hoped it would be a really special night for Sarah. I tried my best to work up a Ugandan accent on the boda ride, and couldn’t help getting a huge grin on my face with Sarah laughing so hard behind me. I was glad to find the lights were still off at the house.
Sarah: We walked into the kitchen where he had a meal of French toast and eggs prepared. We ate with our headlamps shining on our food and reminisced about Uganda, retelling our favorite stories and talking about the people we missed and the projects we enjoyed doing. After dinner we went into his living room where he had set up a mattress on the floor (which had necessitated him taking a couch out and putting it on the front porch). We sat on the mattress and just like old times we did crossword puzzles and listened to music on my i-pod.
Sarah: After a while Paul asked me if I wanted to see a design he had made for the t-shirts. Of course I wanted to see it, so he went into his room and came back with a piece of paper. The design was perfect and I told him so. We continued to listen to music for another five minutes or so, then Paul asked if I wanted to see another design he had. Without really thinking I said yes, but as he got up to go into his room to get the paper, I started putting two and three together. Why hadn’t he brought the second design out with the first?
Sarah: At this point the thought crossed my mind, “either this is a really good fake-out, or its going to happen right now.” However, for some reason I didn’t get up, so when he came back out with the song from Tangled (“I see the light”) playing and a piece of paper that had the word “eternity” on it, I was still sitting on the mattress with an i-pod earbud in my ear. Paul got down on one knee and grabbed my hand as I ripped the earbud out of my ear and got up on my knees. He looked at me, set, yet shaking a little, and said, “Sarah, will you marry me?”
Paul: I brought out the design, knelt down, and took her hand. I planned to say her full name and something romantic, but all that came out was, “Sarah… will you marry me?”
