under the banana tree (or how paul proposed)

i'm really not sure if i should start with this since a chronological narration of events would probably make the most sense (how we met, first date, etc.). maybe i should construct a timeline first or something. or slide show. or better yet, a video montage! but anyhow, this is what people want to know first so here it goes. . .

the story should probably go back to october of this year when paul and i started looking at rings because, yes, we have talked about getting married for a while now since we were, er, of age (i.e. getting old) and i think it was a sunday when he asked me if i wanted to start looking at rings. needless to say i was very happy about that. what he didn't tell me though was that he had already talked to papa about it, something that i wasn't supposed to find out. but if you know my family well then you'd know that well-meant plan was not going to work and sure enough i found out within the next 24 hours ( i won't say who's responsible ). so we went to several jewelry stores without the intention of buying since i already said we should try to get it back home since filipinos are not as crazy about diamonds as americans (proof lies in tv commercials, 1 in 5 tv commercials are for jewelry stores. . . unverified but probably true) and as law of supply and demand dictates (or so i think, i should ask paul about that) diamonds should be a bit cheaper back home . so we looked and feigned interest quite convincingly and for a while there we could tell you what the 4 Cs are (cut, color, carat, er, character? charm?), what the girdle is and the difference between an H and a J diamond. i found what i liked and paul said he'll take it from there. so for a full two months i heard nothing about the progress of the ring-buying. i figured he was waiting for christmas or something like that. i think i asked him once a week before he proposed and he answered enigmatically "it is progressing as it should be". i was like "what the heck?" and again in a very jim tressel like manner he says "it is what it is." so i let it be.

then (here comes the actual proposal story) a couple weeks back he told me about a christmas exhibit at the franklin park conservatory the next wednesday. so since my bible study group wanted to do something that week i thought i'd invite them, so i e-mailed them. and i e-mailed them again. and no one e-mails me back. i must admit i was getting worried (do they hate me? are they sick of me? do they not like plants?) but i still wanted to go because it was christmassy! and there were poinsettias! and candles! and huge glass sculptures! so i told paul i'd go. so he showed up at my apartment as usual and we had leftover adobo/braised pork that tasted like adobo and longanisa for dinner. soooo romantic, i know. then we drove off to the conservatory. it was a nice night, warm for this time of year and the stars were out (charing, attempt at actual writing). we got in and he paid for the tickets without even asking me. i was shocked! (kidding) and we were just in time to join the red hat club ladies as they were coming in and we were with them the entire tour (red hat ladies is apparently a club for older women with a penchant for (surprise) red hats and maybe plants). it was somewhat romantic (and slightly dangerous) and the gardens do look different in the candlelight (which was what made it dangerous, combo of stone steps, moisture, old ladies and small children).we went through the whole tour rather quickly because our sole goal was to pass the long lines of red hatted ladies. we saw the poinsettias too (so gorgeous) and looked down at the people eating their fancy dinners. we got to the end and they had a glass blowing demo which i wanted to see. but paul insisted we go through the tour once again and i obliged. this time since the old ladies were gone i decided i'll make this time more educational. so i looked at plants and asked the guides about stuff and such. paul wanted to go to the carribean islands area with the waterfalls and the carp so we went. apparently, paul has been waiting for me to stop walking and talking (i was like "oooh, a chrysanthemum, blah blah blah" and "that's what we call a santan, we would blah blah blah. . ") so we came upon a banana tree, which of course totally enthralled me for some reason. and then i saw a tree with actual bananas and man, was i happy. it even had the heart (puso ng saging)! anyway, i was talking about my aunt's puso ng saging recipe and walking away when paul called me from behind and he was on the ground and i was like "what? did i drag a plant? did i mess up my new coat?" and he whips out the ring and asks if i would marry him. my first words i think were "seriously? now?". i was stunned. which i know does not make sense but it was one of those times when you really couldn't believe it was happening and that it was happening to you. anyhow, my next reaction was of course, glee. and lots of high pitched noises was heard. good thing i didn't break any of the chihuly structures.

i did calm down after a while and we were even able to go to the gift shop without me breaking something. and paul got a pot of pretty poinsettias. so we got out of the conservatory, or rather, i floated out of the conservatory. so we got into paul's car and because paul's a sweetie and because i absolutely love the movie love, actually (which we just saw or more precisely, i forced paul to watch the weekend before) he turns on the cd player and the song all i want for christmas is you by mariah carey plays. i thought my head was going to explode from all the sweet happiness. but head's still intact so all's well.

so there. you know you have a great engagement story when it ends with almost exploding heads! the next best thing would have been if it all ended with chuck norris breaking through the glass roof of the conservatory. but that's probably a bit much.

anyhow, if you are reading this, i wish you a very merry christmas and a happy new year! hope you all can make through 2007 because i need you to be there on 2008!